I found the following description of preaching very sobering. May we all take our preaching more seriously.
“What we are asking is that our preachers, in great imitation of the Gospel, would crawl into the pulpit and die, and in that death other people may live…
Perhaps the greatest metaphor for preaching the Gospel is the Gospel…
We take a message of death to life and people watch that being preached by someone who is willing to die so that others may live. Therefore, may this never be a place to showcase rhetorical device, rather may this be a place that when we explain the Word of God He brings brokenness, He brings contrition, He brings repentance, and ultimately salvation. And when we see that, we will worship. Because preaching is worship. May this be a house of worship.”
– Dr. Steven Smith
(The above is from a transcript of a testimony by College at Southwestern Dean Steven Smith on the importance of preaching, given during the MacGorman Chapel dedication service at Southwestern Seminary, Dec. 1, 2011.)
