SBC Pastors Should Preach My Sermons - So Says James Merritt

Tony,

Man.

I guess it just goes to show that everybody sticks his foot in his mouth once in a while, including Dr. Merritt.

Thanks for calling attention to this.

- Andy

Andy,

Let me say that I plead guilty that I have some personal experience for sticking my foot in my mouth (perhaps this is another one), but usually such an occasion usually occurs by accident or lack of forethought. However, in Dr. Merritt’s case, it was planned and an intentional plug for his website. I don’t know if that registers for foot action, but it is most unfortunate indeed.

Gentlemen, I just had tears well up in my eyes as I thought about what this means. Timmy, I thought your post on outsourcing within the convention missed the mark a little bit.

I don’t care how nice a guy he may be, or who he knows, this is representative of a badly flawed view of the church, the pastorate, and what it means to be “qualified to teach”. I may not be able to put my finger on it exactly, but his peddling of sermons online would tend to indicate that Merritt is in serious error.

Above the pillared front entrance to Norton Hall is the greek phrase, “rightly dividing the word of truth”. I guess the folks organizing the SBC Pastors’ Conference want to outsource that, too. We haven’t even heard the convention’s opening gavel, and this has already taken a turn for the absurd.

If anyone thinks the battle for the bible is over, I think this is proof positive that there are many skirmishes yet to come, and many more casualties on the way. D-Day may have struck the decisive blow against the Germans on the Western Front, but the bloodiest battle was still yet to come, the Battle of the Bulge. True conservatives who love the scriptures must not rest on their “resurgence” laurels while such blatant examples of error are paraded about our convention. This is the kind of thing that even such bitter polar opposites as Burleson and Patterson, Ascol and the Caners should be able to unite with each other in condemning.

The resurgence has not gone too far; it hasn’t gone NEARLY far enough.

Something very terrible is going on when we have “for profit” preachers and no longer “prophets” who preach “Thus saith the LORD” - and do not put a for sale sign next to it.

What does this say about our consumer culture when even the sacred desk is auctioned off for the cheapest sermon on the market? Preachers now pick and choose their favorite sermon to plagiarize. One week it’s Merritt. Another week it is Rick Warren. Another week it is Adrian Rogers. We have men who will speak for men. Do we have men who will speak for God? That is the question of the hour.

It is not only doublespeak to call for authenticity while encouraging others to be another man’s puppet, but it is altogether another level of indictment when doing so is entrapment to American capitalistic culture. I mean, if you are going to encourage pastoral plagiarism, at least make it free. But I guess when you have an audience of 2,000+ potential customers (pastors), you can’t pass up a free public advertisement of your own product.

Look it. I know what I am saying sound harsh. It needs to be harsh. We should not tolerate flippancy with the scared call nor placate the “peddlers of God’s Word” (2 Cor. 2:17).

If the pastor is looking to be a plagiarizer than a prophet,
if he has more things to do than spend time laboring and weeping over God’s Word,
if he is willing to supplant personal investment and internalization of Scripture for a quick, superficial, and scandalous treatment of the sacred desk,
then methinks it is time to consider one’s calling and figure out whether we are a God-called shepherd or a hierling that “cares nothing for the sheep” (John 10:13).

Consider this a low-tech trackback. I have issued a challenge to Pastors’ Conference Attendees on my blog:
http://motopolitico2.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-challenge-to-pastors-conference.html

I’m not a pastor, just one of the faithful in the pews. I’ll tell you, if instead of spending 10 or 15 or 20 hours preparing a 30 minute sermon, my pastor could minister to the personal needs of a half-dozen families in our church, I think we’d all be better off. Would God look more favorably at someone spending 10 hours at a word processor or 10 hours on his knees with troubled Christians? Do we require original music in our services? What about artwork?

Wow, I must be doing everything all wrong. Instead of wrestling with God’s Word each week I should be downloading my sermons!

I truly believe that this is one of the problems with topical preaching. If you can’t think up a clever topic then you need to look for one. If you are engaged in expository preaching then you never need to worry about what you will preach, God’s Word will speak for itself.

As a bivocational pastor I find that I don’t have the time nor talent to come up with clever alliteration and catchy points. Instead, I devote myself to the study of God’s Word, let it speak to me, and allow God’s Spirit to talk to His people each week as we navigate the Word.

