Preaching Prep Questions

I'm not a huge Driscoll fan like some of my friends. I'm not anti-Driscoll or anything silly like that. I just don't worship him like Matt Doan and Seth Beasley. But I read this list that he taught at his Boot Camp and I loved it.

Six Framing Questions for Preaching the Word

1. What does Scripture say? - The Biblical Question
2. What does the Scripture Mean? - The Theological Question
3. What is my Hook? - The Memorable Question
4. Why do people resist this truth? - The Apologetic Question
5. Why does this matter? - The Missional Question
6. How is Jesus the Hero/Savior? - The Christological Question

These are a great beginning to sermon preparation and a great check when you think you are finished. I'm going to start using them. I think Doan might have showed these to me once before.

Interesting Church Day

I preached today in both of our services. Celebration (8:45am - leans more blended/traditional) went really well. Our crazy video, that I will post later, was good. The people laughed. I wore a suit and said, "Finally Pastor Dave is gone and I can dress the way that I really want to." They also thought that was funny. I got some great feedback from people that I don't normally hear from, so that was cool.

Then in Elevation I did the same thing and it went well for the most part. I had a person planted in the service that was going to tell what it was like for a new person at Calvary. That was pretty good too. I tried to reduce the guilt trip factor of it a little bit. But then things started to go a little weird. My hands-free mic went out and so I had to use the hand-held one. That always bums me out.

Then this random homeless man with a big bag and an artificial leg walks into the room in the middle of the sermon and walks all the way up the center aisle to the front row. Don't get me wrong. I am very comfortable with people of all different backgrounds and situations coming to our church, but when you are on stage and somebody is walking up to the front row in the middle of the sermon - it throws you off a bit. Especially when they are talking kind of loud and you're not sure if it's to you or to themselves. He took about two minutes to get all his stuff put down and then sits right in the front center seat. Then he starts talking out loud to me. He was being very supportive, but really loud. He starts pulling stuff out of his bag. Remember, I'm still trying to preach. Also, our church has stepped up our security since the church shootings in Colorado on the same day that we had a man come on our stage in the middle of Pastor Dave's sermon. So I see one of our police officers that attends the church move up to about two rows behind the man, whose name I found out after church was Bill. The officer told me later that he was just watching what was being pulled out of the bag in case it was a weapon. Then i see one of our elders come and walk up to Bill. Remember, I'm still preaching. I say, "It's OK, let's keep going. It's cool." So then the elder sits down next to Bill and he was awesome. He puts his arm around him and starts talking with him and is able to help Bill listen without being "too" disruptive. I also see one our church psychologists move up into a position pretty close to the man at this point. Remember, I'm still trying to preach. Then a woman who was friends with Bill walks up the center aisle and high-fives Bill and sits about two seats over and then proceeds to fall asleep. Remember, I'm still preaching.

So at that point I keep preaching and I'm talking about love. Of course. I was proud that our church handled this potentially bad situation with love. We didn't kick him out. We didn't treat him poorly. But we did take precautions. We had an armed police officer and a trained psychologist waiting only steps away with one of our elders lovingly helping the man engage in the service.

I met the man after the service. He was still talking with the elder about 35 minutes after the service. He met another elder who did the same stuff in the Marine Corps as Bill did. Let me just say that this was one of the more difficult preaching services for me. It wasn't bad, but it sure was really distracting to me and everyone else. In the future I think I might address the situation a bit more. Not a lot. But maybe just stop and say. Let's pray and get re-focused. I went way overtime because I was so distracted and slow. I felt like I couldn't remember what was on my notes and what I was supposed to say next. It was weird.

So in eternity's perspective it was a good Sunday. From my communicator's perspective it was horrible. But hey, more people will remember today than most other services.

Thoughts? Were you there? What did you think?

Shoes for Orphan Souls

Calvary Church is starting a new ministry called Open Arms: Embracing Children Who Need a Family. And, one of the ways you can get involved is to reach out and offer hope to Ethiopian orphans by collecting NEW SHOES in our “Shoes for Orphan Souls” shoe drive. Calvary’s Goal: To collect over 2,000 pairs of shoes during the month of February!

Will you help us make a difference? Here is what we need:

* NEW SHOES (athletic/tennis shoes only)
* They MUST be NEW (customs requirement)
* Size 5 or bigger
* Shoes must still be in their shoe box
* A gift of socks or additional shoe strings in the box

Drop off your shoe donation in the church lobby on Sundays, or in the church office during the week, during the entire month of February.

“Shoes for Orphan Souls” is one of the 12 partnership projects approved by Calvary Church Missions this year. To help support these projects financially, please indicate “missions” on your check and designate your gift amount given.

For more information on “Shoes for Orphan Souls” contact Pastor Matt Doan at 714-973-4800 ext. 378 or Missions Director Liz Gold at ext. 340.

Am I a Hero?

Josh Simpson and I are sitting in his office (my old office) meeting about some Student Ministries issues yesterday when we hear a loud crashing sound. We hear this sound quite a bit in Student Ministries because the intersection outside always has accidents. We rushed outside to see one car across the street smashed into a pole. The other is backwards in the middle of the road with the whole front-end smashed in. Airbags are deployed in both cars. There was that one-second of "What do I do now?" But then we just went for it. Josh went to the car across the street and I went to the one in the middle. There was just one man in the car. I look in the window and try to signal to him, "Are you OK?" He doesn't say anything and looks really disoriented. I open the door while glancing to Josh and his two guys are getting out of their car sort of wobbly.

After the door is opened, the man is coughing from all the airbag dust. He is trying to get out and I say, "Wait a minute. How is your neck? Are you hurt?" He says that he is OK. Another man who witnessed the accident is on his phone and I confirm that he is calling 911. Then we notice that there is gasoline and other liquids flowing out of the car. So I say, "Alright, let's get you out of here." I help him get out and lead him to the curb and tell him to sit down and take it easy. I was hoping for an explosion at this point where we could dive away from the fireball to safety. That would have been sweet, but no fire.

He starts saying that he needs to call his dentist because he was on the way to an appointment - definitely disoriented. I check him out a bit more and he is hurting real bad, but no major gashes. Josh's guy had a cut on his head. Before Matt could even get back with some towels, the firemen had already arrived. They were really fast. We told them who was involved in the accident and then they took over.

Am I a hero? It's all part of the job.

Have you ever had any experiences like that?