Five Unnoticed Mistakes in Preaching

hi everybody this is pastor Frank Thomas and I am just so very excited and privileged to do this webinar with you thank you so much for tuning in and joining us we are excited about tonight's presentation let me give you some background as to what we're trying to accomplish I believe very deeply that what we need is a preaching Renaissance and I believe very deeply that the world is in such tragic shape because those of us who have the good news of Jesus Christ to offer to people and offer people hope have not been as skilled sometimes as we could be in the presentation of the gospel and so what we do is make possible teachings across the internet I do a broadcast in periscope every Monday morning at 8 o'clock a.m. and I'm starting to work on webinars via preaching because I believe we need a preaching Renaissance these are difficult times and absolutely without any question you know it's crazy out there it's just crazy in the world and so what we need our preachers who are skilled preachers who are dedicated to the gospel to make a difference and change the life and the nature and the tone and the tenor of our culture and so we present these webinars to just help you to think about your preaching learn about the preaching and be more effective in your preaching I am a professor of preaching I teach preaching at Christian theological seminary I was a pastor for 31 years in my life and so I have a ton of pastoral experience preached every Sunday for 31 years or virtually except for vacations and things but virtually every Sunday and so I learned a lot about preaching and then I got my education I did a PhD program in communications and a rhetoric at the University of Memphis and really gained a tremendous amount of insight and so I put these two together both the experience and the formal education to offer these seminars to people in hopes that don't bless you in hopes it will help you so let me get to the subject at hand tonight that I want to talk about five unnoticed mistakes in preaching which means these are very subtle very very subtle mistakes that people make in preaching very very very subtle they are not large but if you miss these it affects the quality of the message if you miss them it affects the quality of the message so let me start tonight with first of all what I called unnoticed mistake number one which is an over concern about how our reputations about our reputations I think it's easy and very easy for us to get caught in the concept that we are want to be great preachers and we want a preaching reputation where people will invite us and people will think well of us and so preaching is very highly prized in the black community verbal artistry is very very prized this is why rap poetry and preaching are such vital instruments because the verbal dexterity is highly highly prized in the African American community and because of that many of us want to be great preachers and there's nothing wrong with in and of itself of wanting to be a great preacher what is the difficulty is that that concern can overshadow what we really are about which is reaching people with the gospel of Jesus Christ so I want to ask a question was Jesus a great preacher or a great disciple er which do you think you think that Jesus was a great preacher or a great disciple er well let's take him apart and take him in pieces um well the masses followed him so it was obvious that he was a great preacher it was obvious that he was a great communicator it was obvious that his words touched the hearts and lives of people and he was also a great disciple in other words the words that he shared with people and the way he mentored and touched people brought forth the clear understanding of God in their lives so we could say that Jesus was a great preacher and a great disciple what I fear is that we're so busy becoming a great preacher that we're not a great disciple er that that's what I worry about that this desire to be a great preacher oh we can preach sermons and we can people can be saved but what what and how do we develop people now and what do we do to deepen this gospel and the lives of people to disciple people I've heard many pastors in large churches say that their churches are a mile wide and an inch deep which means that it's a lot of people but the question of the depth in Christ that's going forth is a real challenge to people so do you think Jesus was a great disciple or he was a great preacher or maybe both and so how do we join our disciple and our preaching how do we join you know I've experienced people that are not great preachers but they're wonderful disciples I've experienced people who are who are wonderful preachers but they're not great disciples I mean they will flow you with their preaching of the gospel but somehow it doesn't connect to helping deepen disciples and I've seen people who you know are modest and they're preaching and yet thousands are disciples so I think that they are car or routes that we need to think about as we think about disciple and preaching is Summum it is what is our task or call as a preacher some people are called to be evangelists an evangelist of people who have kind of an itinerant ministry go around maybe doing revivals may be done conferences I don't know but you know itinerant and they go around and they evangelize and they have the gift of bringing people to Christ helping people to come to Christ another aspect is a pastor preaching as a as a pastor which is in a congregation an ongoing basis Sunday to Sunday basis and so sometimes we have to decide what kind of preacher we want to be because the Evangelist is one style typically and I might suggest a revivalist and a pastoral can be another style