I believe that this is what it means to “preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season”.

Consumerism…..not what we need in our churches and not what we need from our pastors who feed the sheep.

Dave, when we mention the power point slides bundled with these sermons, (artwork) it is not out of an insistence that pastors use their own power point slides, rather, it is because the Word of God speaks for itself, and does not need our showbiz gimmicks. The Gospel is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” but the multimedia church experience, the drama teams, the bright lights and flashy clothes seem to me to be an indication that we as a church do not truly believe the Gospel on its own is enough.

My memory could be failing, but in *On Christian Doctrine*, doesn’t Augustine encourage less educated and skilled pastors to preach his sermons?

This appears to be an ancient (and accepted) practice.

-Mike

All I really want to say about the whole plagiarism deal is that the first time I tried preaching another’s sermon was the last time. I have never been more uncomfortable. Even though I spent a week studying the message, its Scriptures, how to apply it, and tailoring it to my congregation, it just wasn’t me. So I leave preaching others’ sermons to the lazy or for use in drama or readings.

I do want to say one more thing. Mark said, Allowing others to use your sermon is akin to giving you notes from class to another to prepare for a test. I disagree, but I want to make clear this is a nuanced disagreement. If we aren’t willing to see what others have preached when constructing a sermon, how can we refine our arguments? How can we eliminate fallacies or just plain wrong arguments? Or if we discover someone is using the same argument in a sermon that we are on the same text, could not those sermons be used to tighten our exegesis and application?

I know Mark isn’t speaking to that type of sermon usage, but I just wanted to put that out there for your consideration.

Dennis,

Who would you say is the preacher’s primary audience? For the man of God, the reaction of whether it it acceptable or not comes from the audience of One. Itching ears have a large following of the fabricated folly of famous preaches (hello Joel Osteen).

I would argue that it is wrong or not whether God approves of it. Some of God’s choicest prophets were kicked out of town and scolded for remaining true to the Word of God and the God of the Word. That’s part of the problem with popular, savvy preaching these days. We are measuring ministerial success on purely pragmatic principles and the appraisal of man. In the end, it is the man who is faithful to God and steadfast in His Word that finds the applause that eternity brings.

Tony,

I blogged about some very concerning things leading up to the convention, namely the fact that we were going to see revival without Jesus. I’ve got numerous posts in the last 6 - 8 weeks about the articles on BP.

This just continues that trend. Preaching without Jesus. Revival without Jesus. Leading without Jesus. Conversion without Jesus. Life without Jesus.

As long as you have your “get out of hell” free card, you’re good. Jesus is unimportant at that point because the prayer was said. I hate to say it but is the convention going to be the next “Church” in need of Reformation?

Food for thought!

Gentlemen, where is the line? Have you ever “borrowed” an outline? How about a point in an outline? How about a phrase in a point in an outline? How about a word in a phrase in a point in an outline? Let’s be careful that we don’t foster the spirit of a Pharisee while trying to diagnose a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I think minimizing time in the work struggling to find what is saying is cheapened by the download shortcut, but I find the many broad, bombastic comments equally wrong. Let’s help our fellow pastors out by identifying the boundry not simply thumping our chests. Where is the line?

There is a stark difference between quoting someone and the replication of a sermon in its entirety. I am sure that everyone here reads commentaries and grammars; however, I doubt anyone would show up on a Sunday and preach the entire text of a single commentary. The line is a clear one; let us not confuse ambiguity with humility.

This clearly denies the work of the Spirit of God through the Word of God in the heart of the man of God before he goes before the people of God. We are most certainly living in an age without discernment.

Dan,
Your point is well-taken. All preachers utilize the material of other preachers and/or scholars in the preparation of sermons. That is a given. I think what the commenters are reacting to is the brash invitation to shortcut the process of preparation and ride the wave of someone elses work.

There seems to be a growing segment of pastors who think it is OK to minimize the importance of exegetical study and sermon craft in favor of other pastoral duties which are deemed more important. The issue is not that we all use the material of others. The issue is the trend toward devaluing the impact of personal study and preparation in preaching.

My preaching prof in Bible College said, “Men, milk a lot of cows but always make your own butter.”

