Thoroughly equipped for every good work.

We are happy to present our third issue of “Man of God,” a newsletter primarily for young men who are interested in preaching. This issue includes a story from Jeff Jenkins about how to use a current event to make a great spiritual point, some ideas about how to develop a biographical sermon, suggestions about how to develop the leadership skills that a preacher needs, a quiz about the Bible and modern sports, and thoughts about how helping someone at school could be good preparation for preaching. You’ll find the stories interesting and helpful.

We want to add more people to our mailing list for “Man of God” so if you know of someone you believe would benefit from it, please send that person’s email address to piper.johnson@oc.edu. If you have ideas for stories that would be good for this newsletter, send them to stafford.north@oc.edu. We welcome your comments and suggestions.
 Oklahoma Christian University is glad to provide this service as one of the ways in which the University seeks to encourage young men to preach and to help in training them.

by Jeff Jenkins, minister, Lewisville Church of Christ

My nephew, Drake and I had the privilege of going to Ranger’s game this week at the invitation of my good friends, Russell, Drake, and Chuck. It turned out to be a beautiful evening, Russell’s sweet wife, Laura made us hotdogs, and the Rangers won 12-1 (this really might be the year Ranger’s fans!).

I’ve been going to baseball games for more than 45 years, but I saw something this week that will be forever etched in my memory. I watched a man fall. It was a horrific scene. The man reached over the railing to catch a foul ball and he literally tumbled from the upper deck, to the ground level seats. Fortunately, the gentleman is doing okay now, but the fact that he survived the fall is incredible.

We learned later that he actually fell on top of four people (which turned out to be good for him) and they are all doing fine as well. The reaction of the home plate umpire indicates the severity of what happened. He saw the fall and turned away in what seemed to be terror. He then halted the game for twenty minutes …

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by Stafford North

An excellent sermon can be developed by studying the life of a Bible character. Such a sermon gives the opportunity for people to learn more about the Bible while at the same time recognizing the practical ways Bible characters dealt with problems and circumstances similar to ours.

Almost any Bible character can serve as a focus for a biographical sermon. You might want to preach on Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Samson, Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Jonah, Esther, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Peter, Paul, Mary, Timothy, John, and many others. The list is almost endless. Even fairly minor characters like Barnabas, Onesiphorus, or Lazarus can yield good lessons.

Of course, the choice of the person on which to preach depends on what purpose you have for the lesson. If you want to emphasize the importance of being faithful when most others are falling to sin, choose Noah. If you want to deal with the consequences of secret sin, choose David. If you want to demonstrate a life of service, choose Barnabas. If you want to inspire people to meet a challenge, choose Esther. If you want to demonstrate the hope for faithful Christians, choose …

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This quiz checks your knowledge about people in the Bible and your knowledge of sports.

If by “steal” you mean take something you have been told not to take, who “stole second?”

1. Who played “tennis” by “serving in Pharaoh’s court?
2. Who made a “home run?”
3. Who “put one in the basket?”
4. What player “took out” an opposing player who was larger than he?

Answers:

1. Adam
2. Moses
3. The prodigal son
4. Jochebed, Moses’ mother
5. David

by Stafford North

In the two previous articles on this topic, we have discussed the importance of being a good example and of learning to work with people.  These are two qualities that need to characterize everyone who is a preacher.

In this article we want to share a third quality you can be working on in your formative years:  the ability to lead.  The New Testament says, of course, that each fully-developed congregation will have elders to provide leadership for the church.  But the work of elders does not cover all the leading that needs to be done in a congregation.

Preachers are also called on to be leaders.  Often they meet with elders and help them with their leadership work.  On other occasions the elders will commission the preacher to lead a team of members in working on solutions to problems, planning programs, and/or carrying out activities the church needs to have done.  In all of these roles and in many others, a preacher needs to be an effective leader.

So what makes a good leader?  A good leader knows how to plan and gets others involved in the planning.  He can put a plan into action and …

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What are you thinking about as school begins? “Oh no, its Algebra 2.” “I can’t wait to see friends I have missed a lot during the summer.” “Finally, I can get off my summer job.” “Homework! Ugh!!!” “I’m really looking forward to my class in history.” “I hope I can make the basketball team this year.”

Some of these and other thoughts may be going through your mind as you start back to school. It’s always an adjustment to get back on the school schedule after summer activities which may have included summer camps, family vacations, and time off. Anyway, the time has come.

For all Christian young people, and particularly for those who want to preach or work in ministry, the approach of school should signal a time of opportunity. This is a time when you can minister to those with special needs. One of your classmates may have lost a parent or other family member over the summer. Someone’s parents may have divorced. Another classmate may have a disability or does not have friends. Another may be suffering from a great disappointment because she didn’t make the cheerleading squad or he got bumped from the football team. Another …

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