I love the church of today very much. I also love the church I knew as a young man. The church of the late seventies and early eighties was the perfect place for me to be nurtured in my faith. Youth rallies seemed to happen every other week, mixed “bathing” was still frowned upon and Acappella was four or five guys in matching three piece suits singing about Atom Bombs and Water in the Plan.
I was a runner on the JOY Bus which meant I was up early every Saturday for a morning pep rally followed by a grueling few hours trying to visit all the kids on our route. It was tough. People just don’t like to answer their doors on Saturday morning. A lot of the kids we picked up lived in trailer parks which meant we could hear someone run to the door at the sound of our knock. I guess they didn’t like who they saw through the peephole because we would oftentimes hear the sound of their footsteps reverse course. However, the allure of free, all you could eat donuts every Saturday morning was enough to keep me on the Joy Bus for several years.
The church I grew up in was in the four to five hundred range in Sunday morning attendance. Not a huge church, but not a small one either. We had three full time ministers and several full time office staff. We had the typical three big meeting times per week and even had a pot luck every Wednesday before class. It was awesome. The pot luck. Okay, class was too. One of the things I really, really loved about my home church youth group was the fact we had a devo EVERY Sunday following evening services. They were always well attended too.
This is the church where I was given my first opportunity to preach. The youth group was assigned a Sunday night to conduct the entire service. Lord’s Supper included. Singing too. I was one of three young men asked to speak. I was only fifteen. Let me tell you something – at the time I was a complete, one hundred percent introvert. A bookworm. A nerd. Socially awkward times a million. If I had died the people who sat next to me in school would have never noticed I wasn’t there anymore.
However, I loved Jesus a lot and my youth minister, Randy Green, believed in me. That’s why he asked. That’s why I accepted. Plus he helped the three of us. We came up with an idea and he helped us turn it into a mini-sermon. He taught us how to turn Bible verses into outlines. I still have my original, first ever sermon outline. I preached on the Love of God. My handwriting was so terrible I can hardly read what I wrote but it looks pretty as I wrote it in red and green ink. What’s funny is the outline form I used on that sermon is the very one I still use all these years later.
There is a big difference between what’s on a page and how it comes out of one’s mouth. Trust me- before we got up to speak on that Sunday night we knew word for word what we would say. That’s because we had to practice our sermonettes over and over in front of Randy. Till we knew them by heart.
When I listened to the tape afterwards I was humiliated and thrilled at the same time. I didn’t realize as I was actually preaching that I kept making some sort of weird clucking noise. Almost at every pause. On the other hand, preaching that sermon, clucking notwithstanding, was a stunning accomplishment for me. This turtle began to poke it’s head out
After evening services were concluded that Sunday the three of us were mobbed by an adoring church. We were a hit. Even if most of the church had to tell Christian lies to make us think so. Right then and there I decided I wanted to be a minister. I liked saying things that helped people. I wanted to do it forever.
Since that era the church has made some progress in much needed areas. However, one of the the things I miss are the opportunities our young men had to flap their wings in public ministry. It seems to me we were much more democratic in those days as far as giving a broader spectrum of boys and men an opportunity to preach or lead a song.
Today it appears that many of our mid to large size congregations are moving away from Sunday evening services in favor of small groups. I like small groups. Or at least I like mine. Yet, dispensing with one of our public services has removed what had been a great lab for developing future ministers. I’m almost certain that if I had not been given the chance to preach dorky little sermons on several ocassions in Conroe, Texas I would have never chosen the path I eventually walked.
Can you remember the day when a line of nervous boys waited to take their turn at the mic to lead a song? After they announced the page number (twice) everyone held their breath till they got that first unpredictable note out. Of course it didn’t really matter how the first note came out because the real song leaders were sitting on the first pew poised to come to the aid of any wide eyed would be song leader. Sometimes you could have eaten supper in the gap of time between the end of the chorus and the start of the next verse.
Now that we are obsessed with presenting a more polished or professional image I wonder what that means for our future. As we move away from the practice of a priesthood of believers in public worship into more narrowly defined public roles I wonder what impact it will have. I wonder how many great preachers or awesome song leaders are sitting in mid to large size churches who will never preach or lead worship because that spark of talent was never fanned to flame by a loving home church.
As for me, for all the good and all the bad of my entire adult life – for every sermon or lesson I taught – for every youth rally or retreat I was invited to – for every person I have ever encountered in ministry – for me it all began on a Sunday night when three petrified teens were challenged by elders and ministers to preach the word. Afterwards, the kind words of my home church still ring in my spirit as they sought to praise the three of us to greatness.
Like a great ball team always developing future talent my life was changed by the foward vision and investment of my home team. I couldn’t have asked for better or more faithful coaches.
What is your home church doing to actively develop future talent?
There's something about that Name! 