February 2010

On June 8, 1975 I began in pastoral ministry as Director of Youth and Music at Jefferson Park Evangelical Free Church in Chicago, Illinois. (See Seth, I began as a director too!) That was quite a week. Two days before, I finished my final signed copy of my thesis. Two days after our first son, Matthew was born. And on June 13th I graduated from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. As you can see, this June I will have been in pastoral ministry for 35 years.

I still appreciate the education that I had at TEDS. I am thankful for all the people I have met along the way, as well as the seminars and conferences that I have attended and the many
books that I have read. I am certain that each one has been an ingredient in the recipe that makes me the kind of pastor and preacher that I am today.

In some ways it feels like the past couple of years have had a strong impact on my ministry especially in preaching. I am thankful for the ministries of the following men who the Lord has used to reshape my thinking: John Piper is the preaching pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN; Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City; Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO; and Edmund Clowney, former professor and president of Westminster Theological Seminary.

Through the ministries of these men the Lord has impressed the following two key thoughts on my study and preaching approach.

1) Every passage is first about God and his plan for the ages. It is not first about the people in the story, or about me or about Valley or people today. The passage is first about God. So I ask, what is God doing in this passage. How does this passage fit into the big story of what God is doing as he is on his mission through Jesus to redeem lost people to himself?

2) How does what God is doing connect with my life and with the lives of the people who will be in church this Sunday? I think I identify that by seeing where my sin nature will want to disobey something in the passage that God wants to have happen. Where will we rebel against God? That rebellion is sin and it will be answered by the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I hope to answer those questions in every sermon I preach the rest of my life. I hope you will be able to answer those same questions every time you hear me preach. It is not about me or us. It is about God and the gospel. Praise Him!