Practical Advice for Young Pastors. Part II

1.      Pay attention to becoming a highly competent communicator.

One piece of advice I can give young preachers is to hone your communications skills. By this I mean, how you speak, your pronunciation, and the vocabulary you use. Jesus was a master communicator. You may not think how you speak is as important as what you speak, but you would be wrong. Remember you will always have educated and well informed people in your audience, and accordingly you should be able to speak to the full gamut of those who are there to hear. One mistake many young preachers make is speaking to fast. Now, I know it is easy to get caught up in the moment, but slang, off cuff statements, and a lot of screaming, is simply not becoming those who preach the Gospel. We must always remember the power is in the words, so take the time to speak them clearly and accurately, to make sure you are effectively communicating them.

2.      Make sure the preaching is geared towards inward personal change and making disciples, and not simply to impress others with how much you think you know.

I have had the unfortunate privilege of sitting through many a personal rant from the pulpit, and if it had not been for respect and courtesy, I would have walked out. The pulpit is not a place for your political views or your personal pet peeves. It is the Bible that changes people’s lives and that is what they need to hear. There are other times and places where you can voice other matters. You are there to feed the people the word of God, period, end of story! Many young men feel it is time to regurgitate their seminary education, but let me implore you, don’t do it. The most important part of preaching is proper application, spend most of your time not on facts, but rather on how they might apply what they are hearing. There is an art to balancing content, and the depth of that content, with real world application, so work hard to find the balance. But always remember, the goal of preaching is to share the gospel and make disciples!

3.      Don’t confuse enthusiasm with prayerful contemplation.

Most young men enter the pulpit for the first time bent on changing the world, and it is a noble cause, but let me tell you from experience, it is not as easy as you think. Oftentimes in that endeavor it is easy to mistake the passion to do, with the divine mandate to do it. Just because you know something needs to be done, doesn’t mean that God has told you how or when it should be attempted. Timing and patience are key elements in ministry. What may not work today, may, with proper prayer, planning and patience, work well six months or a year from now. Don’t let your passion to do, override your need to pray, wait on God, and to discern all the other aspects that come into play in order to see it attempted successfully.