Sometimes My Preaching Stinks
September 16, 2008Am I the only one who thinks this way from time to time? Am I the only one who leaves a Sunday service feeling like I have just dropped the ball in extravagant fashion? Are there others who have finished a service and wondered how such a good thought could wind up coming out so pitifully? Somehow, I don’t think that feelings like these are unique to my experience.
In the course of ministry, there are a variety of outcomes to our efforts. Whether preaching, teaching, singing, or simply testifying, sometimes we see wonderful results, and other times, it seems as if our efforts were worthless. Over time, this variety of outcomes can be confusing.
Why does this happen? What is going on? Why is it that I can preach in one service and the “house comes down,” and then preach the same thing another time, in a different setting, and the people fall asleep while I’m preaching?
I clearly recall such a situation. One Friday evening I was to preach a Statewide Youth Rally. I followed my usual routine of prayer and preparation for the service. Then I conscientiously delivered what I felt to be God’s word for that service. In the end, the youth in attendance responded genuinely and wonderfully to the Word and Spirit of the Lord. We had great church.
Exactly one week later, I was to preach the exact same kind of meeting in a different state. In prayer and preparation, I felt to preach the exact same message as the week prior. In the same kind of meeting, to the same kind of audience, I delivered the same Bible-based message that had brought such genuine response the previous week. But this time around, the audience just stared at me when I made the altar appeal. As I struggled to get the youth to respond to the Lord and His Word, they were very reluctant. In the end, they did pray, but it was not a genuine, heartfelt response. They seemed to pray out of habit and respect for tradition.
Immediately, the questions began in my mind. What happened? Is there something wrong with me? Is there something wrong with the people? Was there something about the situation that I did not learn in prayer? Is there something else that I should have done? These are real questions and feelings that ministers face.
As a preacher, I recognize two particular facets of sermon preparation and presentation that are of interest. The first deals with whether or not I, as the preacher, feel like I have “heard from God” for the service. Preachers realize that we can preach anything from the Bible and it is the Word of God, but I am speaking about the preacher’s desire to preach from the specific portion of Scripture that would be the Will of God for that specific service. The second aspect is in regard to the sermon presentation. It has to do with whether or not the congregation responds as if the sermon is indeed a Word from God. Do they willingly and desirously react to the sermon’s call to action? Or do they blankly stare as if unaware of the sermon’s point? The combinations of these two aspects create four possible settings.
1. I don’t feel like I have heard from God, and the congregation responds like they agree with my feelings.
2. I don’t feel like I have heard from God, but the church responds wholeheartedly anyway.
3. I feel like I have heard from God, but the audience doesn’t respond in kind.
And finally,
4. I feel like I have heard from God, and the congregation responds in agreement with my feelings.
Though there are other dimensions of sermon preparation and presentation, I sense that these four scenarios entail the largest percentage of the ministry experience. As such, it would be good to explore each of them and discover the pitfalls and practical responses.
Bro. Miller,
I thank you for being transparent and sharing this thought. As a young man and less than experienced preacher, I find myself fearing this same thing. What if my preaching does stink? How do I react to something like that? when no one comes to the altar what do I do now?
Again I would like to thank you for being transparent enough to share this, it does offer some encouragement knowing that experienced ministers feel the same way and have some of the same concerns that I feel.
Brother Miller,
Just as TJ so clearly stated, I myself am quite fearful of this whole concept. I find myself very apprehensive in my quest to become who God wants me to be. How will I one day ever, ever hope to ever be eloquant enough to bring forth a message that would change the hearts of those who hear it, and I am speaking of change, not just a respectful response. It has become very apparent to me that I will probably preach my share of what some would consider “bad” or seemingly “irrelevant” services, and that terrifies me! I can only hope that I have seeked the Lord on the matter, and perhaps, just maybe, one or maybe even two individuals may have needed that particular word. This responsibilty weighs very heavily on me, and I can only trust in the Lord to help me along the way. And yes, it is comforting to me as well that someone who is a far more experienced Preach and teacher of the Gospel feels the same way as I do! Thank you for this post!
I remember one time this summer as I was preparing my notes and focusing on God’s word and tears began to fall down my cheeks as the Holy Ghost moved strongly. I just knew with absolute assurance that God was going to blow that joint up.
Needless to say that night felt like a dud. I did my best and preached to the best of my ability. I did everything i knew to reach these people. I even read my best sob story attempting to illict some sort of response. Nothing…it was as if crickets were making their noise in the background.
I felt like the epitome of failure multiplied to the 10th power. I remember feeling so dumb because I had earnestly tried and “these sad sack people couldn’t even come to the front atleast as a sympathy altar call.” I honestly really felt like I was in the wrong business and should take up another profession. But a wise old sage of a saint told me that its not about you and either preceived good or bad God gets all the glory.
It wasn’t until later in the year that I got a call from the pastor and said that several people had come up in the following months and said that the impact of my preaching (believe it or not) had indeed touched and changed their life.
Sometimes we’ll never know how God speaks to people or to what depth. Reaction should not be judged based on one altar call or the number of people that pat you on the back. I learned that preaching is not about me, my ego, how well I do. But to just preach what God has given you and let Him do the work. Its not about us because either good or bad God deserves all the glory and praise.
As a disclaimer this post isn’t an excuse for bad preaching.