so I remember I had a young preacher I was mentoring and I said to him he probably not likely that are gonna have to decide what kind of preacher you want to be because it's one style of preaching that will take you out and put you on the circuit we'll get you to the huge number of revivals and there's another style of preaching that will in fact help you to grow and disciple people in their local congregation and we've seen some of us great preachers who are evangelists great preachers who are revivalist and then when you come to their church you know you would have expected you know thousands of people and it's a very small number of people so I think we have to decide and it's possible to you know to be really wonderful like tenor and Road evangelist revivals and come home and have a great congregation yes that's possible too but I think we have to decide what are we going to be a revivalist which is a particular kind of style or are we going to be maybe contemplative and quiet and reflective I remember that you know I had to make a decision was I gonna be more concerned about my reputation which would need to cash cameras and crowds what was I gonna do my very best to allow the Word of God to come forth and let God take care of the rest of it I was on let God take care of whether or not you know I had I was a great preacher my goal has always been to improve to be a better preacher today than I was yesterday my goal has always been to be better than the last time I preached I remember when I was blessed to preach to Hampton ministers conference which is a huge huge opportunity and a great blessing to be invited Bishop Claude Richard Alexander my great friend invited me to be the morning speaker at Hampton the tremendous amount of pressure to be on such a wonderful in such a powerful and historical stage I remember the sense of pressure that I felt on my shoulders as Hampton happens in June and I was you know like it's beginning of the abuse a praying tree you'd have to praying for you you know it's almost like I was gonna Calgary or something and so what helped me to calm down I was I decided that my goal is to be a better preacher today than the last time I preached so I preached on Sunday morning before Hampton and then Tuesday morning I was a morning preacher in my gold Tuesday morning was to be a better preacher than I was Sunday at home then I preached Wednesday morning my goal was on Wednesday morning to be a better preaching I was on Tuesday then I preached Thursday morning at Hampton my goal was to be a better preacher on Wednesday and then I went back home to preach on Sunday and my goal was to be a better preacher on Sunday than I was on Thursday the goal is continuous improvement to continue to improve is my goal always to continue to prove to improve because I don't believe that Jesus pursued the fame I believe that Fame pursued him and he gave a relevant word to the lives of people and because he gave a relevant word to the lives of people in reputation spread not that he was trying to spread his reputation but I believe that where there's quality work and quality preaching God will take care of your reputation if you just focus on having an effective word and being a better preacher than I was the last time I preached whether or not you drive revivalist whether or not you have a quieter and a more contemplative style whether you're preaching as a pastor or a guest preacher the goal is to be a better preacher this time than the last time I preached and if you do that and work on that and be dedicated to that I believe that God will take care of the rest and God will take care of your reputation and you don't have to you know shall we say the toot your own horn you will have to do that God will take care of that that is the first unnoticed mistake in preaching that can sneak up on us number one being more concerned about our reputation then we are about the gospel more concerned about who's calling our name how many speaking engagements we're getting who's calling us are we getting invited to the right pulpits all of these things all of us have to wrestle with these traps but I believe that Jesus concentrated on being an effective preacher and disciple ER and everything else was in God's hands well let me get to number two thank you for joining us let me I am doing the five unnoticed mistakes in preaching and I want to do number two number two number two is what I call the home run syndrome that's what I called the home run syndrome it's that every sermon must be a home run every sermon the preacher must hit it out of the ballpark every sermon you have to leave them standing shouting being slayed in the spirit we have to hit a home run every time we preach this is a tremendous amount of pressure in the african-american community because we place such a vital importance on the clothes it's the vital importance that we place on the clothes that allows us to do all kinds of things rip the clothes out of context do all kind of stuff to make sure that we leave the people standing and shouting even if it erases what we already taught the people we got to hit a home run every time I called it the home run syndrome is what I call it we exaggerate the clothes we rip the clothes out of context the clothes that nothing to do with the sermon other than leave them standing and shouting every sermon is not a home run and since I'm in the baseball you know analogy it's not the question of a home run it's a question of what's your batting average so you know for example that a 300 hitter is a wonderful hitter in baseball which means they strike out seven or they make an out seven out of ten times there's only three times they get a hit well the same thing I'm thinking in preaching