I am currently reading two preaching books that sometimes seem to contradict each other: “Communicating for a Change” by Andy Stanley & Lane Jones and “The Supremacy of God in Preaching” by John Piper.
Both books have helped me tremendously, at least I hope they have.
I read the Stanley book a couple of months ago, liked it and ordered 50 copies for our Manila preachers. After announcing I would lead a 7-week group discussion of the book, I promptly had to order 50 more.
For some reason, I grossly underestimated the number of preachers we have in our church—Victory. If you know me, you know I am not really much of a numbers guy. (Although I do know that I am the husband of one wife and the father of three sons.)
As we read and discuss the book over the next few weeks, we expect to discover multiple applications, because our Metro Manila church is quite unique.
Here’s a snapshot of Victory—circa April, 2007.
–12 venues scattered across Metro Manila.
–All venues have multiple services, currently totaling 52 per weekend.
–Most of our preachers lead 2 to 4 services per weekend.
–Many of our preachers preach on an every-other-week rotation.
–Plus, we have dozens of Kid’s Church preachers.
All this to say that the 50 books I originally ordered didn’t last long, thus the additional 50.
We are now in week two of our weekly discussion of the Stanley book. The plan is to read Stanley, then meet to discuss the application of the principles in our various congregations in Metro Manila and beyond.
We are not assuming that what works in suburban Atlanta will automatically work in Metro Manila. We also are not assuming that the application is the same in different parts of Metro Manila.
But, we are hopeful that this exercise will help us all become better preachers, no matter who or how many we are preaching to.
I will blog about our some of our discussions and discoveries in the coming weeks.
I close with a quote from the Piper book, where he quotes Cotton Mather (an American preacher who died a few hundred years ago).
“The great design and intention of the office of a Christian preacher is to restore the throne and dominion of God in the souls of men.”
That is exactly what I need to get better and better at doing.