Stetzer/Stanley on Communication/Preaching

Ed Stetzer from Lifeway has the first part of an interview with Andy Stanley from Northpoint Church in the Atlanta area about preaching. Stanley says:

Preaching on Sunday mornings is such a simple thing and by complicating it, I think we all do ourselves and the audience a disservice. It is very simple. Here is the model: Make people feel like they need an answer to a question. Then take them to God's Word to answer the question. And tell them why it is important to do what we just talked about. And then you close by saying, "Wouldn't it be great if everybody did that?" And that's it. It is a journey. You take people from somewhere to somewhere.

This model of preaching is interesting to me for two reasons (well, there are others but I will mention two).

1. It seems almost a bit manipulative: Create a problem and then solve it.
2. It seems like the right way to preach: Show people they have a problem that the Bible addresses, and then let the Bible address it.

There is a subtle difference between the two, I think, but it is a substantial difference. It sounds like it tends to let the people define the problem, rather than letting the Bible define the problem. While “felt needs” can be a gateway to real needs, you actually have to get to real needs … like idolatry.

A God who meets people’s felt needs is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible isn’t just about answering our questions. And that is why this approach can go off track in a hurry.

If the preacher thinks that every passage must answer a pressing question, he will likely twist the text beyond recognition. He might help people live more moral lives, and perhaps even live more Christian lives, but he won’t be preaching the text.

I think Stetzer is right that Stanley is a great communicator, which can help one be a good preacher. (You can listen some here.) I am not convinced that Stanley is a good preacher because I think good preachers have to handle the text with a bit more care than I have heard Stanley do.

Now admittedly I have not listened to Stanley a lot, but when I have, I enjoyed it. I just didn’t get much out of it.

Glancing at the audio page does remind me how important it is to have slick graphics if you are going to be a good preacher though.