A friend of mine recently posted to Facebook “Going to see <insert name of your favorite famous preacher here> at his huge church.” She was only sharing her excitement at hearing in person someone who is indeed a great teacher and whose heart is in the right place and who has helped her grow. But in the process she brought something to light that I think demonstrates—in part—why Christianity has become so unsavory (“if the salt has lost its savor”) in America. She didn’t say anything about going to experience Jesus. She didn’t say anything about going to worship God the almighty Creator of the universe. She was just going to hear a famous preacher.

I’m guilty of something similar. I enjoy hearing my pastor teach. He does a really good job. He’s had occasion recently to be gone from our church and has had a guy filling in who……..well let’s just say his fire doesn’t lite because his wood is wet. He’s a very nice man. Very Godly. Theologically correct. Good hearted. Well-intentioned. But…..he’s boring as heck. Listening to him is alot like watching paint dry. Beyond being boring, he also goes long. He’ll preach for upwards of an hour. In my opinion he doesn’t have the gift to be a teacher and I wouldn’t allow him pulpit time if the decision were mine. You could argue that if I had the right attitude I would go to worship and experience Jesus apart from the lack of skill this fill-in preacher exhibits. But…………..

Somewhere in the middle there’s a balance. Church leaders have a responsibility to be sure that those who are in the teaching role can deliver disciple development. They need to realize that if you preach for an hour to 1700 people, you just “spent” 80% of a working year (in total “people time” terms). If a year of work is worth $40,000 a boring one hour sermon just wasted $32,000.

You can’t really impute financial value to the listeners time in that way, but I think it does make a worthy point that the preacher needs to have a word that is helpful in growing people, presented in a palatable and engaging way. Then, it’s up to you and me. We need to bring our best game. We need to bring hearts that are ready to engage God, to worship with enthusiasm, to pray during the praying, to sing during the singing, and to engage, ponder, listen, and respond—internally and maybe audibly—to the teaching.

When a prepared pastor meets a prepared people, Heaven’s magic can happen. Think about that when you go to church next weekend.