FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Calvin Miller believes in stories.
Writer in residence and research professor at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., Miller points to Jesus’ narrative parables as proof of the power and potential of stories to be remembered and to move their hearers. It comes as no surprise, then, that when he addressed the 2009 Pastors’ Conference, Miller, 73, challenged them to preach narrative sermons.
Unlike propositional preaching, which makes a point and supports it with an argument, Miller believes that narrative preaching appeals to the natural curiosity, creates interest and leaves lasting impressions on the listener’s memory.
He encouraged preachers to use the power of stories to impact the needs of our age. One of the greatest needs in our age, he said, is for hope. “Great sermons and great lives give people hope. More than anything else, the people who hear you preach want to have hope.”
Miller, who is celebrated for his creative writing and speaking, read from and quoted his own works during his remarks to the delight and benefit of the gathering of 120 pastors.
In addition to Miller, Pastors’ Conference president Michael Jordan also invited to speak Portsmouth, Va., pastor Mark Croston, who serves East End Baptist Church there.
Speaking on the topic of suffering, Croston used passages from Job as his text. In an impressive sermon, he observed that every human being knows about suffering from first-hand experience. He referred to, but did not dwell on, his own suffering when he thanked the pastors for their support given in the aftermath of his wife’s death last year after a 10-year battle with breast cancer.
Using Job as his example, Croston observed that in the midst of his suffering, Job got up, tore his clothing, shaved his head and fell down in worship. Croston observed that though grief and sorrows may be great, there comes a time when we must turn to the future and get up.
He then said though we get up it does not mean that our suffering is ended. Job expressed his grief in the expressions of his day by tearing his clothes and shaving his head. Croston challenged the pastors to express their hurt rather than try to hold it in and pretend that they are not grieving.
As Job fell to worship, we, too, recognize that the Lord is the source of our strength and healing.
During a very brief business session, pastors elected officers. Serving as president for 2010, is Ernest Reid, pastor of Olive Branch Baptist Church in Portsmouth. Matt Brown, pastor of Branch’s Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., was elected to serve as vice president, and, responding to an appeal for a volunteer, Chuck Haley, pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Tappahannock, Va., agreed to serve as treasurer.
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.