Brent has posted about an article that has left me completely shocked. The article in question completely advocates and justifies plagiarizing from the pulpit. It even goes so far as to suggest that not plagiarizing them is a symptom of pride.
I love Brent’s rebuttal to the article:
The real issues here are not even about originality, but about respect for the Word and obedience to Christ’s command of making disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) as our principle ends. Sjogren has reduced effective preaching to mere pragmatics and numbers. How do you know when you are preaching “homeruns,” when you have numbers and if you don’t have numbers, then you ought to consider cutting corners and refashioning your product! This is a blatant lack of respect for the Word and the Church and in the end, God will not honor such approaches. Large numbers sometimes mean that more ears are being tickled than souls edified (2 Timothy 4:3), yet such concerns do not seem to appear on Sjogren’s radar.The very notion that we must preach “homeruns” is in itself misguided and borrows more from marketing than Scripture. Not that we do not strive for excellence, we certainly do, but the excellence that we strive for is properly understanding, explaining and applying the Word, not “wowing” our audience. If that happens in the process, that’s fine, but once that “wow” becomes our focus, we’ve lost sight of true preaching. The question of the “communicator/preacher/pastor” as “entertainer is a crucial one. Is it possible that driving a Corvette and pulling things from the trunk while you preach on letting God deal with “your junk in the trunk” is perhaps going too far?
Read Brent’s full post.
Read Steve Sjogren’s article Don’t Be Original, Be Effective!
Amen. Let’s get rid of flashy sermons and get into the nitty gritty. Christianity was never supposed to be fun or easy, it’s tough and hard work – but it’s so good!