Pastors

I am dreading the day when, in the middle of some anecdote, a visitor jumps up and yells, "Hey, I heard that sermon last year. My pastor preached it! "

I just know that a lynch mob will be formed immediately; my elders and deacons will hold the rope, while one of our older ladies knits away, mumbling "guillotine" under her breath.

The fact is, everything I preach is stolen. Some of it from other thieves. It occurs to me that I may not have had an original thought in years. Of course, that thought is not original either.

Book after book, article after article, I read these incredibly brilliant ideas and find them a few weeks later creeping into my messages. At first, I didn't really notice. I actually thought that I might be responsible for a few of the better thoughts expressed from the pulpit. Yet just as soon as I re-read a book I had not touched for years, I would come across that same, brilliant, original insight. Not mine.

In the beginning, I tried to hide it. I would read the latest ...

You have reached the end of this Article Preview

To continue reading, subscribe to Christianity Today magazine. Subscribers have full digital access to CT Pastors articles.

Log InSubscribe

Already a CT subscriber? Log in for full digital access.