Winter 1995

ARTICLE TOOLS

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One of the hardest things about preaching is finding your own voice. When I took to the pulpit, I found myself wanting to preach like whomever I had most recently listened to. After listening to Tony Campolo, I decided the secret to great communicating is story telling. After listening to Earl Palmer, I yearned for the informed lucidity of a master teacher. After listening to Lloyd Ogilvie's basso profoundo, I went on steroids.

In this respect, if no other, I think preaching is more difficult in the day of Christian radio and tape ministries than in previous centuries. At least in the 1520s, pastors didn't have to listen to: "Pastor, I'm ordering Martin Luther's tape series--'Opening the Wittenberg Door of Spiritual Growth: 95 Practical, Biblical Theses You've Got to Know'--just for you. I don't know why we don't hear stories about the pope like that around here. That's what I call preaching!"

If we can't beat this pressure to imitate great communicators, why not join it? In that spirit, I offer the following suggestion.

For many years, Harry's Bar and American Grill in Century City, California, has sponsored an annual Imitation Hemingway Competition. Hundreds of Papa wannabees send in parodies of broken-down bullfighters drinking too much tequila and wondering if the woman at the other end of the bar is being coy or just has a poppy seed stuck in her teeth. LEADERSHIP could sponsor the same thing, only it should involve imitating prominent Christian authors instead of Hemingway.

George Barna--"Sixty-two percent of all American church attenders park noncompact cars in spaces clearly marked COMPACT. Automotive relativism has infiltrated the church to such an extent that there is no longer any discernible ...

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