Regarding your last comment, I can’t help but agree. I believe authenticity in the pulpit is critical. You cannot effectively teach/preach without having it lived out in your life. Likewise, those who define authenticity as the word of God impacting my life this week with the message and then me passing it on is correct as well.

Yet there is a fine line between simple authenticity and proudly proclaiming sin in the pulpit. I cring when a preacher tells me he is a sinner. I know it is true. I know it is true of myself. But there is something attitudanal (is that a word??) in the way that it can be done. It can either be an admittance to God’s work through a message or it can be pride in a sense.
We need to be careful not to make either too much or too little of our struggles.

In His Name
Wayne Smith

I’m praying for your family, that they all know Jesus and except Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Dr John Frame wrote a Book on Worship.
The book is Worship in Spirit and Truth (1996) .

In His Name
Wayne Smith

I try always to be honest that I am no better than anyone – that I struggle as well – but I don’t usually go into details.

I think that reveling in the sins of one’s past, or appearing to glorify oneself in worldliness, accomplishes just the opposite of what most people desire. The motivation behind that tragic mistake is to be held in a higher esteem by the congregation, but if the congregation is righteous, they will lose confidence in a worldly man; if they are worldly, they will see a man attempting to promote himself with his own words and they will not respect him – and they would be right, of course.

I, too, am a veteran of “puke” sessions as I was raised in an alcoholic home. Ala-non, ala-teen and AA were all part of our family experience in my formative years. I’m not comfortable with preaching being identified with those either.

I didn’t hear Lu restricting her use of “authentic” to “telling of struggles” [not that anyone said she did] but I heard her saying it is speaking of what is “being learned.” That involves both struggle and cure being presented it would seem to me. I’m aware that many do not like a minister speaking of their own struggles at all. It would appear it makes them uncomfortable. [though such struggles are at the very heart of the gospel.] I’m wondering if it may be that some folks put preachers on a pedestal as if they have it altogether and I also wonder if some of us as preachers don’t foster that by NEVER speaking of our struggles.

Then there are surly those who seem to enjoy only talking about their struggles and seem to revel in them since they never bother to investigate change and growth with application of Divine Truth. What a journey we’re on.

If a communicator of Divine Truth [preacher/teacher] does the job well, the communicator will NOT be presented as the example of the struggle OR the cure. That would negate the uniqueness of the hearers. The communicator of DT must be seen as a participant in the journey, however, by being open and honest about the uniqueness of his/her journey for the authenticity, of which Lu spoke, to be there. AND sharing the meaning of scripture, chapter and verse, with an eye always on the Victory won at the Cross will be the foundation for ANY cure that is heard/seen by the hearers. [Understanding, of course, all is in the Hands of a very capable Holy Spirit.]

How a preacher is doing in his own journey is a question to be asked his spouse, kids, church, or friends. [Perhaps a staff member} That is where the real, and by any definition, authentic person is known. Remember the pulpit only puts on display what a person is in relationships, real or otherwise.

I’ve been on this communication of DT journey for over fifty years now and don’t have it down yet. I need the good stuff you guys/gals are talking abut here. Keep it up.

When a 3-year-old child can remember the sermon months later as our granddaughter did, it says something about the Pastor’s delivery of the message.

This was in a Tribute my wife Irene wrote to Dr. Edmund P. Clowney

What a treasure to have him teach us in Sunday School or hear him Preach. Imagine! He always had us on the edge of our seats with his brilliance as he unfolded the mysteries of God’s Word. We especially remember how he would chuckle when emphasizing a point he was making. It was as if he was discovering God’s amazing message right along with us! Above all, we remember Dr. Clowney as a man who truly represented what it is to be a Christian. Despite his incredible background, he remained always a man of genuine humility. A gentle man, yet one sensed and immediately understood the strength and wisdom that made him the man he was. Now he is home, and how happy and full of delight he must be. Well-done, true and faithful servant and child of God.

Someone else wrote the following tribute.

He knew the Bible so well. He was as much a walking concordance as the most illiterate pastor in the developing world who knows only the One Book. But after hearing him use that gift, so many were discouraged, since they could never preach like that! Instead, we need and are all called to master the Book as he did.
You can read more here http://edmundclowney.com/.

In His Name
Wayne Smith