Dan,

Please understand that as a layman and the one who sits in the pew and hears the message each week, I truly have a great love and appreciation for those men who have heeded the call of God to be a shepherd. I think yours and the others posting is a very special and unique calling, thank you for being obedient.

Having said this, I do question where the line is and how I would perceive my pastor if I knew that he had “borrowed” someone else’s sermon, in whole or in part. My immediate concern could or would be, why can’t he study and prepare on his own. What I think means so much to me is when my pastor studies (and I know he does) is to see just how the Holy Spirit spoke to him in this passage, not merely for the content, but more so in how to convey (preach) this to the members. In short, it is as if the Holy spirit is telling you, my pastor, or the other pastors who have posted here, “this is what I want my sheep to hear and this is what I want you to say.”

With that in mind, what am I or others to think when or if I find out, well this wasn’t really my own digging and searching and hearing, I got this from Dr. Merritt because he said it would preach well? As for the line, the trouble with setting lines is that typically they will ultimately be crossed or moved, and that is when one starts down the slippery slope. One mro enote if I may and I apologize for the length; often times my pastor will quote Spurgeon, Piper, Mac Arthur, or others, but that is usually as an added to what he has said, as if to quantify his point even further. But rest assured, he always, always brings us back to the authoritative Word of God and that, that alone is his plumb line. He does not rely on anyone else but his own research and trusting the Holy Spirit.

Hary Emerson Fosdick was arguably the best-known preacher of the first half of the 20th Century in America (yes, I know he was liberal, but his theology is not the point–bear with me). Several books of his sermons were published. Once, while on vacation, toward the end of his life, he stopped to worship at a small church in Maine, where the young minister preached an old Fosdick sermon, exactly as Fosdick had written it 30 or more years before. As he left–stooped, and walking with assistance–he complimented the young preacher with an old man’s voice, then asked how long it took him to write the message. “Oh, a long time. Several hours.” With that, Fosdick pulled himself up to his full height, and with the full force of best voice, replied, “Well, it took me 20 hours to write it!”

It is well known that Fosdick–and most other notable preachers of his era, liberal and conservative alike–advocated one hour in the study for every minute in the pulpit. Fosdick himself had a magnificant office in the Riverside Church, but he rented a tiny, cramped office, I believe at a nearby bank, where he did most of his sermon writing. He didn’t even have a telephone there, so minimize distractions, and was not to be interupted unless the building was on fire.

In a town where I formerly ministered, one preacher there bought “canned” messages. I heard him once, and thought the message was good, but the congregation quickly discovered what he was doing, and pressured him to leavev after only two years. I am not a “prince of the pulpit,” never have been, never will be. And personally, I have rarely had the “luxury” of spending 20 or 30 hours in sermion preparation–too often ministry interferes, and then there is the little thing called “family.” But shouldn’t the “princes of the pulpit” in the SBC challange us to “rightly divide the Word” for ourselves as did liberal Fosdick?

Dan said,

“Let’s be careful that we don’t foster the spirit of a Pharisee while trying to diagnose a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I think minimizing time in the work struggling to find what is saying is cheapened by the download shortcut, but I find the many broad, bombastic comments equally wrong. Let’s help our fellow pastors out by identifying the boundry not simply thumping our chests.”

Again,

“Let’s be helpful to our brothers and not thump our chests with unhelpful rhetoric.”

Once more,

“[L]et’s give tools for pastors to grow in discernment or they will simply compare our chest-beating as being mean-spirited in comparison to the legacy of Dr. Merrit.”

Dan, it is evident that you want to drive your point home. Point taken.

But alas, the point in addressing this issue is to focus on a serious issue going on in the pastorate. Pastoral plagiarism is not only accepted but encouraged and even now marketed. Perhaps the reason some of us are as passionate about preaching God’s Word and honoring the sacred desk is due to its woeful neglect and contemptible treatment thereof. By no means is anyone trying to come across as “mean-spirited” or “bombastic” while “thumping our chests.” Rather, it is to be clear, direct, and convictional about a matter that deserves nothing less. I certainly hope you understand the nature of the concerns represented in the comments aforementioned as reflective of that noble aspiration.

The current church paradigm: the “congregation” gathering at various times and locations, listening to a video preacher (who knows almost none of the people), who downloads his sermons each week.

