When Richard Ulrich offered to teach a summertime preaching class, he expected a handful of men in his congregation would be interested. “I thought we’d have five or six.” He almost sounded like Abraham bargaining with God about a minimum number in order to move forward. But he was surprised.
“We had 16 show up the first week, and several more joined later or studied the book along with us,” he noted. More than 20 participated. Ulrich’s plan for a short course concluding with a one-night preaching event for the participants turned into two months and three services to give everyone a shot at the pulpit.
One meeting was for half the men to bring devotions and offer critique for each other. Then in two worship services, a total of six more men preached, most for the first time. “I think a lot of them had more gifting and skills than they realized,” the pastor-teacher said.
“One of our men who preaches often in other churches said he had been praying for years for God to raise up more men to preach,” he said.
Confirmation
For Ulrich, who is pastor of Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Illinois, response to the preaching lab was confirmation of a need in his local association and beyond. Churches need preachers. There aren’t presently a lot of viable options. And churches like his can train men who will preach, and perhaps become bivocational pastors.
“The result was amazing,” said Brian Kenney, a retired pastor who served as interim AMS for Sandy Creek Association. “The church was so excited to see men being trained and standing in their pulpit.” Incoming AMS Isaac King now has a new list of supply preachers, and as he leans in future pastor searches among his 30 churches, a few possible local candidates.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Eric Reed and originally published by the Illinois Baptist.
