The Four Preachers I Listen to.

I used to listen to about 10 preachers, however, since I started school, that list has dwindled down to four. The list didn’t take a lot of hard thought to get to. I loved these preachers and I couldn’t see myself giving up the joy in God that they brought me. I gave up some good ones in the making of this list (Driscoll, Sproul, MacDonald), but I am glad that I kept these four. I encourage you to give them a listen because they are all solid Bible teachers.

 

 

In no particular order….

1. Matt Chandler

Matt Chandler

Now, you probably saw Matt Chandler coming. He is young, witty, and an altogether powerhouse. I get a lot out of Chandler. He is not afraid to get topical because he can always dig his feet in to scripture to prove his points. And he does so in a way that doesn’t use to Bible against itself. He knows what he is talking about. 

If you don’t know anything about Matt, he is the lead pastor of The Village Church (about 12,000 members at 4 campuses) in Texas and the president of the Acts 29 church planting network. He has 4 books: Creature of the Word, The Explicit Gospel, To Live is Christ, and Recovering Redemption. I definitely encourage you to take a listen to his sermons.

thevillagechurch.net

@mattchandler74

 

2. Jared C. Wilson 

jaredwilson

 

As far as my own preaching goes, I tend to be a lot like this guy. If you are looking for a preacher that is going to “get loud and represent” then Wilson is probably not your guy. However, he does represent. He has a very fluid and beautiful way of finding and proclaiming the gospel no matter where he is in the Bible.

He is the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Vermont. It is considerably less in size compared to The Village Church, however he is in a considerably less churched area. He blogs at thegospelcoaltion.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/ and has quite a few books: Your Jesus is Too Safe, Otherworld, and Gospel Wakefullness. 

Middletownchurch.org

@jaredcwilson (he is also hilarious)

 

3. Tim Keller

timkeller

Tim Keller is my hero. Another pastor who is excellent at drawing the gospel out of every passage of the Bible. His sermons are not so much seeker sensitive as they are skeptic aware. He will not pull his punches but will actually dig deep into opposing worldviews in order to show their inconsistency. If you aren’t a christian reading this, this would be the guy I highly recommend to listen to.

Keller is the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. It has a congregation of about 5,000. He is also co-founder (along with D.A. Carson) of the Gospel Coalition and write of many great books : Center Church, Reason for God, Prodigal God and many more.

redeemer.com

@timkellernyc

@dailykeller (fan twitter that tweets his quotes)

4. Martin Lloyd-Jones(1899-1981)

mlj

Martin Lloyd-Jones passed away about 33 years ago, but his sermons were recorded in his days of preaching. He is not just a verse by verse expositor, he is a thought by though expositor. His series on Ephesians is over 200 sermons. Compare that to Mark Driscoll’s series on Ephesians at 12 sermons. He would preach an entire sermon on “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus” and it would be incredible. They are complete with the rolling of R’s and breaking out with the words to hymns. His sermons are truly beautiful.

Lloyd-Jones pastored Westminster Chapel in London for around 30 years. He attracted a lot of college students from around the area. His sermons, for the most part, were all recorded. Those sermons can be found at mljtrust.org.

He doesn’t have a twitter that I know of.

I hope this list of great preachers might integrate into yours. If it does, I hope you get the same joy that I do from it.

Don’t Be a Driscoll

mark-driscoll_profile_imgI want to be very blunt. I respect Mark Driscoll. He teaches the Bible and I believe he does a good job of it. Recently, I have taken a break(indefinitely) from his podcast for reasons of my own.

I read a lot of his apology about being an “angry young prophet” and how he misappropriated the funds of his church. And I believe him. He seems very repentant and, if the things he says are true, he is dedicated to making sure that he is held accountable.

I recently read a blog post from Rachel Held Evans. I don’t endorse anything Evans says regarding the Bible (I don’t follow her on twitter but I do follow her fake account), but she had a lot of things to reveal about Driscoll. Her blog can be found here: http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/driscoll-troubled-mind-william-wallace

The thing I want to point out first is that Evans is just doing some mud slinging. She is not keeping in mind that these are the kind of things that Driscoll was apologizing for. He knows he has made mistakes. Should he still be in ministry? Well, that is up to God. Mars Hill is obviously still growing.

So, why “Don’t Be a Driscoll”? Well, what did I just spend a few paragraphs doing? I had to pull his reputation out of the muck and the mire. I, as a Christian, am called to forgive and to trust my repentant brothers. If Driscoll were still doing the things he was I would be on the different side of the ball. The problem is that Driscoll has definitely caused some stumbling blocks to his ministry.

As a youth pastor, I try to tell my students that the only thing that should be offending people coming out of their mouth is the Gospel. I would like to defend myself on that quickly. The Gospel includes pointing out the fallen state of man. So, pointing out sinful lifestyles mentioned in the Bible is included. As Christians, we are to be understanding of each other. I don’t see Beth Moore or Priscilla Shire dogging on Driscoll for being complementarian. If you have seen that, let me know.

The thing is that Driscoll definitely offended some people with not the gospel. Evans says this at the end of her blog post. The things he said were very disrespectful and even hateful, but I forgive Driscoll. It just breaks my heart to know that some people won’t.

I know that we can’t control what people believe or think about us or about God. However, the stumbling blocks that Driscoll has set up are going to haunt him for the remainder of his ministry. So, don’t be a Driscoll. Sure, be a Driscoll now who is trying to teach the Bible. Don’t be the 20 something that is so angry that they use hateful language to try and make a point.

It is okay to be angry. My favorite preachers are often angry. Don’t be hateful. Think about what you are doing. I have been in ministry for one year and there are plenty of things that I wish I had not done or said. Be mindful of your interactions with others. Be mindful of the things you say when teaching. Don’t be the Driscoll that he, himself, wishes he wouldn’t have been.