And we wonder why our churches are so frail and our evangelism so weak.

Guys,

We have a new pastor, a recent grad from Southern Seminary’s PhD preaching program, at our large church in Chattanooga and he has been preaching James Merritt sermons (mixed with others) since day one. He claims he has permission from Merritt and sees nothing wrong with the practice. He has not however, informed the congregation that he preaches cut and paste sermons.

Plagiarism has two prongs: theft of another’s work and deception of the audience. Preaching a Merritt Father’s Day sermon with Merritt’s permission gets one off the ethical hook of theft. Unless one proceeds to announce, “By the way, this is a James Merritt sermon,” one still has an ethical problem.

As for Merritt, if you’re in the business of selling sermons you have a self-interest in asserting that preaching them is OK. Cigarette companies and crack dealers want you to smoke–your health and legal issues notwithstanding.

Marty Lasley

I never read blogs within the SBC and I have confirmed today why that is.

James Merritt is a man of known integrity that is perhaps unrivaled among our ranks. He loves people, evangelizes furiously and has an unbelievable record of service to our convention.

He is a bridger. He holds sway with the “old guard” while supporting progressive ideals and ministry approaches. He is one who can be said to truly represent all Southern Baptists.

The posted messages above boil down to little more than gossip and you should be rebuked rather than responded to. Rather than clicking your mouse you should be turning pages in your Bible, and find out that if you have something against another brother like James Merritt, you must take it up with him.

Most of you write behind the cloaking absence of a last name and I can understand why. Mr. Lasley, you are especially despicable airing your churches dirty laundry on the internet! Does that promote unity? If you have a problem with your pastor, take it to your leadership don’t shamelessly gossip.

James Merritt needs no defense from me, and he certainly doesn’t deserve any of this pompous bloviation from any of you.

Slow down Jared (no last name). The very thing you have just accused those expressing their opinions and thoughts you have done but in a more shameless and derogatory manner. Yes, some have posted and questioned the integrity of telling others, “hey, here is my fathers day message and it is free, unless of course you want the whole package, then send $8.00 to my web site.” Personally, and this is not a slam against Dr. Merritt, but it does strike many of us as odd, in the truest form.

In addition, you totally miss the entire point made in stressing the need for pure self studies in preparation for bringing the Word of God to the sheep by the shepherd. Rather than address the issue, you strike out in attacks and attack the messengers rather than the message.

As a layman in my church, I expect that my pastor has studied the Word of God and I so look forward to hearing the message that God has put on his heart and that i truly see him as an instrument used of God to bring His Word to all of us. I take great delight in knowing that this man has poured himself over and through the scriptures and spent many hours in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to him what he is to say on Sunday morning and evening.

Having said this, how do you think I would feel if I learned that he was merely repeating what someone else had said and done and researched? I would be upset, shocked, and yes, probably mad. Taking another man’s message that he has prepared is dishonest, sneaky, dishonorable, and uncalled for. It creates laziness, slothfulness, weak understanding of the message (because it is not his own), and lack of trust.

As for airing the dirty laundry, the man neither mentioned his church, the pastors name, or what city he is from; he made an honest and valid point with not merely a hypothetical, but a real story. Again, in your haste to judge, you failed to see how this action hurt this brother…. you missed the point on this.

It is probably well that you do not blog (although you must because you did) because it appears to me that you are not one who can handle constructive rebuke, or instruction, or that people are entitled to their opinions and should feel free to express their concerns.

And by the way, I have used my last name each time I have posted. You are Jared ???????

Jared:

How many preachers on this blog get up and preach a 100% original sermon every Sunday? That number is small is there are any at all. Let me go further: How many have EVER preached one? Again, not many.

Me:

Originality? Is that the standard? If so, then someone has missed the mark. I am content to continue to tell “the old, old story”, and will allow the Holy Spirit to lead me to the message that he has for my congregation each week.

Jared:

In almost every sermon, preachers borrow, at the very least, jokes and illustrations.

Me:

Sorry, but I don’t find a place for jokes when I preach, and illustrations, while rarely used by me, come from my personal experience. I have less use for illustration books than I have for canned sermons.

Jared:

We read another’s thoughts in commentaries and we borrow strong lines from books on the subject. We get other preacher’s cds on that text and we download podcasts. The point is: there is a measure of plagarism in every sermon.

