Week 3: Who Are Your Mentors?

This week I want to introduce you to another one of my mentors; one I never met. He died when I was five-years-old, yet his influence on my preaching has few peers. His name is Donald Grey Barnouse. He used to say, “If you can’t illustrate it, don’t teach it, because you don’t know it.” And if you’ve listened to me preach over the years, you know I’ve taken his advice to heart. There have been times over the years that I’ve put off teaching some biblical truth until I discovered a fitting illustration of it. This mentor used to say, “All of life illustrates biblical truth.” He couldn’t have been more correct.

Often people have asked, “Where do you get all the stories you use?” Some have said, “Do you make things up?” Others say, “Do you spend a lot of time on the internet searching for stories?” The simple fact is, I live my life looking for stories. I try to pay attention and analyze what I see and hear. Sure, reading is a great source. So are stories told by others. But the best illustrations come out of personal experiences with others and with the Lord.

Years ago, in a class taught by Steve Brown (last week’s featured mentor), he gave a great, short diagnostic for effective preaching. He said, “This is a test to determine if you are effectively preaching the Word of God. It uses an acrostic helpful for any Reformed Evangelical expositor (TULIP). He called it: “The 5 Points of Communication”. (This is a play on the 5 Points of Calvinism.)

“T” – THERAPEUTIC. All true preaching is meant to fix something. It’s not simply sharing information (that’s teaching). You are to touch the pain of the wounded. Every time you speak to ten people, seven of them are experiencing some sense of brokenness. You always must assure them that you know what brokenness is and how it feels so you’re preaching to yourself as much as them. When you are done writing your sermon always ask, “So what?” If you have no good answer, rip it up and start over again.

“U” – UNCONVENTIONAL. Postmodern people love stories. That’s the way they listen and learn. They are image-oriented. If you think you shouldn’t say something, say it! Push the envelope. Risk it! Ask on Monday, “Did I risk anything?” The Gospel has to be preached in a risky way, because everything in us wants to avoid conflict. We want to be loved and accepted by ourselves and others.

“L” – LUCID. Review your sermon. If people can’t take notes on it, it’s not a good sermon. Ask, “Did I give them anything they could go home and tell their kids?”

“I” – ILLLUSTRATE. If you can’t illustrate it, it’s either untrue or you don’t understand it well enough to preach it. The best place to get illustrations is from everyday experiences from those you know or the people you meet. Refrain from using illustrations that center around you and your family. Avoid illustrations that make you look good. Good illustrations are windows to truth.

“P” – PASSION. Sometimes when you are preaching you will get so passionate that your voice breaks. If you don’t cry when you are writing your sermon sometimes, there’s something wrong. And if you don’t know how to get to Jesus and His beauty in a text, don’t preach it.

Over the years I’ve used Steve’s diagnostic so often that it’s become a regular part of my sermon preparation. I can tick off each letter.

Donald Grey Barnhouse was a master preacher and teacher. When he came to Tenth Presbyterian Church in center city Philadelphia in 1927, he knelt by every pew in that 2,000 seat sanctuary and prayed that God would fill each seat. At the time there were less than 200 people who worshipped there. He began preaching through Romans. It took him 3 ½ years, and by the time the series was over, it was standing room only. He was a master communicator, following the TULIP diagnostic. He began the Bible Study Hour in 1949 and it continues on radio to this day. He wrote extensively. He traveled the country preaching throughout the summer months. He founded Eternity Magazine.

C. Everett Koop, the former U.S. Surgeon General and Tenth Presbyterian member said of him, “His authoritative voice held my attention, his physical appearance was arresting, and his preaching was teaching of the highest intellectual order…I always marveled at the simplicity of the faith of this very intelligent and learned man.”

One interesting note about Barnhouse was that, if he used an illustration at one place in Scripture, he never used it again at another point. He wanted to insure that if a listener remembered the story, or illustration, he or she could always recall the place in Scripture that prompted it. I never mastered that, but I sure did appreciate it. For me, the preaching ministry of Donald Grey Barnhouse has few parallels, especially in the mastery of the “I”.

Here’s a link to a little sample of his preaching style recorded in the 1950s.