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The Preaching Life

An Interview with Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, Part 2

“The Preaching Life”* is a regular feature of Preacher’s Magazine where readers are privileged to sit in the classroom and read insights on current preaching models from some of the finest preachers. Recently, Preacher’s Magazine had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie and talk about preaching. This is part 2 of that interview, continued from the previous issue. Click here to go to Part 1 of An Interview with Lloyd John Ogilvie.

PM: What would you say to the pastor who says they want to re-focus their preaching, and make a new commitment to that? Do you have any suggestions on how to begin?

Dr. Ogilvie: I think it’s important to set aside the time and be sure it has been established as a priority. And then to have a good, private place to study and prepare. Then I would suggest listening to the people, as I have talked about. First, establish the priority, find a significant place to study where books, materials, and files support the work of the preparation. Then make a commitment to do biblical preaching and not topical preaching—take a book from the Bible, work through it, and live in the text. Allow the Lord to give his fresh insight and inspiration. Study what other preachers have done with a particular text. But do that after you have come to the conclusion as to what it is that you want to say about it. Gather illustrations. Become a “parable-izer.” Wherever we go, there are parables just screaming out to be used, and it is so helpful to have fresh illustrations that come out of life. If they’re exciting to us, they will be to our people. The other thing is to write. Good preaching comes as a result of having written a manuscript and then reading it over, many times, so that there is little reference to it in the actual proclamation.

PM: As a pastor you preached expositionally through the Bible, but you also had question cards from the people. How did you make those connections between, let’s say, the book of Romans and those questions from your congregation?

Dr. Ogilvie: If I had collected hundreds of questions or concerns of people throughout the year, I would have those before me when I worked through Romans. Sometimes an overall theme would develop. For example, one year I had so many questions about how to live in this stress-filled world. Literally hundreds of people were talking about how to deal with the stress. I found that by working through the book of James with the people’s questions about stress, the text really spoke to the major causes of stress in the Christian life. I found that this worked out very well. One year there were a great number of questions about how to live the Christian life with confidence. That, of course, was Paul’s emphasis in his writing to Timothy, especially Second Timothy. So I did a whole year of Second Timothy, just on the theme of how to live as a confident Christian.
Then I looked to First and Second Peter, in terms of development of character. I realized that a lot of Christians were bothered by and embarrassed about the lack of integrity in the lives of fellow Christians. And they wanted to live exemplary lives themselves. So I did a series of messages on Peter, in order to emphasize the nature and source of true Christian character. Then we had thought about the basic message of Christ for our time, and we did messages on the Sermon of the Mount, on the character traits of Jesus, on the Beatitudes, and coupled that with a Galatian package on the Fruit of the Spirit. In the process we found that Scriptures really do speak to the contemporary needs of our time.

PM: If you were talking to a person going into their first pastorate, what would be your advice?

Dr. Ogilvie: First of all, I would prioritize my time and be sure that the time necessary to prepare to preach, with freedom and joy and power, was established in my schedule. Secondly, I would take time for my own personal devotional time first thing in the morning. There is a difference between preparing for a sermon and preparing one’s own heart with daily devotions. It is very, very important. Eventually, you have to stress that to your people, and you can’t do that unless you’re doing it yourself.

Then I would recommend that listening is the key to relationships with people. And I would tell people that I really want to hear what is on their minds and hearts. Every pastor needs to develop a technique, reassuring the people that he or she will listen to what is said. So getting to know people, and enjoying them as friends becomes a very important element.

Added to that, I’ve always had a small group of fellow pastors in the area with whom I met at least once a month, if not more often, to be accountable and to share the adventure of, as I say, “living the 29th Chapter of the Book of Acts.”

And then, of course, since there’s such a challenge to live a healthy life if you’re married, to talk through the use of time in such a way so there’s time for your spouse and for your children. That means planning. It can be done on a monthly basis or a year. I did it on a yearly basis so I was sure the time was there when I would be home, the weeks I would take off to be with the family. I find that most parishes will respond to a pastor who has a clear vision as to how they use their time.

Lloyd John Ogilvie served as chaplain of the United States Senate for eight years. In 1996, he was named by Baylor University as one of the twelve most effective preachers in the English-speaking world. He served for 23 years as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. He is the author of 48 books, and the editor of the 32 volume Communicator’s Commentary.

*Preacher’s Magazine is indebted to Barbara Brown Taylor for the title of this column.