Evangelicalism’s Got Talent, Part Two

In my last post, I mentioned that there are two issues that that cause me to think that evangelicalism is being duped when it comes to how we evaluate effective ministries and preaching. I discussed the first of those two in my most recent post: we make wrong assumptions about what it means to be a “gifted” preacher. 

In this post, I want to address how those faulty assumptions about giftedness lead to an errant view of expository preaching. 

Assumptions about Bible “Exposition”

This may step on a few toes, but I might as well say it plainly right up front: I just don’t think a number of the most widely-known preachers today are truly doing Bible exposition, even though they define their preaching by those terms.  Referring again to the panel discussion video I watched, all the men on the panel are considered expositors, yet only a few of them, in my view, are both surrendered to the text and preach its full intent and implications.

For a sermon to be classified as “expository,” it must derive its central message exclusively from the biblical author’s intended message.  The sermon’s principles, therefore, must rise naturally from the structure and force of the text in light of the surrounding context.  D.A. Carson’s explanation is important:  Keep Reading >>>

Evangelicalism’s Got Talent

A few weeks ago I posted some concerns (you can read them here) about various subtle—and I believe threatening—trends in preaching today. One respondent gently took exception and expressed concern that I might’ve over-generalized in making my case. While a full treatment of this subject is thicker than the limits of typical blog-posts, I promised a more extensive look at the matter.

Recently I listened to a panel discussion of well-known pastors discussing the merits, if any, of establishing new churches whose primary shepherd/preacher is heard and known only by live-streaming video. Those in favor offered two main reasons: (1) It works! Patently faster than other numerically-driven approaches, the live-stream messages of admired preachers draws more people from, well, wherever they were before; (2) Only some men have the kind of giftedness to “bring it powerfully” in the pulpit, and so we should maximize their outreach potential through technology.

Now, aside from what I think are grave errors with that particular approach to feeding the flock (which weren’t addressed in the panel discussion, but that’s for another post), two issues cause me to think that evangelicalism is being duped when it comes to how we evaluate effective ministries and preaching. We make wrong assumptions about “giftedness” and this leads to an errant view of expository preaching. This post will simply focus on the first of those points.   Keep Reading ...