What's Going On? Preaching Pattern

You may have noticed that I have been preaching every week since Easter.  This has been in anticipation of the fact that Ruth Ann and I will be away for four Sundays in a row.  I am giving you a heads-up on this now.

The main reason we are away is that we are going to Turkey with BEMA on a learning tour.  Having been to Israel in 2018, we are well aware of the incredible advantage of knowing the location and history of biblical events and writing.  While listening to BEMA (Bemadiscipleship.com) podcasts, we became aware of their Turkey trip and signed up to go along.  The trip is about 2 weeks. However, since it is not a trip geared toward pastors they did not consider leaving on a Monday as we usually do for vacation.  Thus, the two-week trip covers three weekends – the way normal people usually do this.

With that trip already planned, we heard from our previous congregation in Brampton that there was a 75th anniversary celebration planned for Sunday May 26.  The timing is unfortunate, but working with the assumption that when Mountainview celebrates an anniversary we would love to have former pastors come, Ruth Ann and I felt we should accept the invitation.  So, May 26 in Brampton, June 2,9, and 16 for the learning tour, and we will be back June 23.

Let’s note again that we have the privilege of having three pastors on the preaching team at Mountainview.  For the four weeks I am away, Jolene will preach one and Brady will continue to meet his goal of preaching more by doing the other three.

One final comment on preaching.  When there is more than one preacher on staff it is inevitable that comparisons are made.  We all understand this.  For most of us the automatic way we compare is to talk about what and who we like best.  That is, at least, positive.  I am wondering if I can suggest a way of reframing our preacher comments.  What if we said, “When Brady preaches I get….” “When Erick preaches I get…” and “When Jolene preaches I get…” and finish the statement with how God speaks to you through each of us.  While you should feel free to have preferences, we invite you to focus on how God works through everyone.

Pastor Erick Schuringa