Does your pastor make you laugh?

I try to use humor in personal stories. I think it is very effective for your people to see you laugh at yourself. So from that standpoint, humor is a great thing.

Now I do not ever tell jokes. I think it can hurt more than help. So many things can go wrong with jokes. You can offend people. You can get the timing off and let the joke fall flat. So I just leave them alone.

But overall, I think humor is a very effective tool and can help get people ready to listen and hear God's Truth.

 

My pastor IMO uses just enough to accent a point. Sometimes at WED. Bible study he will quote a few funny or humorous stories to "loosen" us up from our word-a-day trials. After all it IS mid-week!
I remember one Sunday evening sermon he did on the word of God. He used Heb. 4:12 But with a "twist". He pointed out that back in the day, a sword was a weapon of war. So...out came an AK47 and a .22 cal pistol!!! I thought it was quite funny! But also very "pointed" in the comparison to a sword. (pun intended)
I will often use humor in my sermons, primarily to make a point.
I don't use it too much because my "brand" of humor is quite dry and often folks don't get it. So I use someone else's anecdotes or stories.

For example; Hypocrite = Hippo-Crit, Hippo = fat, Crit = Critic, hence hypocrite is a fat headed critic.

I told you my "brand" is quite dry!

In HIS service;
Jim

 

Mine uses personal illustrations and also things like lyrics to secular songs to make a point. People connect with that, at least here. And he often says things that are funny, but he doesnt really tell a bona fide joke.

 

Our does just a right amount of humonr, not too much and at least it's there, and sometimes he does it unintentionally, which is when it is really funny.

 

I have had one pastor that made me laugh. Most pastors I run into lately are too afraid to rock the tithing boat, and tend to run along the lines of politically correct. And in SBC churches no less!!!

 

Our new pastor has a knack for being extremely humorous when he really is not intending to be. The spontaneity is refreshing. He also attempts to tell a few jokes now and then during the announcements, and has gained a reputation of not being the best joke teller, which in and of itself has become somewhat humorous. And since he is easily able to laugh at himself, we all share a good laugh.

 

Yea he's pretty funny .

 

most pastors are funnier when they are not trying to be funny

At our New Years celebration this year, they showed a video of outtakes basically from a period of many years (our services are all taped because we have an overflow downstairs) I don't think a single pastoral staff member that has been here more than a couple years escaped the spotlight, and some of the verbal misteps that were caught on tape were really funny. I think the funniest was when our pastor was gone, and one of the assistant pastors was doing announcements and said something like. "I know you all knowing our pastor were looking forward to a great sermon this morning, but instead we will be hearing from..." The funny thing was that he couldn't figure out what was so funny, he really didn't even know what he said.

 

Pastor Rick always has a cute remark or a funny line but isn't a regular joke teller. His true life experiences are funny enough. He's got a really great smile and a genuine spirit.

Our previous minister was really good with a short joke or really funny line but would hit you with a super deep biblical truth before the laughter was completely gone. Hit like a ton of bricks. He always timed it just right... while he still had everyone's attention. We loved Bro. Alan so much but he's perfect for the Ok. General Baptist State job he now has.

 

Suggest to him that he try "Salami" or "Provolone".

HankD

 

Our senior pastor isn't intentionally funny but there is this quirk of his...

He stopped using translations when preparing his sermons many years ago, using Hebrew and Greek Bibles instead. He always intents to afterwards check the finished sermon against the translation our church is using, to see if he needs to clarify something. About once a month he forgets this. When that happens he always sneaks up to me a few minutes before the service and asks me if he could borrow my Bible for a couple of minutes.

 

My pastor is pretty funny. He has a good sense of humor but can go from laughing to serious preaching pretty quickly.

 

My pastor is funny. He can even be funnier when he doesn't mean to. Sunday he told the congergation that he was glad to see the chior dressed for a change.

 

Not yet!

 

"Nobody MAKES you laugh!" That's what I remember my 2nd grade teacher telling me and some others when we guffawed at lunch time or other times. It turned out she was right, at least for me. Now it's hard for anyone to get a laugh out of me, pastor included. I'd rather be a the 'laughee' than the laugher. When I was in high school, still in the same town, that teacher was killed in a wreck, literally getting her head chopped off. Coincidence or not, it was around the time I was in her class that it became popular to "one-up" somebody, then say, "Cut yo head!"

 

I once had a pastor that had a dry sense of humar that used it to effect. Of course as with a lot of pastors he used his family as examples in his sermons.

Once he was talking about being prudent with what God has entrusted us with, and mentioned a day when his wife walked into the house with her arms full of packages and proclaimed about her purchases; "Honey, you wouldn't believe the money I saved today."

I still get a laugh about that, but I'm not sure that he was laughing.

I don't aprove about outright joke telling. Jesus told Peter to feed My sheep (the Word). Not 'Leave them laughing.' Unfortunatly a lot of churches today have turned into entertainment complexes. Sad but true.