By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n
CHICAGO, IL (February 3, 2009) \u2013 You should \u201cfirst have a predisposition to listen\u201d and then trust that God is walking alongside you as you proclaim his word.
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\nThat\u2019s the message pastors heard during Monday evening\u2019s opening worship service of the Midwinter Pastors Conference, delivered by Judy Peterson and Efrem Smith.<\/p>\n
The pair preached from the story of Jesus encountering the downcast disciples on the road to Emmaus.<\/p>\n
Peterson, campus chaplain at North Park University, began the evening of tag-team preaching. She addressed the need for Christians to listen to others, including people outside the church as well as other Christians.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to discern exactly what we\u2019re to speak, then we must listen broadly,\u201d Peterson declared. \u201cIt is imperative that we know what is going on in the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven Jesus listens in the text before he speaks,\u201d Peterson noted.<\/p>\n
Non-Christians also have vital words to share that can help Christians to better understand scripture, Peterson suggested. Listening to people \u201cin the world\u201d will help Christians to ask different questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cGod is much more than the little words we have created,\u201d Peterson declared.<\/p>\n
Peterson also exhorted the attendees to listen to other Christians with whom they disagree. Doing so will help bring correction to their own interpretations of scripture.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to be wrong,\u201d Peterson acknowledged. \u201cFrom the time when I was young, I loved to be right. As a child, a disagreement in my house was an invitation to battle. I loved a good debate from the very beginning. From the time I was young, I just knew I wanted to be right as much as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo some people would say religion was a good field for me to go into because I love to be right,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Christians, however, should be recognized for their ability to listen and receive correction. \u201cI like to push correction away and rationalize my own interpretation,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cNot all correction is from the devil. We should not be binding it all and sending it away,\u201d she added, drawing laughter from the gathering.<\/p>\n
Peterson emphasized that none of what she was encouraging could be done without the guidance of the Holy Spirit. To not be guided by the Spirit, she added, would even be dangerous.<\/p>\n
Where Peterson emphasized listening, Smith stirred the crowd with his exhortation to speak with authority and accountability to God amid hard times. \u201cWe need to be sure we are shining examples in our proclamation of the hope of God and in the core identity that Jesus is alive,\u201d he asserted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not in denial about the crisis around us,\u201d said Smith, who is pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church, a multiethnic congregation in Minneapolis, and serves on the board of the Sanctuary Community Development Association. However, \u201cWe sometimes take the crisis too far. That\u2019s what these two disciples were doing as they walked down this road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing male pastors, Smith said, \u201cPlease listen to some Godly women.\u201d He recalled that women were at the gravesite first and were the first to proclaim that Jesus was alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWeren\u2019t no brothers there, no men. Sisters!\u201d Smith continued. \u201cThese guys are talking to the resurrected Jesus about what the sisters said, but they didn\u2019t listen strong enough!<\/p>\n
\u201cNow if you are a pastor at a church that is not ready to receive a woman preacher, then that\u2019s your fault,\u201d he declared, much to the laughter and applause of the audience.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe this,\u201d Smith continued. \u201cSometimes our denomination sends out letters to churches and they say, \u201cIf you let a sister come preach at your church, we\u2019re going to help cover the expenses. Now I\u2019m thinking to myself, I wonder how I would feel if they sent out a letter to all the white Covenant churches and said, if you will please let a black man preach at your church, we will help cover the expenses \u2013 you know I wouldn\u2019t be happy that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
To loud applause, he declared, \u201cMany of you need to go onto the Covenant website and read every resolution we have put up there since 1976. Did you not get the memo?<\/p>\n
\u201cMy preaching must be relevant without watering down the scripture, because I\u2019m willing to be held accountable by the one who explains it to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not preaching for a popularity contest. I\u2019m not preaching for the cool factor. I\u2019m not preaching to try to quench the thirst of some postmodern generation that wants me to sit in a circle and light a candle with them. This is not why I\u2019m preaching! I\u2019m not preaching a black word! I\u2019m not preaching a white word! I\u2019m not preaching a suburban word!<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m preaching based on accountability to the one who will explain to me what it is I\u2019m preaching about because we need people to proclaim God\u2019s word in these days.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m so glad that in these days, God is one the road with me!\u201d he shouted. \u201cI\u2019m so glad I\u2019m not preaching by myself!\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, he encouraged the pastors with the reminder, \u201cYou are not on the road by yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt Nightingale, pastor of worship arts and communication at Access Covenant Church in Houston, Texas, and the North Park Gospel Choir led the gathering in rousing music.<\/p>\n