Danny Dodd,
preacher for the Levy Church of Christ, North Little Rock, Arkansas,
recently shared an article that provides insight into some struggles
that preachers encounter. Dodd identifies five common “preacher fails”
Lack of
discipline.
Usually the church world allows quite a bit of daily freedom for
preachers to be about their ministry. This freedom can be easily taken
advantage of — preachers staying at home and away — not being fully
engaged in productive ministry. We preachers already put up with the
“you only work three hours a week” barbs. Let’s not allow laziness and
lack of discipline to give that any credence. Instead let’s fully “carry
out the ministry God has given” us (2 Timothy 4:5 NLT).
Inattention to study.
Lack of discipline can also lead to sloppy study habits, which in turn
damages our ability to effectively speak truth in love. Don’t take
shortcuts on sermon preparation. We should put the proper study time in
— so that we can be both confident in our presentation and content; that
we are in fact handling correctly the Word of God (2 Timothy 2:15).
Inability
to listen.
I once was convinced that I pretty much had all of the answers and I was
eager to share them! Failure on my part to appreciate and to listen to
other’s counsel, to hear proper constructive criticism, to simply learn
from wiser and more experienced people hurt my ministry at times. Let’s
be quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19)!
Complaining.
Everyone needs a place to vent on occasion — the same is true for
preachers, but be very careful not to be seen as a whiner or complainer.
This can undermine ministry… If things need improving, complaining or
whining is not the catalyst to make it happen. Instead let’s try to do
all things without complaining and grumbling (Philippians 2:14).
People
Pleasing.
We all desire affirmation — preachers are no exception. And as preachers
we certainly want to “become all things to all people so that by all
possible means [we] may save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22), but not to the
point of compromising personal or biblical integrity. Ultimately, we
will give account of our life and ministry to God. We simply cannot
allow a desire to please people set the agenda for our work. It can be
harmful to us, to our families and to our ministry. There is a balance
here that we all must find. *
Preachers, like all
people, have “feet of clay.” We are far from perfect and we make many
mistakes. We can and want to “do better.”
As a flawed preacher to
fellow strugglers of all walks of life, may I encourage all of us to
look to Jesus for salvation, for our model for life, and for our hope.
Let’s place our “feet of clay” upon the Rock (see Matthew 7:24-27), for
He is the only Foundation that will endure for eternity.
It is because of our
“fails” (our sins) that Jesus came to save us. One of the greatest
preachers of all time said, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief” (the Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15).
God will forgive and give
eternal life to those who place their
faith
and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in
repentance
(Acts 17:30-31),
confess Jesus
before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are
baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will
continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to walk in the light of
His word (1 John 1:7-9).
We all have failed
(Romans 3:23), but God loves us anyway. He wants to save us, too. He
gave His one and only Son to die for us (John 3:16). Each and every one
of us – preacher or not – needs to embrace the grace that has been
extended to us through Jesus.
-- David
A. Sargent
* “Five
Preacher Fails” by Danny Dodd as shared in PreacherStuff, 2/14/2023, by
Dan Williams, editor.
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
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