I think there is a quality that alot of young preachers are missing and that is the ability to be quiet and listen...there are times when I am around a few elder Pastors or Preachers and I will purposefully stay as much out of the conversation as possible, not because I don't believe that I don't have anything to add to the conversation, but because these are Men that have been where I am, alot of wisdom can come from them and I don't want to miss it by giving my opinion.
With that said, last night I was talking with two great Men of God and we were talking about the fact that the Church has a hard time changing, adapting, being effective in this culture and still remaining counter culture. One of these Men said that a business man had told him that in the business world if a business doesn't change every 6-8 months, within a couple of years their doors will be closed. So, why is it so hard for the Church to change? There are things that we haven't changed in decades, and we expect to be effective in this time?
It made me think of the story of Jesus and His disciples as they were teaching by the sea one day and it said in Mark 4 that Jesus was teaching the people but there were so many people that he couldn't teach them from the land. No doubt Jesus realized that what He was teaching was the very Word of God and he could have easily taken the approach that many of us have taken and said well we are preaching the Word of God, if they can't hear it it's not my fault. He could have easily said, this is the way we have always done it, no one has ever taught from a boat, what is everyone going to think of me doing it that way? No he realized that yes the Word was the same, that it didn't matter what others thought and he was going to change the way He was doing things in order to effectively communicate the Word of His Father.
Why then should it be hard for us, the Church to change the way we do things to more effectively communicate the Word of our Father? Change is GOOD, Change is GOD! The Message never changes, but the Method MUST!!
God Bless,
Nathan
