What to preach? How does one go about the process of figuring out what one will preach while preaching to a church as an intern. I get to speak on any topic once on Wednesday night, July 6.
The place of an intern in a church is interesting. Especially a preaching intern. Youth and children's programs are in the peak season and hire interns to help them with an impossible load, but a preaching intern does not face the same situation. I am not needed, yet welcomed onto a staff in somewhat of a strange role. I am a part of the team, but my decision power is limited. My main task is to help the church while not setting any fires to be left for others to extinguish when I leave. So, in picking a passage, I don't want to start any fires, I want to be relevant, but I don't want to be so "relevant" (harsh about an area the church needs to grow) that my ministry is ineffective for the rest of the summer. For instance, bringing up missional concepts in a church whose leadership might not be ready to go there, could start a fire.
Ultimately, I must speak what God has for me to speak because otherwise I am speaking my own foolish words of human wisdom. "1 Corinthians 1:18 says, "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." Surely this is the truth.
It's easy know what you're preaching in a series, but in a one time shot, it's sometimes hard to know what needs to be said.
God, answer my prayer with the wisdom to know what your message is because surely you know what needs to be heard. This is my prayer. In Jesus' name, the one whose name I look forward to proclaiming, Amen.
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