“I know this is a bull ride at the rodeo. And not eight seconds either. I know I have to ride until the bull pukes.”
Maybe a Good Chance, If He Stays Narrow
“The preacher who reads widely has a chance to become wise.”
Plantinga, Reading for Preaching, p. xi
Just Like That
“Like the faithful farmer Robert Frost describes, resourceful preachers are always out to ‘clean the pasture spring’.”
Cornelius Plantinga, Reading for Preaching, p. ix
Leaving Some Perfect Little Teeth Marks
“She was doing pretty well until about three minutes into his presentation. He gestured expansively, with the kind of gesture that he had found so effective in the impressing of freshman girls, and Maria almost lost it. His right hand moved languidly toward the ceiling, and Dr. Rollins was unable to keep himself from looking at it as it went. The board members, being all men, didn’t notice, but Maria did, and started biting her forefinger.”
More Like Tomoyto
“‘Some might have expected a flood of controversy like this to damage our . . . testimony.’ He remembered just in time that Dr. Tom hated the word brand, and so he veered at the last minute over to testimony. Tomayto, tomahto.”
A Test, Not a Quiz
Luther “said that the ultimate test of a good preacher is whether he is prepared to face ridicule and to lose his life, his wealth and his good name because of his preaching.”
Luther as quoted in Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 108
Not Ready at All
“The carpet was a rich burgundy color, and the wainscot around the room was a nicely matched cherry. The room was solemn, elegant, dignified, and not ready for the meeting that was about to happen in it.”
None Higher
“The highest service that a man may attain to on earth is to preach the word of God.”
John Wycliffe, as quoted in Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 107
With Rust Up and Down the Blades
“This photoshop work must have been done with scissors stolen from a kindergartner, along with some library paste taken from the teacher lady. And while I am on the general subject, that Pledge of Allegiance edit job at KMOZ must have been done with a pair of hedge clippers that hadn’t been oiled for six years.”
Who Is Sufficient?
“The privilege is great, the responsibility heavy, the temptations many and the standards high.”
Stott, The Challenge of Preaching, p. 101