is that you know the people want to know what's our batting average what's our batting average so when I was leaving my first church a member who had been with me 18 years came up to me and said I never heard a bad sermon in 18 years in 18 years I never heard a bad sermon I took that as a great compliment notice the person didn't say every sermon that I hit was a home run that's not what the person said they never heard a bad sermon which meant that my preaching had a level of consistency that the person could be uplifted encouraged every sermon wasn't a home run but my batting average was such that my worst sermon did not fall below a certain level and so that's what I mean by batting average on your worst Sunday how far does your sermon fall that what people are really want is consistency because no consistency is connected with preparation and people experience preparation as a form of love if you work enough to prepare to sermon people know when they're hearing an unprepared sermon people know when they're hearing a last-minute sermon so in essence when we have a consistent method method of preparation often we'll have a consistent quality sermon and so we have a consistent quality of sermon we don't get into the home run syndrome gotta hit a home run sometimes particularly when I was used to preach out on the road I was a guest preacher you know I'm trying to hit a home run every time and when I come home the people love me I'm preaching as a pastor let me give you an example I remember when I was a young preacher and I heard Gardner Calvin Taylor preach I had just our past three and the seminary had Gardner Calvin Taylor dr. Taylor came in and preached and when he finished I wanted to resign from preaching I didn't want you know because there was such a wide gap between what he was doing as a preacher and what I was doing as a preacher so you know what I realized after so a little bit more thinking and experience but I realized I was comparing a sermon that he has preached many times he had polished with my average everyday Sunday sermon you can't compare sermons and great masters from that preach the sermon several times in several places and polish them and work them and you know mastered them with the average everyday Sunday sermon that I was presenting as a matter of fact I learned to experience that between 7 and 10 of the sermons that I preached as a pastor in the congregation were worthy of going on the road so I could polish them many of them were contextual to the context in this particular place word that God was using to mention to these people in this place at this time and so my experience was I could not compare my Sunday morning sermons to sermons that dr. Gardner Taylor because he only took his best material in a road and he had polished and polished and polished and polished so I want don't want you to be in the in the the home run syndrome I don't want you to be in the home run syndrome what's your batting average what's your consistency preparation is a form of love and people know when you've prepared so if you prepare a sermon you pray by you off it your very best to God it will be a solid a wonderful a meaningful sermon not necessarily a homerun every now and then God to give you a homerun we're thankful for that every now and then gotta give you a home but thankful for that for the most part preparation is a form of love people are more interested in your batting average then they are and your hitting a home run every week so that's the second unnoticed mistake trying to hit a home run every week trying to hit a home run every time you preach that don't mean that we are not to aspire to be the very best we can be and be effective that preaching but I'm talking about a home run what we have to leave them standing shouting running slain in the spirit as evidence that we really preached well let me get number three number three is sneaky it's do not let me put it this way many preachers make assumptions when they are invited to preach I can't continue to learn do not make any assumptions when you have been invited to preach for example it's always good to spend time talking to your hosts about what are they trying to accomplish it's always a wonderful exercise to spend time with what are you trying to accomplish you know what is it that you want done you invited me I'm so open to the invitation but what are you trying to accomplish you know another one is who is the audience who is the audience you know always find out who is the audience then what's the theme do you have a theme that you would like then fourthly what's the time expectation for the message I emphasize on that you know you don't come you know like some of my friends in Africa critique American preachers who show up and bring their video cameras take a few pictures of them preaching and then come back and post the pictures on their website to show their international preaching ministries more about them than it is about the people so I say that you come to help the pastor the person who invited you you come to help the church you do not come to put pictures on your website and to show everybody how broad and expansive is your preaching ministry it's not about you it's about service to them and so that's why it's important what are they trying to accomplish I come to help you accomplish what you're trying to accomplish you know who is the audience you know what what's what's the theme what's the thing you know I'm in other words failure can happen because we have not thoroughly understood the context and the expectations so you have to be very very careful to make sure that you will indeed ask a lot of questions to make sure you understand what are the expectations I say to people do not