Most of my recorded sermons are on cassette tapes. I know what you are thinking. I am old.
I served as pastor of four churches and as interim pastor of nine churches. Many of the churches recorded my sermons and distributed them via cassette tapes. There are a lot of my sermons out there. I cringe thinking about someone listening to them today.
I am not, nor was I ever, a good preacher. My words are not those of false humility. They are frank reflections of reality. Here are some of the reasons my past sermons are really bad.
1. I did not deal with the biblical text sufficiently. As I have listened to pastors in recent years, I am grateful for their solid biblical exposition. But my sermons mostly did not dig deeply into the text.
2. My sermons had too many illustrations. One of the reasons I did not deal well with the biblical text was my overdependence on illustrations. I told too many stories instead of dealing with God’s story.
3. I was dependent on emotions too often. I used emotional illustrations often. I added humor too frequently. I was sadly dependent on emotionally moving the hearers rather than leaving the work to the Holy Spirit.
4. Some of my sermons reflected insufficient preparation. In most of my churches, I preached two different sermons, one on Sunday morning and one on Sunday night. In addition, I prepared two Bible studies, one for a small group class I taught and one for Wednesday night services. Instead of doing one sermon well each week, I prepared several sermons poorly.
5. I did not give sermons priority in my ministry. Too often I let the tyranny of the urgent replace a needed focus on my preparation and preaching. My use of time in ministry reflected poor stewardship.
I apologize to those of you who sat under my preaching. It is my prayer that God used my preaching despite me. I could have done better. I should have done better.
Somewhere in my house are several boxes containing hundreds of cassettes. My wife probably does not want them destroyed. She will likely want our three sons to have them. I cringe at the thought of the three of them laughing heartily as they listen to their old man trying to preach. I cringe even more thinking about my grandchildren getting the cassettes.
For those of you who are new in the preaching world, please consider my counsel. Do the opposite of what I did, and you will do well as a preacher.
And if you happen to come across one of my old sermons on a cassette, please destroy it immediately.
The world will be a better place for your diligence.
Posted on February 27, 2023
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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32 Comments
I still struggle with this as an English pastor in a Vietnamese church and formerly in a Korean church. They have a tendency to think only the pastor is qualified to teach. And they expect you to teach a lot. Right now I teach/preach four times a week and it’s mentally draining, especially the older I get (I just turned 60). In Vietnamese church’s it’s very difficult to get others to step up and teach Sunday school or the small group on Friday night. I get lot of compliments on my Sunday sermons but that’s because I choose to put most of my time in that, but the other three times I feel like I’m just getting by. Please keep me in prayer feeling drained!
In my case, I’ve grown in my understanding of God’s Word, and I’ve realized that a lot of things I said in my early sermons were just flat-out wrong!
By the way, did you ever hear Billy Graham tell about the first time he ever preached in a church? He said he had prepared four sermons, and he thought each one would last 40-50 minutes. He had even practiced them. He stood up in front of that little church and delivered all four sermons in just eight minutes! However, he found out years later that a young man in the audience that night was converted. Who know what God will use?
I’m 71 years old and doing this for 50 years. I have file cabinets with past sermons. I will never use them again. My wife insists I not burn them. Any message I preach has to be fresh on my heart and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Pulling out some old sermon from 29 years ago doesn’t do that. We are all there Thom. Hopefully, prayerfully we have all grown in the preaching ministry. I haven’t preached a message yet that 3000 were saved.
Great word, Thomas.
Zach Meerkreebs was the guest preacher at the Asbury University chapel service. He texted his wife it was is a stinker, yet God moved. While in every way, those of us who preach want sound exegesis, and to keep the attention of our listeners, and certainly some of our earlier ones could’ve been better, but you know, God has a Way. Somebody listening to one of those old sermon tapes may well discover the immediacy of the God who loves them.
And by the way, we really appreciate your ministry, Thom
You are a true encourager, Stanley. Thank you.
And you Thom. Joy to you!
My father was an Episcopal minister for 23 years. He kept paper copies of nearly all his sermons and files of his exegesis. I know he used the exegesis as he prepared. When he passed, we were left with boxes of sermons. We just let them go – the written word just doesn’t convey the sermon.
I have 12 years of sermons saved digitally but have no real desire to listen to them. Especially from years past. I know the first years were tough. Interestingly, in our denomination (Episcopal), all sermons have to be retained in perpetuity. I wonder why. While I understand the function (legal/copyright), I’m glad there aren’t complete files of all the sermons preached since the church opened – we’d need a warehouse to do that.
So true, Les.
I can identify only too well with your feelings about past preaching. I would cringe to hear some messages I preached in the past. With the multitude of resources available at our fingertips today, the standard is much higher today. And we have congregants with access to so many great preachers and messages to compare us to and to resources to fact-check us.
I serve on staff as an associate pastor and the other pastors on staff are just half or a little over half my age. The young man who had served as my associate pastor, with whom I switched roles about three years ago, is so far advanced in his preaching than I was at his age.
I don’t know that I’ve ever heard you preach, but your messages in the many books you’ve written have been invaluable resources to me. Thank you!
I’m glad you’ve read my books, Dave. But I am even happier you have not heard me preach.
No worries Thom, your kids and grand kids won’t have anything to play those cassettes on!
Now that’s funny.
Ha, ha! That’s funny but true!
This is really impressive and constructive. One thought – no matter our field of expertise, ideally and hopefully there is growth over time, sorting out our strengths and focusing on what is really excellent and gives greatest value. Hopefully resulting in progressively more useful, higher caliber output and contribution.
Dr. Rainer, you give valuable food for thought and are a superb model of identifying your strengths and gifts, and refining/redirecting your efforts to deliver excellence that is making an important impact. Thank you for being this kind of model/mentor.
That is a great thought, Vicki. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your vulnerability and transparency. As a growing pastor, leader, and preacher, your exhortation is powerful and serves as an awesome reminder of the call and charge that the Lord has called me to as I serve in a humble capacity in the House of the Lord. I was really encouraged by the portion about preaching from God’s story instead of my own story. Thank you for all of the materials and content that you share; it is truly relevant for leading and serving the people of God.
Thank you so much, James.
Dr. Rainer,
Thank you for such relentless honesty. This post convicts me, rebukes me, instructs me, and makes me laugh. And it makes me say, thank you, brother. I benefit every week from your current ministry!
I am both honored and humbled by your words, Josh. Thank you.
Thom, I appreciate your honesty and humility. That comes out in everything you have written and said since I found church answers. I am so very thankful for God leading me to Church Answers. I believe it has changed my life. I do not know about preaching but you care for Gods church deeply and for that I am thankful. You have sons that are in ministry and they doing the Lords work. Thank You for your love for Gods churches, wherever they are and whatever the name is. Thank you again!
Thank you, Larry. You are a blessing.
Someone brought me a box of my sermons from 20 years ago. I bought a cassette player but have not mustered the courage to play one yet. She said maybe my adult daughters would want to hear them. They have admitted to me that they didn’t listen to my current messages, I wouldn’t inflict on them those from my ministerial infancy. 🙂
That’s funny, Billy.
As a congregate there have been far too many Sundays after the benediction that I’ve thought, “that was a waste of another hour of my llife” only to overhear someone behind me saying “the sermon was exactly what I needed to hear this week.”
Yes, you’d think I’d eventually learn its not all about me!
That’s a great point, Guy.