Distractions for a pastor or preacher

Its when they answer the cell phone that can bother you :thumbs: Yep, once, and I could not believe it.

Had a man pass out once, deacons carried him out, and I did not stop. Wasn't too disruptive as the deacons knew what to do and did it.

As for bathroom breaks it is ridiculous for the most part, especially when parents don't stop it week after week.

But then they threw rocks in the old days so maybe we don't have it so bad :thumbs:

 

My son.

He is 2 and he won't be quiet. When he gets to the point where I've "heard enough", I give my wife the bat-signal and she takes him to the nursery and makes him sit and doesn't let him play with the toys.

Why?

Because if you let him play with the toys, he'll think "if I'm bad in church, I get rewarded with toys!"

People yawning without covering their mouths is just plain old are you dee ee RUDE. Have some courtesy.

Going to the bathroom is no problem. I know that some folks have "problems" and I don't mind.

But the unruly kid and the yawner really get to me.

 

I did a funeral 6 months ago and during the 45 minute service, 5 cell phones went off at different times. 2 of the people actually left to take the call. I stopped after the 5th and asked everyone to turn off their cell phones.

In our announcement power point slides we have a slide asking for turning off cells phones. Although we once had a music director who answered his phone and left the service to talk. That's why I said that we ONCE had a music director.

The distraction usually don't bother me unless they start to bother people around. My real pet peeve is parents with babies not when they cry but when the little brats, er, sweet children, start waving and being baby cute to people around them. I now have some ladies in each service who notice the babies coming in and suggest that they might want to take their children to the nursery or Kids Zone.

 

Wow TB,

Where the cell phone folks young?

 

The one thing that bugs me the most is when disrespect is shown for the speaker by adults talking. It is a bad example to their children as well.

Once a man got up to sing in church and about five minutes later the man fell out of his seat and died . Another time an ambulance was called near the end of the service. Another time on the way to the church, traffic was stopped for a helicopter to air flight someone.

 

yes at the funeral, no, with the music director. :BangHead:

But they only do it once!

 

Babies cry and people have to go to the bathroom. Those things don't bother me.

Besides, I have six children, so I learned to tune out distractions a long time ago.

Cell phones, on the other hand, drive me nuts because that's just rude. If it's an emergency, put it on vibrate.

 

I heard a preacher say that cell phones at one time really bothered him when he preached. Then one time when he was preaching as a guest speaker, a cell phone went off. At the end of the service a very frail sheepish looking man walked up to the preacher and apologized that his phone went off during the service. The man went on to explain that he was on a heart transplant list and had to be ready at a moments notice to get to the hospital.

The preacher said that after that he did not worry about cell phones going off when he preached.:godisgood:

 

The frail man should still have left his phone on the vibration mode. There are no valid excuses for cell phones going off during a gathering of the saints.

 

Last Sunday my pastor interrupted his own message for approximately ten minutes. He chided the sleepy saints among us. I had noticed out of the corner of my eye a fellow to my left who was asleep for most of the sermon. But apparently there were too many others who were also sleeping. It's a sad state of affairs when people come to the house of God and ignore a message of a pastor by sleeping through it.

 

When I was in seminary, a student complained about people sleeping during the sermon. The professor remarked, "You put him to sleep, you best wake him up!" I always remembered that, and I also remembered what he added. "The best way to wake up a sleepy congregant is not to shout, but rather to whisper. His curiosity will better alert him to what is being said."

I would like to reverse the op and add about disturbances from the pulpit that disrupt worshippers. Peachers who can't remain in the pulpit and must dance about on the platform like he is training for gymnastics, or shouting constantly.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Many years ago, I worked the graveyard shift (11:00pm - 7:30am) at the post office. In spite of this, I just couldn't bring myself to miss the Sunday am service.

I fell asleep many, many times, but everybody knew why and they were very patient with me and the pastor was OK with it ("as long as you don't snore", he told me).

 

I filled in at my church, years ago, on a Sunday morning.

My son (now 8) was a couple of months old at the time.

Right at the climactic point of my sermon--at a place where I was "drawing them in" to make the main point...my son...er....exploded.

I didn't know there could be that much gas (well, some of it was gas) contained in a 12-pound body. I think he actually lifted himself up off the ground.

Four rows in every direction......done. They didn't hear another word the whole service.

Oh well...at least I can re-preach that sermon. No one remembers it!

 

The biggest distraction to me, ever, was a quiet one. I was preaching and as I preached, I noticed one lady with her arms crossed across her chest, three shades of red. She looked like she was about to shoot me...

That was about the worst. Also, when the electricity goes out during a sermon is pretty bad.

 

duplicate

))

 

I don't remember the details at this moment. But once when Charles H. Spurgeon was about to preach the room became black. ( It was before electricity was used.) He had a wonderful opportunity to declare some suitable exhortations for the occasion.

 

I had a guy come up to me and say one time, "Yo, rev, that sermon was like, lights out."

Dang. All this time I thought he liked it.

 

It's quite possible that the "sleepy saints" have sleep apnea or other medical conditions that are causing this. Many people with sleep apnea cannot sit at rest for an extended time without falling asleep. It's a medical problem, not a spiritual problem.