Conversations on Preaching by

Format: azw3
Publisher: Salem Publishing
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

Jim Henry (SO 99)

In my preaching I can sometimes see the faces of those in pain, those who are dying, the disappointment of people who have had a husband or wife to walk off, or a Sunday School teacher who has let them down because of infidelity. The joy of celebration, the emotions, the funny things that happen in life that people tell me about. I’ve got 35 minutes or so on Sunday to try to connect that up. I try, I really pray and I ask when I pray, “Holy Spirit illuminate me to find the truth in what you are saying so on Sunday it will be real to the people sitting out there.”

One other thing I do on Sunday morning: I just go and sit in the sanctuary. Nearly every Sunday morning, I walk through the worship center and I pray. I just try to imagine the people sitting up here in the balcony, sitting down here, people slipping in the back — they may have lost somebody or they have been disappointed and they don’t want to get too close to the front because they think they may start crying. Here is somebody that just got bad news about a medical report. Somebody got fired. Here’s somebody that their son has graduated top honors — you know joy is going to be there, too. So I just pray over the lost, others who will be there. I say, “Lord, you know all of these needs,” and as I am praying and walking I touch the pews. I can’t touch them all because it is so big. But I pray over sections and ask the Lord to connect the preparation, the Word of God with the guys and gals sitting in the pews.

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