Influences on my Approach to Preaching September 28, 2009
Posted by bdennert in Church, Ministry.add a comment
I was reflecting a bit this summer on the different voices who have influenced how I preach (as well as teach at church), remembering that I “eat in everyone else’s pastures and then produce my own milk” as Dan the Man taught me years ago. I don’t try to imitate these people, but I do think through the text and communication of it through some lens that I have learned from others. So, here are about 10 people who I would say have influenced me (and I know others will as well):
1. Chris Hodge
He is the preacher I have sat under week in and week out the longest (3 years). From our conversations and his sermons, I developed a firm conviction that I need to clearly present the gospel each week; I can’t assume that people know the gospel. This does not have to be an altar call or the exact same way each week, but as the gospel emerges from the text, take time to explain it. As well, I can be convinced of expository preaching while also being relevant.
2. Dave Schutter
What I learned the most from Dave Schutter is the power of illustrations of moments where we get it and don’t get it; some of his illustrations still stick with me (Rock, Paper, Scissors, God!). Everyday life experiences (and the ability to laugh at ourselves) is when we are starting to get and communicate the gospels. In addition, he modeled and helped me think through what it means to be a pastor-teacher-preacher, to do all of them and have all of them go together.
3. Crawford Lorrits
Of my seminary professors on preaching, he best helped me approach the preaching moment, the power of preaching, and the need to approach it for transformation, with “windows and mirrors” and helping people move towards responses. And above all, remember that there is a difference between a preacher and a communicator!
4. Tim Keller
While I am very mindful not to try to hold him up as a model or the “ideal,” there are very specific philosophical elements of his style and approach that I have adopted. His thoughts on preaching to believers and non-believers, of preaching to irreligious, religious, and grace, and ideas on how to read outside and how to prepare have really helped me. And as Dr. Carson pointed out, he gets the text and also moves to application really well, something I am trying to learn and do myself.
5. Bryan Chapell/Dennis Johnson
Chapell’s Christ-Centered Preaching and Johnson’s Him We Proclaim helped me to understand how to think through preaching Christ (which is what makes a Christian sermon) but to do so appropriately, i.e. how it emerges from the text. These are my two favorite books on preaching.
6. Stuart Latimer
As I have listened via PodCast to Stuart over these past couple of years, I have recognized that I can learn and admire things in different styles. Stuart seems more “big-picture” minded in a way that analysis the gospel message in the text and how it comes and is different from our culture. The gospel is also clear and the struggle that we have to see the gospel in our lives because of its counter-cultural elements are something that I always hear in his messages. And a guy who likes Calvin and Hobbes and John Calvin can never go wrong!
7. Steve Constable
Another guy I listen to via podcast who has a different style than mine. In bringing in culture from movies to books to plays, etc., he opens up new ways of looking at the text that I do not normally do. I know that I will not do this in the same way that he does, but it has fed my soul and also gives me of another “tool in the shed.” And his accent is cool.
8. D.A. Carson
While the man has more brains in his pinkie than I have in my head and brings that knowledge to the text (which he has helped teach me to do), he is also, somehow, able to bring it to life and make it practical. I want to do so, to bring a high understanding and high view of the text to people.
9. Kirk Heldreth
My pastor while I was in college introduced me to the writings of Philips Brooks and Charles Spurgeon on preaching. That always helps. But the passion that he always brought to the text, the tears that filled his eyes as he preached the wonderful grace of the gospel is something that I need to remember; I can’t forget the gospel while I preach it!
10. Brian Regan
If Mark Driscoll can say that Chris Rock has influenced his preaching, I can say Brian Regan has. Not that I try to be funny or want to communicate as opposed to preach, but Regan’s ability to find the things in life that are weird and funny and GET THEM TO STICK IN OUR MINDS is something that I think I need to in preaching. It’s amazing how often we quote Regan, but how often do we quote a sermon because something in life reminded us of it. That is, because we see the truth of it later in the week or the months or the years. That is the way that comedians need to challenge the preacher.
Studying the Bible….without Prayer? September 26, 2009
Posted by bdennert in Church, School.add a comment
One of the first things I noted when I started classes at Loyola was that we do not begin classes in prayer. That was not surprising in the sense that it is an “academic” as opposed to a “church” school; that is, it is training people to teach in higher ed, not move into pastoral ministry. However, as the semester has gone along, it has made me wonder if it is possible to study the Bible without prayer. Augustine’s Confessions was doing theology as a prayer. Anselm also did “faith seeking understanding.” But we don’t do so in our classes. Can the Bible be studied purely on its own merits, without an attempt to application? Can one engage in theology without being textually rooted and driven (as many of the theologians students have seemed to be)? The Bible wasn’t meant to just be comprehended, it has a worldview that was meant to invade the life of the reader; one cannot move into its unbiased or unattached. As I was listening to a Podcast today, a Christian scholar noted how those in the sciences are captured by the science (some might even say worshipping it), but there is a perception that a true Bible scholar cannot do this, as he is no longer objective. A Bible scholar is not supposed to say that he believes that the biblical perspective on life and faith is authoritative (unless he teaches at a “conservative” Christian school).
