Musings on Spiritual Matters

A lot of my friends will be heading to Henderson, Tennessee soon.  The famous Freed-Hardeman Lectureships will be starting next week.  This was a yearly event for me during my time in Waynesboro.  It was always a highlight of the year for two reasons.  It was a week off from graduate classes and an opportunity to go hear some great speakers and see some old friends.  Maybe I should not say this, but lectureships are like the prom for preachers.  Who is looking good, who is with who, is there going to be a big break up, someone leaving a work for another, and now this congregation is starting to date again.  There are preachers looking for new works, and elders seeking new ministers.  There are connections made.  There is a lot of social activity taking place.  And yes, for me, I love this stuff.  I love eating lunch with people, talking with famous preachers, seeing old friends, and yes, I am a loser to some, getting preacher’s autographs.  Yes, I am that guy.  I love lectureships, and especially the big ones.  Unfortunately, lectureships do not carry the weight that they once did.  They are still well attended, but I hear stories of the famous ACU lectureships years ago, in which the big guys would come and speak.  I wish I was there for the Jimmy Allen racism sermon.  I wanted to hear the “woes”. At the lectureships, history happened.  It still does, but does it reverberate through the church?  I guess in one way it does.  For the people there, they go back home and influence the congregations.  It still makes a impact.  I love hearing a powerful sermon, that rocks the place.  Or the huge name preacher, bringing down the house.  Going to a lectureship is like going to the best movie for me.  I heard great things about so and so, and he preaches, and you say wow, this guy is awesome.  At FHU, some say they dislike the open forum, I personally love this, it is one of the huge highlights, yes people debate, but those who come are big boys, let them deal with the issue and not pretend they are not there.  I love this time together.  So yes, at lectureships, this is a big deal to preachers and church members.  Those that come are blessed.  Of course it can all be taken to far, at one lectureship, not FHU, but it seemed that every speaker praised the director to such a degree that once one of the students just yelled “preach.”  And he was right, we are here to hear the preaching.  I do love the talking and visiting, the shaking and dealings, and meeting some of the older preachers.  But let us always make sure the preaching of the gospel comes forth.  I just love it when a guy Preaches.

Related posts:

1. Lectureships and Retreats
2. The Purpose of Lectureships
3. Going to Bear Valley Lectureships

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This entry was posted by Matthew on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Church News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.