Comments on: Keeping Preaching Pure

By: Religion Churches

Religion Churches — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:23:28 +0000

I have to agree that in many cases we have gone soft in believing that media and special effects is a good way to preach. There is a reason children will still gather around for story time. I still like the old black and white shows. It’s the story (or message) that makes you want to listen.

By: Dave Lyman

Dave Lyman — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:24:48 +0000

Matt 21:18-22 Jesus uses a fig tree to teach his followers about faith.

By: Eugene Smith

Eugene Smith — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:06:51 +0000

Spurgeon, would not have agreed with Piper on this one. I read a bio on Spurgeon once that said Spurgeon was very animated, never used notes and would do whatever it took to make the message of hope interesting and stimulating to his listeners. Pipers preference is not bible and he fails to see that Jesus himself used every communication technique possible in communicating truth and power to His generation. Unfortunately for us we are boxed into a 4 wall buildling trying to tell the life changing story. Jesus did it in boats, on hillsides in temples and while walking on water. Talk about an illustration.

By: J-R

J-R — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 23:16:13 +0000

Piper rehashes his “studies” and sells them in the temple. Has he helped people? Sure. But my bet is that Jesus would sweep him and his likes (e.g. Lucado, Maxwell) from the temple in a valiant rage. When I was a very young Christian, I didn’t understand the mega-business behind preaching/writing. So let him talk, but I can’t take him seriously- unless he starts giving his “inside information” away. Until then it’s all talk and way too much money.

By: Matt Norman

Matt Norman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:08:38 +0000

Ok, I know I just posted, but in reading some more of the responses a thought come to me. I think that we have forgotten the point. It is not the method that is important, but the message. We can argue all day about media versus preaching, but at the end of the day it is what we say that matters, not how we say. The power is not in preaching or in video or in any other form that we might use to communicate the Word of God. It is the Holy Spirit that gives power to any of these. I have a great deal of respect for John Piper, but he seems to be misplacing the power in this instance.
A little over a year ago a man named Barney came to visit our church. Barney was married to a woman who had been attending our church for some time. We had been praying for Barney for months prior to this visit. Well, this man showed up a bit before the service was to start. As our pastor often does, he introduced himself to Barney and then began to show him around the campus. While they were chatting a six year old boy came up to them. This boy told pastor that he wanted to be baptized. Pastor took a few moments to discuss this with the little boy while Barney stood there listening. Once Pastor was sure that this little boy understood what baptism was about he took time to pray with the boy. When Pastor was done praying he looked back a Barney to find him crying. In the next few moments Barney accepted Christ. Barney was 61 years old at the time. As many of you may know the odds of a 61 year old man accepting Christ are very low. Would John say that this man was saved by the power of preaching? I don’t think so, because there was no preaching going on. In fact, Barney had not even entered the worship center. I don’t think that John Piper would deny that the true power lies with the Holy Spirit. I do, however, think that he may not have taken the time to thoroughly think this through.

By: Matt Norman

Matt Norman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:36:12 +0000

I agree with John in that visual aids should not take the place of good preaching. However, like some have pointed out, Jesus used these types of tools in his day. I think that there has to be a balance.
The thought has recently come to me that we are competing with the world. This thought has comet o me mostly in relation to children’s ministry and the likes of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. However, the truth is that the same is true in student and adult ministries. Certainly we should not strive to be like the world. The world has a completely different message to send. However, I think that we should strive to deliver our message as good as the world does. We have the greatest message in the world, shouldn’t we do all we can to deliver this message as well as we can?
The other thing that I don’t think John is considering is the different learning styles of people. Some people are auditory learners. This group of people will certainly have no problem getting the message based on preaching alone. But, what about the visual learner, or tactile learner? God gave us 5 senses, to say that we should only use hearing during a sermon/worship service is short sighted in my mind.
John Piper is a great speaker and I have a lot of respect for him, but I will have to respectfully disagree with him on this one.

By: Chad

Chad — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 11:51:34 +0000

my 2 cents….not that you need it.
I’ve been “associate” minister under both extremes of minister with varying degrees of success for both. My first position was under a pastor who never used visuals, preached for an hour and a half every time and the congregation was enthralled, challenged, changed and kept coming back. My current position is with a VERY media driven church 10 times the size of the former with the same result.
What i’ve seen is that Biblical accuracy and relevant apologetic are the keys.
I will say though, when we “Just preached” we didn’t have the train wreck of a situation where the wrong video clip was used in Sunday service complete with expletives….yep, that happened last year.

By: Gary Durbin

Gary Durbin — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:59:13 +0000

I’ve actually been impacted by illustrations that Piper has used. If used correctly, videos and imagery have the same purpose, even though they’re not spoken live. Hopefully, he’s referencing pastor’s who go for the entertainment factor, instead of discipling people.

By: Kevin Lundgren

Kevin Lundgren — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:23:20 +0000

There are plenty of opportunities outside of the sermon to use media, even within the service. The sermon is a golden opportunity to submit to a pastor’s role as someone who explains and shows us through words what the Word is saying to us. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.” Come on. We can give a pastor 20 minutes to do that. We have the rest of the service and the rest of the week to be barraged by media. Media is getting a lot of attention in the church as this miracle of miracles. “Oh, the wonders of technology. Let us harness this to do what even Jesus was not able to do. Poor Jesus could only stand on a hill and speak with quaint words.” Read I Timothy 4:13, Luke 20:1, Romans 10:17, Acts 18:5, Romans 10:14.

By: jake dockter

jake dockter — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:58:38 +0000

Though I am not meaning to say we should not use media, movies, clips, etc. I am a big proponent of using current media as a tool. but it can be a double edged sword