Me:

I find that C.H. Spurgeon had the best take on commentaries (take a look at “On Commentaries and Commenting”) but they should not form the substance of any message.

Once again I ask you: Is it acceptable for pastors to download sermons from the internet and preach them in their churches?

It seems to me that you are blowing smoke, and your continual complaint of “gossip” and “slander” is growing old.

Jared wrote: Most of you write behind the cloaking absence of a last name
A quick scan of the comments shows that his statement is mistaken. I count seventeen people posting using their last names. I count ten people posting without a last name. They identify themselves as: Ross, Tom, Dave, Sean, Mike, Dennis, Mark, Dan, Sam, and Jared. Of course, Tom, Sean, Marc and Dan all identify themselves clearly on their respective blogs, and links to them are embedded in their postings, so I’ll remove their names from the list. That leaves us with Ross, Dave, Mike, Dennis, Sam, and Jared who, paraphrasing Jared, “write behind the cloaking absence of a last name”. 6 out of 27 do not consitiute “most”.

Later, Jared wrote,
if you have something against another brother like James Merritt, you must take it up with him.

Dr. Merritt’s comment was made publically. His website is up for the entire world to see. He shocked an awful lot of people at the convention, as well as on the live simulcasts. His remarks really broke my heart. Nobody here is calling Dr. Merritt an apostate or a bad person. I think we all recognize that Dr. Merritt is a good preacher and that he has been a positive influence in the SBC. But all of us are still sinners. All of us. A doctorate does not make one immune from making mistakes. When our brother makes a mistake, and it is not a one time thing or a slip of the tongue, but a sustained mistake that seems to result not from maliciousness or evil intentions, but a misunderstanding of what the Gospel is, we need to call it what it is.

-Plagiarism in the Pulpit is an error.
-Purchasing a sermon online and preaching it verbatim as though it was my own is an error.
-Giving one’s blessing to the verbatim preaching of a sermon purchased online is an error.
-Someone who runs a website for the explicit purpose of selling sermon manuscripts to be preached verbatim is in error.

Those are the issues, and our comments have focused on the issues, and have been critical of the errors and not the man. This topic has suddenly veered away from the issues, and folks have starting responding in a heated way. I appeal to all of us to not make this personal, when it has been a thread that was good about discussing the issues. As I’ve been writing this post, Jerry and Mark have posted reactions to Jared’s posting. Jared’s posting seemed to be assailing the people posting here as pompous bloviators. In accordance with Said at Southern User Expectations #2 and #3, I lovingly call on Jared, Jerry, and Mark to remember to participate in this forum in a way that honors Christ, before this degenerates into a flame war. I also lovingly call on Ross, Dave, Mike, Dennis, Sam, and Jared to identify themselves in this forum.

BTW, did anybody catch this:

“Anonymously text messaging James Merritt just before he preached and telling him he better hit it out of the park or no one was going to even look at his website.“

That’s what Professor Hershael York, associate dean of ministry and proclamation at SBTS, said was highlight #11 for him while in San Antonio.

http://hershaelyork.blogspot.com/2007/06/reflections-on-2007-sbc-in-san-antonio.html

I don’t know if he hit it out of the park or struck out, but I do know that a lot of people are visiting Dr. Merritt’s website as a result of his message.

I hesitate to even respond to Mr. McDowell’s blatherings, but with the abundance of falisities, I feel compelled. If it is more understandable, I am happy to borrow your format.

1. I did not point out that you asked him to identify himself. I pointed out that you weren’t even reading carefully enough to notice that he did.

2. “His one big problem was that I categorized Dr. Merrett’s statement as being mistaken, not malicious or evil.” Also not true. I had (and have) a very big problem with you categorizing his statements as stemming from a poor understanding of the gospel.

3. You are correct here. I did hope, and am glad you are a layman. For your sake, however, I hope your lay career is not in the field of law, because your lack of intention and schizophrenic logic have enough holes to float a grey hound through.

4. You do not understand salvific classification because you have insinuated that plagarism is a gospel issue. I would be happy to recommend a number of books to clarify primary theological issue or you could perhaps watch Dr. Mohler do it for me on the home page to this site.

