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Preaching to change lives

13 May 2010 blogpastor 12 Comments

Is secret in the method?
Some say that the secret of life changing preaching lies in verse by verse preaching, and preaching through the Bible, book by book. It is still vaunted that expository preaching is the only way to change lives and grow a church. Then recently Rick Warren have popularised the user-friendly sermon. Of course, accusations of compromise and watering down of the truth swirled around this method. Preaching of the Readers’ Digest sermon with its practical “How to” themes, made sermons more accessible to unbelievers and even believers too but did it really change lives at a deeper level?

Content not methodology
I noticed a cry in the wilderness in recent years. It is a cry for preachers and pastors to preach a gospel-centered and Christ exalting message. I hear it mainly from the reformed and other charismatic pastors. They point us to content not to methodology. There is something here all preachers need to really grasp. When they do it will bring much blessing to their congregations.

Tim Keller on preaching the gospel
Listen to this teaching by Tim Keller. I first heard him at the Global Leadership Summit, Singapore. He gave a word that affirmed what God had been stirring in my heart about the need for Singapore churches to be more “indicative” in their preaching and less “imperative”, as they tend to be now. Tim Keller was speaking at a conference for pastors and the main outline of his talk is that good preaching must be (1) Gospel-centered, (2) Christ-centered, (3) Life-changing on the spot, (4) Culturally transforming. Its about an hour long, with questions and answers at the end.

Tim Keller Feb’09: Preaching the Gospel from Newfrontiers on Vimeo.

Wild tigers in Dairy Farm

10 May 2010 blogpastor 6 Comments

Compared to the Bukit Timah hill, parking was a breeze at this large carpark off Dairy Farm Road. The entrance to the Wallace trail looked new, with a large map and seating area. Beside this section, were airy, lightly fragranced washroom facilities. Impressive. I turned left and followed the clear directional signs to the 1 km trail. Ladies shouldn’t walk without company, as I was virtually alone at 10am. I sauntered up the bitumen road and turned into the jungle trail.

The picture of Wallace stared at me from a poster. What struck me: he was a friend of Charles Darwin; he lived and explored the Malay archipelago; and he loved durians! An angmoh who appreciated the king of fruits, and those were the wild durians, not the modern hybrids.

The path was narrow and damp, and at times muddy. I could see why they used this for education. The singing of birds and cicada, the hum of traffic from the Bukit Timah expressway, the variety of fauna and butterflies caught my attention at various points in the trail, and would certainly be talking points for the nature guide. Under the shade of tall trees, the air was cool. A monitor lizard about 4 feet long crawled nearby.

This jungle area was once infested with wild tigers. Unfortunately, the last tiger was shot in 1932. Can you imagine if there were still wild tigers in Bukit Timah and Dairy Farm as there were a hundred years ago? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the amount of respect for wild animals and nature that would generate? Now all that can be seen were immoveable fat cows, haunted houses and fungi.

The leisurely trek took about an hour or so. There was another trail leading to a quarry but I decided to stop, because the path that led there was exposed to the late morning sun and heat.

Another day lah.

Philip Yancey’s secrets of successful writing

6 May 2010 blogpastor 8 Comments

Seminar with author Philip Yancey

Over 450 fans of Philip Yancey, popular Christian author, filled the ACS Junior School auditorium with lively anticipation. Each seminar participant held a plastic file of notes titled “3 Keys to Quality Writing” and each clutched a two-in-one gift book by the author,” The Jesus I Never Knew” and “Disappointment with God”. I spotted Conrad Raj, Jenni Huan, Alfred Yeo, Stillhaventfound, Sarah, and sat with Didi. Hmmm…so Conrad Raj, the journalist, is a Christian. Present also were several acquaintances from last year’s Armour writing workshop: Ricky, Ali Smith, Lindsay, Linda and a few other familiar faces. Two of them have finished writing their books.

Authentic and inspiring

Philip Yancey looked as though he came out of Shenton Way, neatly dressed in a long sleeve grey shirt (without a tie) and black pants with black belt. Everything was in place – including his Afro hairsytle and trimmed beard. He reminded me of Garfunkel, the singer. His two talks were conversational and folksy and his anecdotes and advice had an attractiveness that’s charming and almost hypnotic. This is one accomplished author who is an inspiring speaker too. From 9am to 12pm with a fifteen minute break, he taught, dialogued, and carried an Q and A time. Listening him was like watching a good movie.

How much money?

During the Q &A time, I waited for my inquisitive question to be asked. “How much money do you make as a writer?” His answer was that he has been very blessed in that respect and that he could even start a foundation to channel royalties to charities.

The secrets

Movement, he said, was one of the 3 important keys to quality writing. Good writing keeps the people moving forward like a gravitational pull. He identified one the three gravitaional pulls as “suspense” such as is found in most good stories. The passage of time, a sense of mortality and materiality are elements that make a story seem real, and the suspense taut.

A piece of writing that has movement is one that discloses movement taking place within the writer. He spoke of a book he read, “Yellow Wind” and how it moved him as he identified with the Israeli author’s emotional conversion as he interviewed suffering Palestinians. The author documented his feelings and how he was moved to a different point of view, and it moved Yancey too. This is the second and third gravitational forces: movement within the author and reader.

Besides movement, the other two keys he touched on was: “Finding your unique voice”, and “Finding a form that fits your message”.

One tip I picked up was to not use the verbs to be. Weak. Avoid it like a virus. This should require my diligent application, until it becomes second nature. Good writing requires good sentences. Mine are sloppy.

Blogpastor jia yu!