He was a “big name” speaker. Yes, indeed, a very big name, but I will not mention his name. He was speaking at the church I attended while in college. It was a big church and that is why we frequently brought in “big speakers.”
The man had already been preaching for almost an hour when an alarm went off from his watch.. He laughed. “My wife gave me this so that I will know when my time is up.”
After this, he turned off the alarm and continued to preach for at least another 30 minutes.
Look, I am a frequent guest speaker in churches myself. I love to talk to an audience. I’ll admit it. I have also fallen into the same trap as many of my peers, the erroneous assumption that what we have to say is of such Earth shattering importance, even if we go overtime, few, if any, will care or notice. Indeed, if we are going overtime, it is probably because the Holy Spirit is leading us to do just exactly that, due to the unique and critical dynamics of the moment.
All utter nonsense. I mean, who are we kidding? Admittedly, an extremely interesting or entertaining speaker may get away with talking longer because the people enjoy him so much, they never think to check their watches. But most of the time, an audience would prefer that a sermon end when it is supposed to end and even when the audience does not feel this way, there is also such a thing as honesty. Yes, far too many of us are dishonest about time. The church that invited us may have other things to get done during its service. If we are there as a guest, we should honor our original agreement. But that is not generally what happens. When asked to speak for 40 minutes, we plan ahead of time on speaking an hour. When asked to speak for 15 minutes, we take 30-40. Not long ago, I was at a conference in which 7 different ministers were asked to lead the audience in prayer. PRAYER! They were not even asked to preach at all. They were instructed to state the prayer request, break people up into small groups for a few minutes, and then close with a prayer of their own for no more than 2 minutes. Instead, (with the exception of one individual) each minister got up and gave a mini- sermon. True, they did preach about the prayer subject at hand, but I think we all know that preaching is not the same as praying. As a matter of fact, two real speakers (men who were actually invited to preach) were scheduled after the prayer meeting, but who wanted to even stay around and listen by then? Some of these “2 minute prayers” became 10-15 minute sermons. Others went on for 20-30 minutes!
Why do we let people get away with this? Is it because we consider our leaders to be beyond human failing? The Bible commands us to confess our sin so I will confess mine: I have often been dishonest with the time allotted. In my defense, I am getting better. I do try much harder these days, and generally, when I go overtime now it is because I truly did get caught up in the moment and forgot to look at the clock. It is no longer something I dishonestly plan and rationalize. I’ll never forget the day I attended a missions conference. I and about ten others were asked to take 15 minutes to share about our ministries. I went last, following a long litany of speeches (not one of them even close to 15 minutes) Before I began, I said to the audience: “My gift to you, this afternoon, is that my 15 minute talk will only go 15 minutes.” A miracle, to be sure, probably up there somewhere with the parting of the Red Sea.
Far too often, we assume our leaders and guest speakers are so spiritual, that we fail to recognize the more likely truth: At the end of the day, after much discussion about the leading of the Holy Spirit, we often blame the poor Holy Spirit for things He did not do. Some people just enjoy hearing themselves talk.
This is Bob Siegel, making the obvious, obvious.
Share this on
