I read in the Christian Post that “The National Football League is continuing it’s more than 15-year partnership with World Vision to donate the multimillion dollar merchandise from the Super Bowl’s losing team’s pre-printed championship clothing to Zambia, Armenia, Nicaragua and Romania. According to the NFL Director of Community Affairs, for a lot of the recipients, this would be their first time having brand new clothing. Other philanthropic organizations that donate the losing team’s apparel are Reebok, Sports Authority, Dick’s and Modell’s.”
In other words, soon hundreds of Zambian children will be wearing high-quality polo shirts proclaiming the Pittsburgh Steelers to be proud champions of Super Bowl XLV.
It’s a great system, with worthy recipients benefitting from quality items that can’t otherwise be used. Which makes me wonder if it couldn’t find a parallel in the preaching world.
Don’t you suppose Chuck Swindoll, Max Lucado, Andy Stanley and other well-known preachers have sermon ideas that just don’t pan out? Can’t you imagine Rick Warren putting a couple of hours into a sermon before realizing that, for whatever reason, it just isn’t working for him? Well, what doesn’t work for Chuck or Rick might be just the ticket for Pastor Bob at Little Hope Baptist Church. Shouldn’t we let Pastor Bob try it on for size?
Maybe World Vision can add this to the repertoire of services. Pastor Bob is waiting.
Michael Duduit is founding Dean of the College of Christian Studies and the Clamp Divinity School at Anderson University. He also serves as Professor of Christian Ministry. He is the founder and still serves as Executive Editor of Preaching magazine, one of the nation’s premier publications for pastors. His email newsletter, Preaching Now, is read each week by more than 40,000 pastors and church leaders in the U.S. and around the world. He is founder and director of the National Conference on Preaching and the International Congress on Preaching. He has been a pastor and associate pastor, has served a number of churches as interim pastor, and speaks regularly for churches, colleges and conferences. He is author and editor of several books, including the Handbook of Contemporary Preaching, Joy in Ministry: Messages from Second Corinthians, Preaching with Power: Dynamic Insights from Twenty Top Communicators and Communicate With Power.