Category: Communication

Preparing the Preacher

a man talking on a microphone while holding a bible
~ MD Harris Institute ~ Leave a comment

The nature of man is to be part of a group rather than just an individual. As such, human nature is to communicate. Tomes have been written on proclaiming Christ through our sermons, but less on proclaiming Christ through our person. This article describes how to prepare the preacher to preach most powerfully.

By Mark D. Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

Any man who has stood behind a pulpit in front of a group of God’s people has felt the yearning to be a perfect preacher. In our weaker moments, that yearning may be caused by the preacher’s desire for the listeners’ acclaim. In our stronger moments, that yearning may be caused by the preacher’s passion for his Lord, and a desperation to lead others to share that passion. But God does not honor His followers when they do not honor Him, so to be a powerful preacher, one must be a powerful Christian.

The thoughts of other preachers over the centuries can be useful in our spiritual preparation to preach today. My thanks to Colin S. Smith for compiling many of these quotations for the Basics Conference in May 2003.

Philips Brooks (Lectures in Preaching, p 5), said “Preaching is the bringing of truth through personality”

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Accuse at Your Own Risk

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Accusations are necessary for justice, but false accusations are a miscarriage of it. It is increasingly easy to accuse in our modern American culture. The penalties are small, and the payoff often big. But false accusers must beware. In the fullness of time, they will pay for their lies. Meanwhile, those accused must forgive as they have been forgiven.

By Mark D, Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

“Buy me another servant” the sultry wife told her wealthy, older husband. Within a few days, she noticed an unfamiliar young man carrying a large sack of topsoil in the garden. He tossed the sack to the ground as if it were filled with feathers. Over the weeks, she noticed that his tasks were always done quickly, imaginatively, and well, leaving time to help other servants with their responsibilities. Everyone liked and respected him, despite his youth.  Her husband noticed too, and within months put him in charge of the other servants. Soon, the young man was the administrator of the whole household.

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Where are you from?

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Usually, the question “where are you from?” is not a “microaggression” but an honest effort to meet a new person. For either party to interpret it otherwise is foolish, selfish, and reduces the possibility of a relationship that could bless them both.

By Mark D, Harris, MD, MPH, MBA, MDiv, ThM, PhD, DBA

A stocky, white, middle-aged man stood behind the counter at the fencing school as I approached. “I am looking to take lessons. Do I sign up here?”

“Yes,” he said in a thick Russian accent.

I love to get to know people, the studio wasn’t very busy, and I knew nothing about “microaggressions,” so I asked, “Where are you from?”

“Minnesota,” he replied.

“No, where are you from originally?”

“Baltimore,” he answered.

“OK, where is your accent from?” I persisted, eager to learn about his big life adventure.

“Russia,” he said.

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Words Limited

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Words are not enough to encompass life. To experience the universe only through words is to miss life itself, and fail to enter the kingdom of Heaven

By Mark D. Harris

I was waiting for a flight at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport last weekend, and doing what I often do at airports…watching people. Thousands walked by, from flight crews with their impressive leather jackets and epaulets, to children with their troll pillows and Disney backpacks. Many adults were stooped, with shoulders rotated in and necks craned forward looking at their cell phones, which they typically held in their left hands. Single women cruised with short steps and a hippy gait, especially those in high heels, and single men sported their shouldery saunter. Mothers pushed strollers and fathers carried car seats and other luggage through crowded passageways.

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Communication Conflicts

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Assumptions, Emotions, Perceptions, Conditions, and Facts color our communication with ourselves and others. We must learn to manage them.

By Mark D. Harris

A wise man once said that the hardest thing about communication is the illusion that it has occurred. I have been involved in hundreds of medical, military, and public safety operations, and the after-action reviews of each one cite communication as a problem. Whether in business, relationships, or anywhere else, avalanches of academic papers and mountains of media articles bemoan our inability to effectively talk to each other, and propose ways of fixing it.

Several factors are present in every communication event, including assumptions, emotions, perceptions, conditions, and facts. They change the communication, often without the participants realizing it.

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Open Windows

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How to keep our hearts and our lives open to the people and experiences that God has put around us.

By Mark D. Harris

It was a three-car accident, with three distraught drivers walking between their disabled vehicles and the flashing blue lights of police cruisers drawing attention to the scene. Traffic was slow, with hundreds of bypassing drivers craning their necks to see what had happened. Though I have long disparaged such “looky loos”, I found myself drawn into the action. I gazed for a second too long, turned forward, found a car stopped just a few feet ahead, hit the brakes, and swerved into the shoulder to avoid a crash. I barely made it; with no harm except to my pride.

After thanking God for saving me from this close call, I considered why it happened. The morning temperatures were in the high forties but road conditions were good and visibility clear. On leaving home I had opened my driver’s window, and had noticed that of the thousands of cars on the road, only two had their windows even partly open. It was easy to see why – it was cold, and the wind chill made it worse. Still, opening the window made me much more aware of my surroundings. Instead of just seeing the activities on the road, I could hear them, and to some degree even feel them. I had gotten cold and closed the window just before my near crash. The traffic opened up, but several minutes and several miles later I saw another emergency vehicle about ¼ mile behind me. He moved closer and I pulled over, seeing rather than hearing him from a distance. Others didn’t pull over at all.

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