A Day at FBC

I am writing this late Sunday night, reflecting on a great day with a wonderful church. I preached this morning from Psalm 23, a message emphasizing the rest & peace we have from the Lord our Shepherd. I worked hard on preaching for “life change” instead of oratory impressiveness, and I was a little nervous about the subtle change that I was making. But based upon the response that I received, the intentional changes in the message format really hit home with a lot of people. Instead of stringing together words and phrases aimed at pulpiteering, I tried to connect with the congregation about the real issues of life, and then offer key insights from the Bible about how to address them. It seemed to confirm to me that preaching with the aim of life change is far more important than preaching for oratorical excellence. My seminary training and experience have geared me for the pulpiteering style of preaching, but God has been working in my life to re-think and re-tool the kind of preacher I need to be. The change is not easy—and it almost feels like I am starting over. The overall style is still expository—letting the text determine the point & focus of the message—but the presentation puts less emphasis on oratory style and more on life connection. After preaching a certain style for more than 20 years, it may seem silly to re-tool or change what “works for me,” but I am committed to being whatever God wants me to be for His Kingdom’s work. And if that means re-learning the art of preaching, then I’m ready to give it a try.

We received the sad news today that church member Glen Harvey had passed away. Glen had been ill for quite some time, but none of expected to receive this news today. I went by the family’s home this afternoon to visit with his wife Margaret, and I was also able to visit and pray with two of the daughters (Elizabeth and Cindy) as well. This is a wonderful family at FBC, with several generations involved, so Mr. Harvey’s death had affected many people.

After leaving the Harvey’s home, I traveled to the church for a meeting with our Prayer Task Team, a subgroup of our church’s Facilities Leadership Team. The Prayer Task Team is the group charged with the task of calling our church to prayer while important decisions are being made about the new sanctuary. Bill Stubbs is the chair of this Task Team, and they put together some great ideas of how our church can pray through the many decisions facing our congregation as we consider constructing a new sanctuary. The day ended with a great concert by the trio Dayspring, a southern-gospel type group from the Americus, Georgia, area. The three members of Dayspring were delightful musicians, demonstrating a great love for the Lord and for sharing His gospel through music. Dayspring was a great blessing, and the dessert fellowship following the concert was a fitting ended to a good day in the life of FBC Statesboro.