5. You do not refute that there is no scriptural mandate for originality, rather you suggest that this is bearing false witness. Does no one on this site realize the amount of tongue-in-cheek talk (and it was) in what he said. I would refer you to the example James Merritt has set in preparing messages.

6. I am discounting Dr. Merritt’s theological education. That you were. Thank you for backing off that.

7. I should apologize “in like manner” for discounting Dr. Merritt’s theological education. Again, this is not true. I asked you to apologize for accusing Dr. Merritt of misunderstanding the gospel. Sir, for you to accuse Dr. Merritt’s understanding of the gospel (especially publicly) is to argue above your pay grade. You should either clarify your comments or apologize for misspeaking.

8. Dr. Merritt is not advocating Plagiarism. Again, there was an amount of jest in what he said. If you feel this way, I would drop him an email and ask him if you are correct.

9. I did enjoy the self-incrimination with the definition of gossip. You are commenting on the character of a pastor speaking to pastors. Even though you are not a pastor, I urge you to make it your business. Ask Dr. Merritt outright.

10. Here is a little education for the theologically challenged. Christians are able to lovingly restore other Christians outside of their own body of believers. Remember, Paul did it quite often and was not a member of any particular body. Your lack of ecclesiological accumen here only serves to validate my earlier statements. You will NEVER… repeat… NEVER find an instance in scripture where one believer has a problem with another believer and they are commanded to open it up for public discussion without first speaking to that believer.

11. Uhhh… quit doging my question: Will you call Dr. Merritt or not? If you ARE NOT a coward then answer that on this forum. His assistant’s name is Kalli and the church number is 678-812-4500.

I AM taking the Biblical approach. I have a serious problem with your actions as a professed believer, so I am confronting YOU. Are you man enough to confront Dr. Merritt on his gospel misunderstanding. If not, keep your comments to yourself and quit infecting this place.

This is sad conversation. There are some who seem to impugn the character of an established and, clearly, gifted communicator for doing what has been done for years in the past. In years past this same thing was done, and acceptably done, in preaching annuals and tape ministries. Those who are crying flow here simply have no understanding of their history.

All that is offered is some texts and (importantly for pastors in churches without the resources) some great presentation graphics and packaging for a series and messages. There aren’t too many churches that could put together an entire sermon series from a packaging standpoint like Dr Merritt is offering…and for the price. This is simply good stewardship. For the time pressed pastor who does not have access to a full-time (or part-time) researcher, and especially for the bi-vocational pastor, this is a great resource for wonderful illustrations and framing a future sermon.

Interesting isn’t it that for hundreds of years (even through the Reformation into some branches of Protestantism) the Lectionary has been used which provides sermon titles, topics, Scriptures, and main points. The Lectionary has been a staple of established Christian preaching for hundreds of years and has provided just as many (if not more) converts to Christ than supposed original messages.

Personally I see no litmus test for originality in the Scriptures. Without fail, most every Epistles in the NT uses a preformed tradition to make up its parts. The preformed tradition includes: common confessions, illustrations, hymns, and other homiletical tools common the “contemporary” preacher.

Even Paul’s mighty address to Stoics and Epicureans in Acts 17, Paul lifted a text from Aratus in vs. 28 to help solidify his point. There is no litmus test for originality in the Scriptures.

There is simply no original content at that. If we are receiving our inspiration for texts and topics from the same Holy Spirit (which I would suggest is the case) than they aren’t ours to begin with.

Of course this isn’t the main issue. The main issue is that several people around here, and apparently around this fine convention, feel that access to a keyboard allows them the place of pontification and endless diatribes against fine pastors-theologians in our churches who have, through faithfulness and the power of God, accomplished much for the Kingdom. The reality here is that many who cry out against these fine, God anointed leaders have no warrant for leadership other than the opportunity to spurn pointless gossip and old wives tales (something staunchly prohibited in the NT at numerous points.)

If you are going to preach from originality and turn that into the crucible for acceptable and authentic proclamation I hope you don’t use anything but the Canon of Scripture and your own life. For anything else would be unoriginal.

Perhaps soon we will move beyond these petty pursuits and have our free time occupied with productive Kingdom work and not so much sweat over perceived pastoral problems.

I agree with those above who pointed out that this conversation should have taken place in private follo