helicopter in and do your part in helicopter out in other words I was at a revival and the preacher did not come in until right before the time it was time for him to preach and he preached and after he preached he went straight out the door he helicoptered in and helicoptered out now I've had some helicopter experiences I've done some of that always apologize my schedule is too tight I always make an effort to support the program to support the church and often times I suggest come ahead of your presentation and get a feel for the people the place and the agenda often times advertise that to people come ahead of time checkout so you get a sense of what's happening in the place the feel the people of the agenda often listen to someone else preaching teach you know support the program you know sometimes people only attend when they're on stage when it's their turn I often say support the program offer the same support and encouragement that you want people to offer you so if the only time you show up so when it's your time to preach or your time to lead to workshop in my argument is you're not supporting the program and then stay to the time I've been on so many programs that the program gets behind because you know sometimes they start late sometimes they start on time and the people speaking are late and run over time I teach in my classes make sure you come in under the time and they'll invite you back because so many people so many people make the mistake of slaughtering the time running over time throwing the program back well you find out if they want you to preach 30 minutes preach 29 minutes and sit down you know go underneath time and this is another tip never priest longer than a pastor I've seen associate ministers preach long I've been a pastor you can't do that please do not do that you know please do not take liberties that the leader of the pastor has in other words what I'm suggesting to you is that none of us are bigger than the program you are not bigger than the church that environment if they got ten members the fact that they invited you to me they want you to come help them to partner with them they don't want you to come to build your resume take a few pictures of put on your website to tell how big your how many revivals you do with how many speaking engagement now it's not about that it's about helping this congregation so I gotta I go to all sides of churches big churches Cathedral Church ha's and I go to little churches small churches you know church is pretty much Church and I go where I'm invited and if my schedule will allow and it doesn't take too much time away from my family then I go and I respect the church at whatever level I find there I'm coming there to help God has placed me there to help and so sometimes it's a huge and it's a massive church and sometimes it's a small sometimes it's in between sometimes it's Baptist sometimes it's Methodist sometimes it's a white church Hispanic Church black church all these things I'm a communicator of the gospel of Jesus Christ and it's my joy and my privilege to preach it whenever asked and whenever invited so I am not bigger than the program so also you know I say if you're gonna preach as a guest Minister watch out for cancer man's sermons you've already preached do the work even if it's a familiar message it deserves prayer work and desire it deserves you to go through it maybe rewrite it to ask God what's a fresh perspective even in an older message then I say to people always try to meet the thing if at all possible try to meet the fame if at all possible and sometimes I've worked to try to meet the theme and guess what it's a bad sermon on the themes I always say to people I know that you all would prefer a good sermon off the theme than a bad sermon on the thing but I do want you to know that I really label you forgot to try to have a relevant word for this theme so this so try don't just cop-out but do the work to try to hit the theme and sometimes I know they give you very general themes you know I've been through it you know sometimes is so general but do the best to support the program and hit the theme and then ultimately I guess that's what I'm saying is humility no preacher is bigger than the context no one has to invite you anywhere every invitation when I was a younger preacher I used to believe that somebody was supposed to invite me somewhere when I was a younger preacher I expect it to be invited now that I'm an older preacher I know that every invitation is a sacred trust and nobody owes you anything and nobody has to invite you anywhere please may I and thank you I don't come as a diva I don't come as a celebrity I come to help I come to serve and I come to offer the best of my my ministry my insight my wisdom and experience and the hopes that will help somebody in this congregation so every invitation is a privilege so what I'm really suggesting is humility that I think that's really what I'm talking about when you make assumptions you're not being humble do not make any assumptions do not make any I don't make any assumptions where I'm supposed to sit what time I'm supposed to come in I'm asking for the leader to help me understand what I'm supposed to do where I'm supposed to be and I do not try to make any assumptions be humble don't be a diva don't be you know what's this word kept don't don't make it don't make it hard on people to invite you based upon all of the stuff you need and you need this and you need that we invited a gospel singer once and they sent their their list of requirements and you know it was crazy I mean it was like it was crazy it was just absolutely crazy you know and I'm a pretty sensible person but some of this stuff is crazy so sometimes I say to people all the