Will you be attending this year?
Wish I Could Go
Our Battle with Sin Illustrated
I’m a visual person. So this little cartoon by Josh Harris is a great tool to visualize our battle with the flesh: Feeding the Flesh.
It is an excerpt from his “theological autobiography” Dug Down Deep. I haven’t gotten to read it yet, but hope to have it read and reviewed by the end of summer.
Is the Pulpit Necessary?
If you want to watch an awkward display of uncoolness, just give me a handheld microphone in one hand and something else in the other.
I remember one occasion getting the opportunity to preach before a relatively large group of college students. I was already somewhat nervous. My anxiety turned to full blown hyperventilation when I discovered that I would have to use a handheld microphone. I cannot preach with one. I use my hands when I preach and I’m too dense to keep a microphone in one place. I’d rather go all George Whitefield and preach with a bleeding throat and no microphone than be hindered.
Before the invention of the wireless handheld or the Britney Spears model our church uses, many pastors had to stay behind the pulpit because that was the only microphone. But with the invention of all things technological pastors do not have to remain stationary. Combine this with more pastors preaching without notes and an interesting thing has happened in many churches: the pulpit is gone.
Obviously, it is not absolutely necessary to preach behind a pulpit. You would be hard pressed to find Jesus using a pulpit, and it’d be a foolish argument to say that Jesus was not faithful in preaching. But is it possible that the pulpit holds a great symbolic function in the church? Is it possible that we should not be so quick to remove the pulpit?
Consider what Steven Koster says:
“In Reformed churches, the tradition has been to put the Pulpit in the center because of the centrality of preaching and the Word as a means of grace. The Pulpit is not just a utility stand for the preacher to use to hold his notes, but a weighty visual anchor to point to the significance of the proclaimed Word itself (which is why some churches have favored massive pulpits). In fact, some churches have a big pulpit (with Bible) in the center that is used only for preaching, with a smaller lectern to the side used for other readings and worship leading.
But is such a big bulky pulpit practical? Does it “scare away” seekers? Consider this by Mike Schreiter:
Fewer people want to see a sermon delivered from behind a large, wooden pulpit. Dynamic preachers that want to engage congregations today need to capture attention with words, actions, and illustrations. Today, a preacher needs a wireless microphone and a video remote control more than he needs a designated place to stand.
So what do you think? Should pulpits be discarded? Or do they carry a symbolism that ought to be preserved within our churches?
On Friday I will try to answer this question and also give a little history on where pulpits came from.
Faithful Plodding
If you are not reading Kevin DeYoung yet then you need to be. He has written another great piece, this time for Ligonier. This gem is entitled The Glory of Plodding. In it DeYoung makes the argument that our generation needs “less revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries.”
I realized something along these lines when I attended T4G a couple months ago. I look up to many of these men as faithful pastors and leaders. I think most young pastors (especially of a more Reformed persuasion) want to be leading churches like Dever’s Capitol Hill or Piper’s Bethlehem. We want to be leaders like Ligon Duncan and Al Mohler. And we want that to happen within the first couple years of our tenure. But consider this:
- Mark Dever has been pastor at Capitol Hill since 1994.
- John Piper has been pastor at Bethlehem since 1980.
- John MacArthur has been pastor at Grace Community since 1969.
- C.J. Mahaney pastored at Covenant Life for 27 years.
- Albert Mohler has been President at Southern since 1993.
- Ligon Duncan has been pastor at 1st Presbyterian Church of Jackson since 1996.
- RC Sproul has been faithfully plodding along as pastor, author, teacher. Ligonier has been around since 1971.
- Thabiti Anywabile may be the only exception—but he has the heart of a faithful plodder.
What’s the point? These men aren’t where they are necessarily because they are “radical”. These men are respected because they faithfully plod. But not every faithful plodder will be asked to speak at T4G. There are many faithful pastors that may not stand before a crowd of 4,000 but will stand before the Lord Jesus and hear him say, “well done, good and faithful servant”. And that comes from faithful plodding not from flash in the pan ministry.