I guess this confirms that I want my scholarship to be for the church. I want to talk about application. I want to stand under, not over, the texts that I study. I want to pray over the text and ask God to help me understand what He wrote and has given us. May I do so in my own heart as I study, even if the professors don’t. And may I do this no mateter what it means for my future as a “scholar” in the academic sense. This is being formative as I see my future as a Bible scholar and teacher.
Impressing or Making Impressions September 12, 2009
Posted by bdennert in Ethics, Random, School.add a comment
I have been giving some thought lately to the idea of “making a good impression” on people. Being at a new school with new faculty (to me) and being a part of a new church (for us) and meeting people there has met I have been doing a lot of “impression forming” on people–and they on me. Which causes the question: “Is there a difference between seeking to make a good impression on people and on impressing people?” We think it is important to make a good impression on people, because we never get a second chance to make a first impression. However, we also seem to say that you should not try to impress people–that this is a bad thing to do–but should be yourself. Since the same word is at the root of both words, though, are they that different? Is my attempt to make a good impression actually an attempt to impress people, by fitting myself into their values and expectations? This might be on the scholarly level by talking about certain things and not talking about certain things, by doing extra work or having the right answers. Is my goal in making this impression so that they might help me in my work and get me through the program? Is that right? On the social level, is this in being funny and engaging as a person, not saying awkward things, talking about the things that they value or are interested in, and not doing anything rude? In seeking to make good impressions, do I cease to be me and become more in line with the desires of the other person? Am I a chameleon–both in the academic field and also in the social world? (I have often wondered this) Does this matter? Are people who “be themselves” the ones who make bad impressions because they are conforming to their own ideas about themselves and the world as opposed to yours? Do I evaluate others this same way or value their honesty, integrity, and self-awareness? Basically, do I form my impressions of someone on whether they impress me? Or am I making too much of this?
Oh the thoughts of a scholar!
Back to where I started….but Different September 10, 2009
Posted by bdennert in School.add a comment
As I have been refining and doing work for my class on John the Baptist and beginning to consider how he is portrayed in the Gospel of Matthew, knowing that my paper would land there, I inadvertantly came full circle in my major research work. You see, 2 of the mentions of John the Baptist feature a discussion of “righteousness” (3:15, 21:28-32),which are the only two occurences of the word outside of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Knowing that “righteousness” is supposed to be an important theme in Matthew and seeing how Josephus also had righteousness in discussing John the Baptist, it seemed that my paper would deal with how John the Baptist affects this conception of righteousness. Which has led me to do research on righteousness, etc.–and my undergraduate senior project at Cedarville was on Paul’s concept of the righteousness of God! So, I am looking at many of the same sources and material with a different application–and a better knowledge of the primary sources (and German secondary sources!) and different understanding of the issues at work. So, I am back to where I started in theological research over 5 years ago, but with a much different perspective. In fact, I wonder at what I was doing back then.
2 Weeks at Loyola September 6, 2009
Posted by bdennert in School.add a comment
My posting have slowed down (sorry), which means that school has started. Hopefully, I will start posting some of the things I am reading or considering for class (my outside reading has slowed down, though I am working through Josephus’ Jewish War for fun and then plan on moving on to the Twelve Caesars, might as well use my history interest for background for NT studies). I have enjoyed these two weeks at Loyola. Being in a different environment, particularly in which the theology department is smaller and not the biggest program at the school has been interesting. The faculty and fellow students have been very nice; in some ways, I feel like I am connecting with more people at LUC than I did at TEDS, even though everyone at TEDS was on the same page theologically and with the same purpose for studying. Which begs a question, why is it that a conglomerate of students are more friendly than a bunch of evangelical Christian students? Could there be something in the DNA of pastors/scholars in the evangelical realm that pushes more competition than cooperation, that leads to professors being “unreachable/unconnectable”? Is it that students at TEDS were more busy and therefore, cut out some of the interaction with each other. Questions to ponder.
It has also been interesting working with professors that have different methods or ways of approaching the text. I have really been enjoying Dr. Lupieri, as we are looking at the role of John the Baptist in each of the gospels and he noted that we should start in the gospels with the last appearance of him and then move forward, as there will be an unfolding of a certain purpose that climaxes at the end; you can then deduce the role of the preceding passages from this basis. Essentially, the old idea that the introduction is unclear and then clarity comes through the story. This has been helpful and I am sure I am going to begin to ground that into my methodology more. Plus, “story time with Dr. Lupieri,” which is what I am calling the class, has been fun!
