Pastor Fired For Plagerizing Sermons

I know many preachers who use each other's notes and serman ideas all the time.

 

I think, by and large, that the sr. pastor should do most if not all of the preachign/teaching in the main services, and use others to teach in classes, Bible studies etc. Reason is that one of hte main job qulaifications of the pastor is "able to teach." (The other is "able to manage".) The apostles told the church to ordain deacons so that they would have time for the word and prayer. If a pastor does not have time to stay fresh and study from week to week, then he is not prioritizing properly. There is no reason why a pastor should not be able to preach 52 weeks a year. It is good to have a break from time to time, to take a vacation from the pulpit. But that should be the exception rather than the rule. After all pastors, you are paid to study and preach ... or at least you should be.

As for using other's material, I have preached someone else's outline one time I thinkk and told the audience I was doing it. I can't preach someone else's becuase it is not mine. I do borrow freely from their material and quote them (with or without public reference depending on the situation). I generally don't cite a name unless it means something to the audience. I often say "one writer says" or "it has been said." Sometimes I say nothing at all.

 

Word for word?? No can do!

But if my bullets fit in your gun---buddy, you have my permission to "lock and load!"

Hopefully, though, you'll be able to make some drastic improvements before you fire your weapon with my bullet loaded in the chamber!

Blackbird

 

We could use more Edwards, Spurgeon and Whitfield in the pulpit right now. Credited or not.

"Lord, Lunatic or Liar" is not an original sermon.

I would credit it. But I would also see it preached rather than have people perish.

 

If one reads extensively, studies hard and puts in the time preparing messages, just how much material do we absorb and subconsciously "own" that material?

If truth be known, we are probably all guilty of "owning" someone elses material. To be honest, I am not always aware of what content I pass along belonging to others. Certainly there is some obligation to give credit where credit is due. I have quotes written hastily in my Bible and I have used them in talks or sermons, but I haven't a clue who said them some 50 years ago. They just happened to be succinct enough to be of value at the time.

How many young preachers have copied the style of certain preachers? Oh how many Dr. Shields we saw, and later mini Billy Grahams. A wise man once said, "When we copy another man, we usually copy his errors." I always kept that in mind and tried to make my own mistakes.

If we keep in mind what we are doing in the pulpit and realize the most important thing is to impart truth, we shall not go far wrong in our presentation, God getting the glory and not man.

Cheers,

Jim

 

One preacher decided to be original or nothing and he became both.

I have no problem using someone else's thoughts developed within my own framework and sermon. I would however have difficulty preaching another's sermon in its entirety w/o some source acknowledgement. Many of the leading speakers of today have teams that help them prepare their messages. I simply have certain preachers/speakers who serve as my team.

 

To follow up on your thought SBCbyGrace, most of those churches that have "creative teams" and "researches" that work for their teaching pastors, have purposefully made their sermons, graphics etc. available for pastors who pastor smaller churches.

For example:

www.creativepastors.com
www.pastors.com
www.willowcreek.com

 

I can admit to using framework (e.g. major teaching points), but I have never outright copied another's sermon. It's okay to use notes/bullets/ideas, but even with that, there's no excuse for a pastor not putting in the time, effort, and prayer over a sermon he will deliver. It's what Voddie Bauchman called "sweat equity." You musn't deliver a sermon without it.

 

I have been accused of . . . of . . . doing what it is we are talking about here----but never convicted!!

 

Remember what we're talking about here. We need to clearly define what is sermon plagarism and what is not. If we fail to do this, we get nowhere in this discussion.

You absolutely cannot use another person's work and claim it as your own.

We all probably use ideas, thoughts, outlines, and even entire sermons that did not generate completely with us. But if we're careful, we can avoid moral failure with this.

The best test for this is to imagine that the person we are quoting / using is sitting in our audience. How do we share what he/she said and do it honorably so they don't flog us at the end of the sermon? (I can't remember where I got this. I think I plagarized it)

 

Generally, it would be defined as taking the writings (pr presentations) of someone else, and passing it off as your own. We're not talking someone else's general idea or view, or prepublished sermon notes here (many pastors use prepublished sermon notes).

The OP referrs to outright plagarism: the taking of someone else's presentation and passing it off as your own.

 

Please explain.

 

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Proper citation is still the only honest way to go if one is using someone else's outline or even entire sermon. If properly citing one's sources is the expectation in secular academia, why should we tolerate any less within the church?

I have a total of 3 college & university degrees. To earn them, I had to research & write some rather arduous and lengthy papers/theses. Proper citation of the work of others, when necessary, was demanded.

Question: Why didn't I simply take advantage of a website like this one?:

http://www.researchpapers.net/

Answer: Because it would have been intellectually dishonest (not to mention that I would have been subject to academic suspension or expulsion if caught), and it would have also deprived me of the very education that I sought in the 1st place.

If all a pastor were to do is make use of the previous work of others in delivering sermons (especially uncredited), how does he live up to the exhortation of this Scripture?:

II Timothy 2:15:
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 

you know thew best sermons are the ones that are unrehearsed. You know the ones where you have a subject and then the pastor get's up there and just starts. It's amazing to see the Holy Spirit work though him. Those are usually the most moving and wonderful sermons out there.

Just a thought

 

I agree Larry. Integrity demands that we give credit where credit is due. To claim something that is from someone else belongs to us is larceny.

Bro Tony

 

I remember hearing J. Vernon McGee mentioning the same thing happening to him. Someone had reported to him. A preacher gave McGee's exact message. He had no problem with it, saying it doesn't belong to him (the message), but to God.