From Sampler to Sower

We’re just a few weeks away from our district’s annual Celebrate Life competition, when Nazarene teens from across Northeastern Indiana descend on a middle school campus in Huntington to compete in a wide variety of talent and athletic categories.  Everyone has fun.  Those who excel qualify to advance to the regional level at Olivet Nazarene University in May.

Due to @aaronscottallen’s success last year in the Bible Exposition category, I have some teens who have expressed some interest in giving it a try this year.  Bible Exposition is essentially a ten minute expository sermon.  By rule, it is not topical, but textual.  There’s no choosing a topic, coming up with some illustrations and then cherry-picking a handful of prooftexts to make the outline seem Biblical.  This is my kind of preaching.  Choosing a text, sitting down in the middle of it, and there staying until the small voice of God says “Comfort my people…speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”

To help them get a start  on interpreting their passages I’ve compiled a list of questions I typically think through in conversation with a text before I head to the bookshelf or the library looking for answers.  These questions help me know what insights I’m looking for from these other commentaries, and they also help me know the areas in which I need to push back against some of the popular interpretations or perhaps dig a little deeper.

Here they are:

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This last Sunday our youth choir, under the excellent direction of our Children’s Minister Pastor Jill presented Geron Davis’ Christmas musical The Cradle that Rocked the World (from Brentwood Benson publishers).  It was an incredible service and I had the privilege of  preaching the message as part of the presentation.  (That’s why it’s so short — I hardly ever am this timely.)

In keeping with the musical, the theme was “This baby changes everything.”   And it is basically a retelling of the story of Simeon in Luke 2 .  (I had originally hoped to include the story of Anna, but time did not permit.)

Below’s my first attempt with Vimeo video.  Obviously I did not have the right deinterlace setting on in Handbrake when I converted it from our service DVD.  Oh well, live and learn, right?

The Story of Simeon from Bradley Buhro on Vimeo.

Tim Schmoyer at Life in Student Ministry got me thinking recently.  One of his (and my) favorite posts is his article 100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write About.  And in that list of ideas for youth ministry bloggers is this nugget at #25: “Sermon presentations versus small group discussion Bible studies.”  That got me thinking about why I do what I do.  Our backbone event is built around the preaching of the Word.  Preaching is central to our youth ministry and the essential core of my calling.

Then again, I don’t know that “versus” is necessarily the right word.  There is a place for both small group discussions and sermon presentations in youth ministry, and both take place as a part of our youth ministry at Water’s Edge.  But they aren’t the same, and – truth be told – if you told me I could only do one or the other, I would choose to preach.

I believe in preaching

Of course such a blanket statement then begs the question “why?”

I’m so glad you asked.

There is a unique and spiritual power that comes with the preaching of God’s Word.  If you don’t believe me, all I need to do is point you to some of the greatest sermons ever preached.  Take for example my favorite sermon of all time, Martin Luther King, Jr’s “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” sermon.

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