time that even if I have the reputation and even if I've you know achieved a modicum of success or fame I have but you call it I never forget where I came from and I never forget is God that lifted me and raised me and God has made something out of me and so I'm always open and available trying to do the very best I can to serve churches and serve pastors and serve people so that's let me get to number four because that one ran a little bit longer than I intended but I'm gonna talk about the unnoticed mistake number four which is the call to preach is not a call to preach can I talk about that the call to preach he's not a call to preach in other words let me tell you a story when I was in seminary I was not getting many speaking engagements and my classmates used to come back to school or from over the weekend and said hey priest here and they preached there and they were guest minister here and they were guest minister there they did revival here to give me five yeah well I wasn't getting any speaking engagements so every time somebody was you know saying what he had been I said well Frank where you been well I was on the Pew so I really got me discouraged and I really got discouraged and I had an advisor and Scimitar and then Perry the fever and he had this big office up at the top you know so I traipse up all of those steps you know dr. Lefevre how are you doing and so he had this office it was so Johnny stuff was everywhere I'm talking about junk was everywhere all over that jump was everywhere now he found himself in that place cleared out a spot for me so it was sitting on you like you want to talk and I said yeah I do I said you know I'm discouraged because I'm here doing all this work in seminary and nobody's inviting me invited me to preach so he looked at me and he said the call is not to preach the call is to prepare and God looks at the quality of your preparation to determine when you're ready to preach and he said I assure you if you will prepare before God and do this work faithfully you'll preach some places where only prepared people can preach did you know that bless me do you know that changed the course of my worries I'm not getting any speaking engagements the call is to prepare many people assume that they get a call in the call is to preach know the components to prepare and God looks at the quality of your preparation how serious you are about your preparation and then God determines based upon your preparation when and if you're ready to preach we don't focus on preparation I believe that everybody should go to school now that happened to teach in a seminary and everybody's not able to go to seminary but I believe that everybody should find the educational opportunities in their community that could be a Bible College that could be a junior college it could be a four-year college I believe that if we're up speaking to people we should have as broader the knowledge both about the Bible and life as possible and so education is critical now education don't necessarily save you some of the best preachers such as for example CEO Franklin never went to seminary but just because I didn't go to seminary he was a lifelong learner he was always reading something studying something you know bringing people over to his house to teach in this truck taking classes don't know because he had an appetite to learn because as we learn we're able to help people and so the goal is is to have to be a lifelong learner to continue at whatever level wherever you are to find educational opportunities to grow and expand your mind and your heart in your life and I believe that people should go to seminary I believe that but if it's not possible then find a level of education at whatever place you are and get that because it takes a certain broadness if the people in front of us are being higher and higher educated then the preacher has to rise and the preachers knowledge I mean it's a it's a you know so if you get up and say you know you know Jesus traveled to Capernaum somebody's got their smartphone or their iPad and they dig up Capernaum oh that's where Jesus is well if you cook Paul was born and 150 AD you know and it happens not to be that you know as long followed by long-gone 151 AD you quoting stuff people go look it up on a cell phone and they say nothing right you know so in this age facts are very important and so we have to continue to strive to educate ourselves to educate ourselves be lifelong learners such that we can inform people and help people because this is an educated age that we're living in and so the goal is you are not called to preach the moment God calls you you're called to prepare and the quality of your preparation before God the love of God that goes into preparation takes a tremendous love of God to leave your job pack your books and boxes and here to somebody seminary R it takes a love of God even if you don't pack your boxes but to take night class it takes a love of people God is looking at the love that you have for God and the love you have for people the quality of your preparations determines when you can preach and I am a witness that if you do quality preparation there are some places that only prepared people can preach I assure you Allah I'm surprised that some of the places I preach I am absolutely surprised but God has opened the door because I really tried to prepare myself and even now continually learning to prepare myself that's an unnoticed estate when we are not applying ourselves to the very best of our educational knowledge and we're just preaching because we got a call to preach no no no no no no no no get some education at whatever level that's available and keep pushing and keep pushing and keep pushing and you'll find that