” Good Advice from an Elder”

There’s a learning curve in most all professions. I guess that goes for preaching, too. One of my favorite stories ever concerning the men of the cloth has to be the one about the young preacher boy named Brother Bart. Now, Brother Bart was a solid gold young fellow who took over the helm of a small rural church in one of our neighboring parishes. At the time, Brother Bart was not only fresh out of the seminary; he was also new to the area. Brother Bart had a hard time getting his feet under him there for a while. Just thinking about getting up in the pulpit and facing his new congregation made him nauseous and any way you look at it, that doesn’t bode well for someone in the ministry.

Brother Bart had arrived in town a month or more before he was supposed to begin preaching, just to get acclimated. But the closer the big day came, the more nervous he got. In fact, he was so nervous he decided to ask the older preacher that was about to retire, the one he was replacing, to stick around a few Sundays and give him some constructive feedback on his sermons. Of course, the old man agreed.

The first Sunday came and the choir director led the congregation in a few familiar hymns
before turning the pulpit over to Bro. Bart. Summoning all his courage, the shaky young minister stood and gave his well-rehearsed message. Afterwards, over coffee at the parsonage, Brother Bart asked his mentor how he felt about the sermon.

“Well, son,” the older man began. “I know I told you to try and relate to your audience, and I do appreciate you trying to incorporate some local flavor, but son, you should be careful not to twist the Bible stories. For instance, David killed Goliath with one stone to the temple. The Good Book doesn’t say anything about David taking a stick and whoopin’ him down to his knees.”

~Shellie