During a recent trip to Portland, Oregon, noted atheist Christopher Hitchens laid down some seriously good theology. Most people recognize Hitchens as the author of the bestselling book God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything. Since the book’s publication in 2007, Hitchens has toured the country debating a series of religious leader…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 11, “The Value of a Target.""It is easier to lose one’s way in the ministry than in any other calling.""Even men who work prodigiously on their sermons may forget the end for which sermons ought to be prepared.""An aiml…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson:"The world does not know how great a tax upon a sensitive man an earnest sermon is. No man can vitalize other men without devitalizing himself. Sermons that heal and lift have in them the red blood of the preacher’s heart.” “A disheartened man takes the…
In 1900 the noted British pastor J. D. Jones wrote a little book called “Paul’s Certainties” that contains a chapter on “The Unaccountable Man.” The chapter title refers to that moment in Christ’s ministry when he returned to his hometown and the people began to wonder, “Where did this man get this wisdom a…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 9, “Clerical Hamlets."Whatever else a minister may be he must be preeminently a man of good cheer.” …
Yesterday I received a note from someone who wanted to know my views on those who use my material in their own preaching and writing. It seems that he had run across an unusual case (at least it is unusual in my experience) and wanted to know my opinion. How do I feel when I find out that other people out there somewhere, unnamed and unknown to me,…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 8, “Impatience.""Excessive boldness is recklessness, and recklessness wrecks a church.""Spunk is good, but the servant of the Lord must be something more than fighting-cock or bulldog.""No other single sin works such havoc in…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 7, “Cowardice.""It is easier to call a man a coward than to prove him one.""A man may be a coward without knowing it.""Surely no minister can be other than a coward unless strength be given him from above. All things conspire…
I’m writing this note from the guesthouse at the SIM Missionary Village in Sebring Florida, in the southern part of the state about an hour and a half south of Orlando. This is my third visit. I spoke here in 2004 on the recommendation of Calvary missionaries John and Anne Ockers. Marlene came with me on my second visit in January 2006. So fa…
Notes taken from Quiet Hints to Growing Preachers by Charles E. Jefferson, Chapter 6, “The Foremost of the Demons.""It is not true, as some men think, that all clergymen are lazy, but it is true that they like other men are tempted, and alas, too many of them succumb."’Not infrequently a man will fuss and bustle over m…