Preaching with Passion

For a long time now, I've been unhappy with my preaching, but I haven't been able to figure out why. Last week, I think I finally found at least part of the answer.

Somebody's said that there's a big difference between preaching because you have something to say, and having to say something because you have to preach. Last week, John Ortberg said that churches tend to drift from vision to complaints management. I'm pretty sure that over the past year, I've lost a bit of that passion and vision in my preaching. I think I'll have to sit down and do some planning on how to keep my passion strong, even when ministry occasionally gets tough (as it does in any setting).

This Sunday, it looks like we'll get a chance to visit Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York. I'm looking forward to that.