A Preaching Lesson from Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith was a great story teller. Watch this if you don’t believe me:

Unless it comes natural, you may not want to adopt his southern drawl, but we preachers could learn something from the way that Andy could tell a story. Notice how he occasionally slips into a present tense as he tells the story. It’s terrible grammar but it captivates a listener.

Phil Campbell would agree:

Odd as it seems, translating narrative into the present tense makes a story seem real and immediate—it’s just like being there. Retell a biblical narrative with present tense verbs, and something refreshing happens. The same applies to illustrations. You can take your listeners back in time and put them right inside the action just by adjusting the tenses…they look, he whispers, he says. It’s alive! Keeping narratives in the past tense coats everything with dust.

For this and other helpful preaching tips consider picking up a copy of Saving Eutychus by Gary Millar and Phil Campbell.

Today in Blogworld 05.13.13

Interview with Russell Moore

Here is an interview that Daniel Darling did with Russell Moore last Friday. Have I mentioned yet that I’m excited that Dr. Moore is the new head of the ERLC?

How Introverted Pastors Love

As an introvert myself I benefited from this. There are other points of interest in this article as well.

We Can’t Stop the Crash, But We Can Pick Up the Pieces

I appreciate Dave Miller’s take on our cultural situation.

Does Abba Mean “Daddy”?

There goes a couple sermon illustrations…

This little dude has some serious chops:

Happy Mother’s Day!

I bet this song was sang at many churches this morning:

To all you mama’s that are this awesome

An Album I’m Really Enjoying: All Sons and Daughters (Live)

I’ve been really digging the live version of this song: 

Actually I can’t seem to stop hitting repeat on the entire live album.

Review of The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert

Rosaria Champagne was a tenured professor at Syracuse University, a rising administrator, and a well-respected community activist. At the age of 28 she had declared herself a lesbian. She was heavily sought after by those advancing “radical leftist ideologies”. She despised Christians.

Rosaria Butterfield is a pastor’s wife and a homeschooling mother that is active in her Reformed Presbyterian church.

The gap between those two paragraphs is explained in The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert: An English Professor’s Journey Into Christian Faith. At the age of 36 Butterfield says, “Christ claimed me for himself and the life that i had known and loved came to a humiliating end”.

The book is only five chapters long and is nearly impossible to put down. The reader is immediately pulled into the story. Butterfield begins with her conversion and then moves on to how the Lord brought about a renewed view of human sexuality (which is very helpful by the way). In the middle of the book she shares about her church and the reasons why she landed in the Reformed Presbyterian denomination. The book closes with her discussing family and homeschooling.

My Take:

I don’t know that I can say it any better than Carl Trueman, “I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I do not agree with everything she says; but I did learn from everything she wrote. It deserves the widest possible readership”.

I appreciate how authentic this book is. Butterfield doesn’t tell a clean testimony. I like that. I love that she makes statements like this one, “I believe that the Lord is more grieved by the sins of my current life than by my past life as a lesbian”. If you think that you are getting a book that will be arsenal for your war against the homosexual agenda you are wrong. This book will rock you to the core. At least it should.

Upon completion of this book I had one overarching thought—wow, God can do anything! For that reason I would encourage anyone to buy this book. It will help your convictions grow as your view of God expands.

LifeWay has decided to promote this book in all their stores, which is a great decision. Run to your local LifeWay store and pick up a copy. Or if you don’t like running you can simply order it online.