When to 'back off'

JR
There may be a number of reasons why this brother feels you are too hard in your preaching. Here are a few ideas that may be or may be not the case. 1. The Word of God has convicted him 2. He is an over sensitive person who lives an emotion based Christian life 3. He has a wife who is offended by somthing you said from the pulpit. The list goes on but I think that as expository preachers we have to stick to the text and not preach out of personal frustration over someone who doesnt like our style of preaching. Truth gives us passion to preach and compassion and love give us our purpose to preach. I have had folks accuse me of being too hard and others commend me for sticking to the Word regardless if the message touches a sore spot. Keep on and trust God.

 

JR,
What was your growth from the first 2 years?
Was it from transfer growth? If this is true than maybe the exodus from other churches of unhappy people has subsided.
Was it from conversion growth? Then maybe a change in how you do visitation and evangelism is in order. Sometimes programs and ministries have a 'shelf life' and they die a natural death. Sometimes doing the same thing loses effectiveness not with the people we are reaching, but with the people doing the reaching.

About how balanced your preaching is ask a trusted friend (from outside the church) to listen to the tapes of your preaching and see what they think.

 

J.R., what can you learn from the meeting? Even though it is a criticism from this deacon - perhaps even unwarranted - maybe something can be learned from his comment. It may give you a chance to reflect on your preaching style (facial expressions, demeanor, etc.) Do you come across as always angry? If a sermon has been challenging, do you build up and encourage the congregation to the task - or do you "guilt" them?

If you are satisfied that there is no truth to what the deacon said, then move on and continue in what you're doing. If, on the other hand, you identify something you can improve upon - do it.

I think we may be sharing a common experience - I've heard this before, too!

Also, remember this: sometimes when you are true to the Word of God in your preaching, the crowd will get smaller, not bigger. Don't allow church members - even deacons - to back you off from doing the will of God.

 

What about a one-on-one private meeting with the complaining deacon. Ask him for specifics. I've heard hard, hammering sermons before. The ones I didn't receive well were those which I felt hammered unfairly. You don't have to defend yourself to him, but hearing him out could prove beneficial.

We had a young fella to guest-preach one night. Every word he spoke was true. But everybody in the auditorium went away angry. This young fellow raged and ranted, stomped around, spit and foam, and mugged. He used every trick in the book to get amens, and put us down when he didn't get them. On top of that he did all this for more than an hour, making us a half-hour late for choir practice. He didn't preach to us, he preached at us, at top volume, too.

This young preacher would probably have been shocked if somebody had told him he came across as arrogant. But he did. And I realize that back in his home church, they may eat this stuff up. Our folks can handle hard preaching, but not that.

 

Have you tried recording your sermons and then listening to them?

 

Love the idea of having some trusted soul listen to a couple of tapes and give you an assestment, I think I would start there. Everyone seems to have a different definition for expository preaching, but maybe a short topical series on angels or how music was used in ancient times will give a bit of the break they think they need?

Don't you just love it when folks tell you to preach wahtever is on your heart and then afterwards tell you "whoops sorry, but not that part of your heart". Gotta love those sheep!

 

I'd tell 'em, If they didn't like it, they could hit the door.

Keep preaching the Word Brother, don't let no sissy'fied sinner stop you. I used to hear that all the time.. "you're hammering them too hard!" Finally I told the deacons and the members, this is the way I preach and if you don't like it, go find you a compromising Church and attend there..

I haven't had a problem since.

TheWinDork
Pastor of an Acts Chapter 6 type Church and not a Deacon run Church!

 

um, Windork...

if you're not kidding...

"A gentle answer turneth away wrath."

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Praying for you JR--wisdom to respond rightly, conviction to stand by truth, humility to honestly evaluate the what and the how of your message and delivery, and a hunger for righteousness on the part of your church and its leadership.

 

If you are going to "fault" one way or the other, fault on the side of grace.

 

Wow, I am having a hard time seeing your approach in light of 1 Peter 5 and the role of a shepherd.

I guess you know better than Peter, huh?

 

No, But I do believe in Pastoral Authority and a Acts Chapter 6 Church, and I don't believe that deacons should be telling a Pastor how to run his Church. and obviously, You do.

Deacons are to be APPOINTED, Not elected and are to serve UNDER the authority of a Pastor, and should NEVER, EVER tell a Pastor how to preach!

End of Story.

Argue with the Bible, Not me

TheWinDork

 

This is the common response from those who want to live in thier sin and not have a real preacher, preach the WORD OF GOD. and they also don't want the Holy Ghost to convict them.

 

I'll tell you the same thing I told PastorSBC a while back: Simply preach the truth. Don't worry about whether the church grows or not, just leave that up to God. Doesn't mean you shouldn't witness, go out and evangelize, etc., just preach the truth.

Preaching the truth offends some who want to be entertained only, and they will leave.

Now, while it's true that deacons shouldn't be telling the preacher how to preach, in most Baptist churches, the elders are called "deacon", and it is the elders' responsibility to make sure the preacher is preaching the truth.

If you're butting heads with an elder, and you're preaching the truth, then you need to be prepared to stick to your guns and not compromise your principles and doctrines just to tickle people's ears.

Also, by "hard" preaching, I'm assuming that you are talking about expositional preaching the gets to the root of the matter, as opposed to the fluff that pleases so many people. If you're talking about the ranting and raving and yelling kind of "hard"...

 

This is the common response from those who want to live in thier sin and not have a real preacher, preach the WORD OF GOD. and they also don't want the Holy Ghost to convict them.
</font>[/QUOTE]Buddy...if that accusation is directed at me, then...well...hooboy.

 

I never said the deacons should be telling the pastor what to do or what to preach.

My entire point was on the harshness of your statement.

The deacons I am priviledge to serve with are godly men that love me, pray for me, support me and have never once told me how to carry out my calling. But I am also not telling them, "do things my way or hit the door." There should be mutual respect and love between the pastor and the deacons.

You made my point for me, thanks

1 Peter 5:2-3 "Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you , but being examples to the flock."

I really never thought I would ever be discussing anything with someone named "TheWinDork"

 

Hope Mr. Windork has his resume up to date...

Most folks that make those type of caustic remarks tend to have multiple numbers of "ministry opportunities" in relatively short periods of time...

 

it's become clearer and clearer to me, what kind of board this really is.

 

Enlighten us . What kind of board is it?