America's Next Top Pastor
As someone who has spent some time in contemporary Evangelicalism and college ministry, I find this HIGHLY hilarious.
Labels: Evangelicalism, humor
posted by Rev. Daniel McLain Hixon at 8/02/2007
8/2/07
Recent Posts
- "Open"... to what?
- Wesley addresses the Clergy: Pt. 2
- John Wesley Addresses the Clergy: Highlights pt. 1
- Trip to England
- Latin Mass faces fewer restrictions
- What about these other gay voices in the Church?
- A Prayer of St. Benedict
- "Mere Christianity," Paleo-Orthodoxy, and the ques...
- "Becket" on DVD today!
- Robert Webber dies
Verse of the Day:
Methodist blogs and links
- MethoBlog
- United Methodist Reporter (News)
- Mitchell Lewis Blog
- Incarnatio
- Wesleyan/Anglican Blog
- Through the Wardrobe
- Dr. David Watson
- Commonplace Holiness blog
- Wesleyan Arminian
- Good News
Methodist Essential Beliefs
- Ancient Ecumenical Creeds
- Methodist Doctrinal Standards
- Articles of Religion
- Confession of Faith
- Wesley's "Standard" Sermons
- Wesleyan Essential Beliefs
Anglican blogs & links
- North American Anglican
- Titus 1:9
- Catholicity and Covenant
- Anglican Pastor
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- Project Canterbury (Reference)
- Anglican Church in North America
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Catholic & Orthodox links
- Catholic News Agency
- New Liturgical Movement
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- Ad Altare Dei
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- Glory to God for All Things
- Roads from Emmaus
- (Listen) Ancient Faith Radio
More Christian blogs and links
- (Listen) With Heart & Voice: Sacred Music
- Living Out (Same-Sex Issues)
- Christianity Today
- N.T. Wright Page
- First Things
- Touchstone
- Front Porch Republic
- Wade Center (Inkling studies)
Lutheran blogs and links
Some Post Categories
- Humor
- Anglicanism
- Methodism
- Paleo-Orthodoxy
- Cultural Issues
- Christ and Culture
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Liturgy & Spirituality links
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- Anglican/Ecumenical Prayer beads
- Spiritual Disciplines
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Bible Study Links
- Wesley's Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
- Asbury Bible Commentary
- IVP New Testament Commentary
- Collected links to Patristic Comments
- Interlinear Bible (with Commentaries)
A Few Good Seminaries
- Asbury Theological Seminary
- Duke Divinity School
- Nashotah House
- Perkins School of Theology, SMU
- Princeton Theological Seminary
- United Theological Seminary
- Wesley House, Cambridge University
- Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University
"You, Christ, are the King of Glory" -Te Deum Laudamus
8 Comments:
Where on earth did you find that? It was great. -bethany
UnionWell, this isn't directly related to the post(but somehow it is).
It's great when you find others who are on the same journey as you. I too was raised a Methodist. However, I went wild as a teenie and was born again in a Southern Baptist Church in my early twenties. I also have a streak of charismaticity in me, not really from church experience but simply reading Scripture and obeying Jesus. I also began heavily reading the church fathers and longed for more than the generic evangelical church was offering. After I was laid off and given a severance package with a full scholarship ride(its all a miraculous story but too long for post) I returned to college seeking a BA in biblical languages. I landed at a SBC university in Jackson,Tenn and also at a church that focused on early church worship. THe lack of fellowship and Calvanism drove us away and we landed at a large Methodist church. After a lot of prayer and more divine prodding, I have entered into the ordination process.
It's great to see others moving along the same path. My pastor now was a general Baptist before he came to the UMC. A lot of church people have flocked to our church simply because he preaches the Word (not yelling or anything; he is a disciple of Jesus and lets that show in the pulpit; and he doesn't tell a bunch of lame anecdotal stories like a lot of UMC preachers. Where did they learn to preach that way? No wonder no one comes to church). It's great to see thinking evangelicals coming back to the UMC and making such an impact.
God Bless!
Hey aren't we all a little fuzzy? :)
I dunno, Stephen. I'm a methodist so I LOVE fuzzy pastors!
Good to hear from you Josh. I hope you'll check back from time to time and only be mad at me occassionally. In any case, God bless you on your journey. If you like Wesley and the Fathers, I whole-heartedly commend the works of Thomas Oden to you (especially Pastoral Theology, Systematic Theology, Rebirth of Orthodoxy, and Agenda for theology). He has influenced me alot and in turn has been influenced by Wesley as well.
Where do they learn to preach that way? I am not sure. I have heard some Methodist pastors who don't. One who was a mentor to me used TONS of stories in his preaching, but people really liked it and that church was growing (not only because of the preaching, of course). So maybe we learn it from each other. My homeletics/preaching class taught us to try to use some illustrations or stories for their emotional freight. Maybe I am a bit more abstract a thinker, so I have to make an effort to include them - though sometimes personal stories come to mind readily.
Hi Daniel,
Well, I will be checking in on you but I don't think you will offend me. I am a junior (age 29 with a family) at a Southern Baptist university, heading to a Presbyterian Seminary to be ordained in the United Methodist Church. By now I have learned how to communicate and try to understand others without getting in a tissy.
I plan on reading some of Oden soon. Was he a prof. at SMU? I pray that more and more scholars take his intellectual and spiritual journey.
Here is a recommendation from my library:
A Mirror for the Church: Preaching in the First Five Centuries by David Dunn-Wilson
Dunn-Wilson is a Methodist pastor/missionary who now serves as a professor at Kenya Methodist University.
I have to say that it sure is great to be returning to the church I grew up in.
I learned homeletics/preaching similar to what you say Daniel. I usually use a personal story in relating the biblical concept. I would say I am probably better at storytelling than preaching in a modern sense of the word. But a lot hinges on what is preaching?
My professor always maintained that preaching at its core needs to focus on the gospel message. What is the good news and announce that good news to the people. So that is usually what I try to do. A lot of times it is sharing how I have struggled in the past with something and relating that to the message. I have a great story for the prodigal son. :)
haha, nice Stephen. I personally prefer personal stories from the preacher's own experience to anechdotes that come from sermon helps books or websites or whatever. It just seems more personal and relevent and authentic and all those other buzz words (I should add here the obligatory postmodern "for me") because it really is his own story (or hers), not just a funny something he heard someplace.
That was awesome.
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