your knowledge increases in the way you handle the Word of God and your communication to people and you bike and you'll get an invitation and it's like only prepared people can preach in this place I know it I know it for myself this happened to me it'll happen to you well I want to hit this last one unnoticed I call it preachers think they can be prophetic with our relationship so let me talk about this a little bit because I learned it's really the hard way when I went to school I mean this would be Stone Age for some of you all but I graduated from seminary in 1981 the seminary I went to was really big on prophetic preaching and prophetic ministry and so we were hammered around Luke 4:18 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the good news to the poor I was hammered to Innis them in a moment we don't preach the good news yeah we're gonna be prophetic and the people are not gonna want to hear it and we're gonna be persecuted like the Old Testament fits and so I had a vision that I was going to be in the city on 74th Street in the city of Chicago and I was going to do justice ministry we were going to get what the people needed from their government you know we were going to stand up against racism segregation and all of this stuff it was hammering into me then God put me out in the suburbs to Pastor an african-american church who were living out in the suburbs high earners the creme de la creme and I had a certain disdain because I felt they were running away from from the black neighborhoods and run away from the poverty and so I used to jump on him he's being prophetic I used to jump on him you know I mean I'm prophetic how dare you and disengage from the community you out here and he's you know these suburbs and did a lot of damage trying to be prophetic I mean it just did a whole lot of damage and then I read in a book called recovery of preaching by Henry H Mitchell Ezekiel sat where they said and he wept for seven days it changed my preaching i sat weather people said and I wept when I put myself in the position of the people rather than over the people being prophetic a bull in a china shop castigating them castigating those luxury cars out in the parking lot you know we were in a rented church and how dare you driving all this we in a rented church to feeling funny and growing you just you know and you know you know just be to people and I learned something I get a whole lot of damage in the name of being prophetic what I learned is that you earn the right to be prophetic in a congregation what I learned is there's a connection in the congregation between being prophetic and pastoral care people will listen to your prophetic word after you walk enough Hospital floors pee we'll listen to you be prophetic when you stand at the gravesite and you pronounce the blessing over their loved ones or their surgery at the hospital and you're there at six o'clock in the morning to pray for the family and checking on them yet in other words there's a connection between pastoral care and prophetic ministry there's a connection there's a connection between prophetic ministry you earned the right to be prophetic once people know that you're not out to hurt them or harm them and that you actually love them they give you latitude to be prophetic we have a lot of people being prophetic I'm talking about prophetic preaching but have not attended enough to the care of the souls of the people you can be prophetic just be prophetic with compassion you can be prophetic just be prophetic because you sit where the people sit you know I think you says I went down by the river Chebar and I sat where they said and when I sat where they said I wept for seven days and after I wept for seven days it changed my preaching I was still prophetic oh but it changed can be sad what a people said have you sat where you know the the you know anybody that you're railing against sit where they sit and I believe that God will give you a prophetic word because you don't have to necessarily be a bull in a china shop and there are still times when you'll be prophetic and they will treat you just like the Old Testament prophets they will beat you whip you cash you out you know scandalize your name as we used to say in the end they say in the african-american tradition I've been buked and I been scorned I've been talked about as sure as you born and you have to discover that trouble don't last always and that's that is known that that's the word of hope that you can be prophetic but make sure that you have a relationship with the people you're being prophetic to I think you'd have a better chance I get a whole lot of damage you are I did a whole lot of damage trying to be prophetic without relationship without ever sitting where the people sat well can I review right now you know I know we're running almost to an hour but let me let me review with you number one unnoticed mistake is to be overly concerned about your reputation your preaching that's an unnoticed mistake that's kind of a form of pride that sneaks in on us and you know captures us we want to be considered to be great preachers which leads to number two which is the home run syndrome that many of us are trying to hit a home run every time we preach about what we mean by home run for many of us is leaving people standing and shouting and running you see the over concern but reputation leads us to think we gotta hit a home run every time and the question is what is your batting average then which leads to number three kind of arrogance when we are invited to speak we're not humble enough we don't ask enough questions we don't realize that we come to serve not for the people to serve us that every invitation is a sacred trust somebody's inviting you