Steven Furtick
Of course they have. They’ve heard it all before. You’re not going to tell them anything new.
What you’re aiming for as a leader is to say the same old thing in a fresh new way. Maybe this time you’ll use an illustration that will cause it to finally click. Maybe you’ll tell a story that will stick this time. Maybe you’ll boil it down into a tight and concise principle that will serve as an attention-grabbing handle for an obvious core value.
The role of the preacher, teacher, and writer isn’t creation ex nihilo.
It’s more like the resurrection of the dead – breathing new life into the dry dusty bones of well-worn ideas.
Say the same old stuff in a brand new way.
Then, say it again.
Nah – the role of the preacher is to preach – proclamation. Specifically preaching the Word of Christ – proclaiming with conviction that self-same truth that we ourselves have been immersed in and submitted to as we study the scripture and allow the Spirit of God to apply the Word of God to our spirit so that we may proclaim what the Lord is proclaiming – salvation has been made through the One and Only Son of God.
Teacher is to do exactly as the name describes – to TEACH the scriptures, and the two activities of preaching and teaching are not the one and same thing, though there is an overlap – they have different functions and different gifting by the Spirit. Some who are GREAT teachers are TERRIBLE preachers!
As far as ‘they have heard it all before’ I am sorry, but we are seeing more and more ‘Christians’ who have sat in church for YEARS, DECADES – EVEN HALF CENTURIES and not heard the preaching of the Gospel. So I say we go back to Paul’s commands about preaching the word – as He gave to Timothy – and give the SPIRIT His due as the agent of Christ himself – able to ‘make new every morning’ the things of God, and to use the SAME message, wrapped in the same delivery method (preaching from the scriptures the Word of Christ) to effect the will of Christ – the salvation of sinners, the strengthening and growing of the believers and the building of the church in unity and love through the Gospel.
When he says ‘say the same old stuff’ what is it he is talking about? Another place of ‘Gospel assumed’ is the Gospel forgotten!