TSBC E-Quipper - February 2011 Issue

A Student's Perspective

Warren Jardine and his family came to The Shepherd's Bible College from Melbourne, Australia in 2008. Warren has recently graduated so we asked him a few questions about his training and time at The Shepherd's Bible College . . .


Warren, why did you choose to leave a successful job, a growing church and a great city to move your wife and four boys to New Zealand to study at The Shepherd's Bible College?

Well, even though I had those three great pluses operating in my life at the time, the urge to know more about God’s Word became a greater drive in my life especially after attending the 2007 Impact Bible Conference. I chose The Shepherd's Bible College because of its unique character of being closely linked and intertwined with the local church. Also the high view of God’s Word that The Shepherd's Bible College holds to was another factor that led me to come over and study.

God has uniquely gifted you to serve in the music ministry of a local church. How has your training prepared you to lead and serve in the music ministry of Riverbend Bible Church?

My training has given me the perfect balance to serve in and lead the music ministry at Riverbend Bible Church. Having been given a sound foundation in God’s Word, I now have a grid that I can filter everything through which also helps me to understand better why I do what I do. This, coupled with the practical skills given through the Discipleship Labs and the Internship Experiences, has further honed my gifting to serve and lead more effectively. Again it has been the fact that The Shepherd's Bible College is plugged into the local church so intimately that really amplifies the learning experience.

Looking back, what has been one of the highlights of your time here at The Shepherd's Bible College?

I would have to say taking the ‘Christian Living’ course. That class was brutal – in a good way! It constantly confronted my heart – which is what all of us need if we truly want to make changes in our lives. Not only have I benefited from this course personally, but it has been awesome to share these life-changing principles with others!

A Disappointing Book on Preaching

Recently, I read Doug Pagitt's book Preaching Re-Imagined. I didn't like the book. Here are some of his shocking statements about preaching:

• "Preaching doesn't work" (18)
• "Preaching is a tragically broken endeavor" (19)
• "Great preaching isn't sufficient" (19)
• "Preaching suffers from a relationship problem" (21)
• "We've become blind to the ways in which speaching damages our people and creates a sense of powerlessness in them" (22)
• "Do whatever is necessary to protect our communities from the significant problems speaching presents" (25)
• "Weekly speaching functions like a repetitive stress disorder for both preacher and parish. Occasional usage likely won't hurt anyone, but to make a regular practice of speaching may well be an act of relational violence, one that is detrimental to the very communities we are seeking to nurture" (25-26)
• "A move away from speaching is essential" (35)
• "The practice of applying Scripture to our lives is not the established Christian tradition but rather the product of more recent ways of thinking about church" (97)
• "The good news is not informational" (103)

I strongly disagree!

If Pagitt's book was written simply to encourage better interaction in small group settings, I would commend it as a thought-provoking guide. But it isn't. Pagitt's book attacks the Bible's imperatives to preach the Word, overlooks the numerous examples of preaching through Scripture and church history, wrongly redefines key theological terms, uses straw-man arguments, confuses the difference between preaching and fellowship, undermines the concepts of authority and truth, and dismisses contemporary examples of effective exposition.

For these reasons, I cannot recommend Preaching Re-Imagined as a resource for preachers today. I may share Pagitt's frustration with seeker-sensitive/mega-church methodologies which depend on slick communicators who preach weak sermons void of biblical content to entertain huge assemblies of people, but I will not go so far as to replace faithful exposition with progressional dialogue. This is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Rather, it would be better to allow Pagitt's book to guide us in thinking how we might enjoy more intimate Christian fellowship – although even in this, Pagitt seems to undervalue the Bible's role.