to help them in the work they're trying to do with God you know I did three nights of revival two weeks ago in Kansas City and I kept telling the preacher I came to help you came to help you I came to serve this congregation and to help you and what you're trying to accomplish what do you think that you're trying to accomplish and we would talk it through and talk it through because the program is bigger than me I'm not bigger than the program I'm not doing him a favor to come you know they're doing me a favor to invite me so I say you know the question of humility it can sneak in and eat us alive then a number four years we're so busy trying to be a great preacher that as soon as we get a call we start preaching no the call is to prepare and the quality of your preparation determines the quality of your preaching or when you preach and if you will continue to prepare you know what'll happen to you you preach in places that only prepared people only prepared people can preach you will preach in places that only prepare people can preach and lastly number five be humble enough to know that prophetic preaching takes relationship in a congregation and don't prophesy over people and never sit where they said even in the public square when I most want to be prophetic at some point sit whether people sit and I think you can still be prophetic but you will be prophetic with compassion well this is broadcasts of the five unnoticed mistakes in preaching I want to thank you a couple things I want to suggest to you each and every Monday morning at 8 o'clock Eastern Time we have a periscope call I do this on a weekly basis a periscope called on preaching each and every Monday morning Eastern Time 8 o'clock a.m. once you know that we have resources at preaching at celebration calm that's preaching a set you want to know more learn more stay connected more then go to preaching at celebration dot-com preaching at celebration calm you'll find more information there the YouTube channel that you're watching this video on has tremendous we load up preaching videos once every week and we have all kinds of resources that you can look at and you can learn from all of it is free we're not charging anybody at least you know on this YouTube channel we're not charging anybody we have an online coaching program that we can charge for if you're interested that's at preaching a celebration calm but we really do try to provide a wealth of resources that are absolutely free that you can share you can use you know and you can share with people and share with your friends to stimulate discussion also have a new book coming out November 1st it is a wonderful piece of work is called the introduction to the practice of african-american preaching from Abingdon press that's coming out we also have a workbook that you can this is a workbook that is so German we got such positive feedback that's and I know I'm giving you a lot dr. Frank a Thomas calm I know I'm giving you a lot I'm giving you a lot but we have these resources because our goal is to generate a preaching Renaissance our goal is to have a preaching Renaissance to make American Christianity relevant in America in the 21st century my sense is that a lot of the church and a lot of our preaching doesn't feel relevant and so we offer these resources to you we offer these resources to you if you have enjoyed this broadcast and you'd like to give us some feedback about future webinars and what you think I'm very open to your opinion thank you for tuning in I want you to send me a message across youtube and also you can follow me on twitter dr frank a thomas at dr Frank a Thomas and you can send me a message there and you know let me know let me know let me know and I appreciate your feedback I appreciate you know so much your support we're gonna try to do these webinars in the future and so any feedback you want to give us so can I review just one more time what we're doing and why we're doing it we are talking about the fab unnoticed mistakes number one to be able to concerned about the reputation number three to try to get a home run every time you preach number three to be so humble that you ask questions and you come to serve rather than to be silly and number four is the call to preach is a call to prepare not a call to start preaching it's a call to prepare and then number five is to think that you can be prophetic without relationship there's a connection between prophetic preaching and pastoral care and the local congregation and if you will work on the relationship people give you the permission to be prophetic so when you stand up and challenge them they know that you love them and they're open somewhere someone's still not be open and you will be treated just like the Old Testament prophets but there are some people who will love you and who will respect you and will thank you well I am going to end our broadcast thank you so very much god bless you can I pray for you before I go god I thank you for this opportunity I ask that this broadcast would help these preachers God I thank you for this opportunity to share thank you for this gospel of Jesus Christ that is the hope for the world we preach it and we share it that people might be helped saved and filled have hope for their future that I thank you for this privilege is in Christ's name and let everybody say Amen and amen god bless you and I will see you next time thank you god bless you

Channel: Frank Thomas

Views: 16,379

Rating: 4.9164734 out of 5

Keywords: preaching, black preaching, frank a thomas, #hangoutsonair, Hangouts On Air, #hoa, homiletics, preaching method, improve your preaching

Id: yUjjuswaSaQ

Length: 49min 16sec (2956 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 06 2016