Comments on: Dear Preacher

By: Jason Coker

Jason Coker — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:21:39 +0000

Hi M,

Thanks for the very kind words. Your question, “What does a Biblical proclamation look like in America in 2010?” is partly what prompted this post. I’m not at all happy with what much of preaching has become, either campy, therapeutic, controlling, or entertaining, but, at the same time, I’m deeply uncomfortable with the tendency in Emerging circles to do away with it. Frankly, I don’t know the answer (although, I like what David Fitch has to say about it) – it’s something I struggle with quite a bit because my gift mix is heavily tilted toward preaching and hopefully that tension is evident in the post. But I will say this: it’s an important topic for me and one I will certainly be exploring on here again in the future.

Thanks again for the comment!

By: almost an M

almost an M — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:34:24 +0000

Jason, Yet another great post. I have really enjoyed reading your stuff since I stumbled onto your site a couple months ago. Really enjoyed the satire in this post. For me, this post begs a question I have been mulling over for some time…what does a Biblical proclamation look like in America in 2010? How much of what is normal today comes from history and cultural norms formed over the last 150+ years in the West? Perhaps a future post for you could be the job description, interview process, or annual evaluation of a position and function of “preacher” that is consistent with Scripture? Maybe you won’t choose to take this on, but I am hopeful.
-almost

By: Jason Coker

Jason Coker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:08:13 +0000

Gary – Hey, great to have you here! I’ll definitely check out the site. Hope things are going well for you in your ministry. Blessings and peace!

By: Jason Coker

Jason Coker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:07:23 +0000

Andrew – You make some excellent points Andrew. My little mock letter definitely assumes the best of intentions on the part of the preacher, but I agree there may be many preachers who are laboring under a task for which they’re not gifted, and a few (hopefully) who may be tolerating a task for which they’re not passionate. Thanks for pitching in!

By: Jason Coker

Jason Coker — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:01:06 +0000

Steve – It’s funny that you mention John Wesley, because his life and ministry has been the catalyst for my thinking on this subject (and my thinking on a postmodern ecclesiology as well). I think his example somehow represents both the best of public “preaching” AND the worst of that caricature we tend to mentally conjure up when we think of street preachers.

Mom & Julie – There are still lots of traveling preachers today…some go from church to church as special speakers (particularly in pentecostal traditions, wherein they’re typically “revivalists”)or they do the Christian conference circuit.

By: Julie Waters

Julie Waters — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:13:25 +0000

Traveling preachers. I remember hearing about them in school. The thing was though, back then (as you know), not every town had a regular pastor for their church. I know that was true of my own grandmother who grew up in a West Virginia holler. Not to mention, in the 19th century, some towns didn’t have a church at all. A meeting place, with a “make shift” pastor yes, but not always some building deemed as a church. Especially out there in Cali. with the gold rush going on out there. I’m thinking there weren’t any churches close by to the miners camp.:-) (of course, with there minds on finding gold, gold, gold all the time, I wonder how many miners would have cared about going to church).

Since there are so many churches around today. How much of a need do we even HAVE for traveling preachers these days? I don’t see a need for them in this country (missionaries – yes. But that’s another point) but who knows – maybe they still exist somewhere out there.

By: Denise

Denise — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:32:15 +0000

In my ancestry we have what was called “traveling preachers”, men with sometimes their wives traveling around the country and preaching. These preachers were both on my fathers side and also on my Father’s mothers side. I was told growing up that my father’s mothers parents were killed in an accident while traveling around the country preaching the gospel. They left behind 4 kids, one of which was my grandmother. Do “Traveling Preachers” even exist any more?

By: Gary Hornsby

Gary Hornsby — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:15:06 +0000

Hey Jason, very proud of you, Your Mom sent me this and I enjoyed it! We are very busy right now in the Inland Empire bringing the denominations together to resourse eachother and pull our strengths to really make a difference for God’s Kingdom
check out our Conference we are putting on this Oct 9&10
http://www.kingdomglobal.com/first Love to have you attend if your in the area, bring the Old Guy ” Dave” and your lovely mother

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 12:27:44 +0000

Great post! I think there are lots of reasons why preaching has become irrelevant in to the “public.” I get the feeling these days that people have figured out that much preaching and teaching is really a smoke screen for something else. I just blogged about what it means to have integrity in ministry and I think that – either intentionally or not – a lot of preaching is incredibly manipulative and, therefore, lacking in integrity.

Moreover, I’m not sure that most preachers are really “gifted, trained, and compelled to be a herald for the gospel.” I can’t tell you how many pastors I’ve met for whom the ministry is just another career choice. There was one particular fellow I met at divinity school who told me he applied to medical school, law school and divinity school. The med. school didn’t accept him, the law school didn’t give him enough money, the divinity school (unfortunately) gave him a full scholarship and a living stipend. Guess where he ended up?

Then again, maybe the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough truly “gifted” pastors but that there are too many “professional” pastors and not enough people exercising the gifts they’ve been given (everybody is gifted by God for service to the Kingdom, right?).

Again, great post!

A.T.

By: steven hamilton

steven hamilton — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:35:39 +0000

i thought of a missional preaching in the public sphere, although it’s old-school, so i still wonder what creative missional preaching in the public sphere can look like.

while i was visiting friends in the UK, they took me to a pub, and over in one corner they had a small step-stool with a plaque on it. the plaque read something to the effect that John Wesley had preached from here in this pub – that was a public community gathering place. this, then is what i think of when i think of truly missional preaching in the public sphere…