The below is a guest post from pastor Bob Johnson. Bob is the senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Roseville, MI (near Detroit). Bob has a Masters of Divinity degree from the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Have you ever wondered why politicians are, by and large, so incredibly boring? George
Gilder (the techno-utopian intellectual whose book Wealth and Poverty helped jump start
Reagan’s supply side revolution) said, “Politicians seem so boring because they poll their
audiences before they speak, and thus manage to achieve totally boring…communication:
No surprise.”

Now, think of the pressure that is upon the pastor who has already polled his
congregation as to what he should say. If the audience has already determined the
message, then what can he possibly say that will engage them? He may delay the
inevitable boredom through stories, technology and special effects, but that is only good
as long as someone else with better stories and better tech toys doesn’t start a church
across the street. Every week he must come up with some new gimmick, some new
surprise, some new hook that will initially seem to be exciting, but after a few years of
this fast food, you may eat, but you are not fed. The new pastor is not in his study poring
over the Word, he is behind the curtain pushing buttons and pulling levers.

Expositional preaching (when the main point of the passage is the main point of the
sermon) is somewhat rare these days. This is sad because it not only starves people and
fails to really teach the Word, but in the end, it is boring. On the other hand, when a
congregation works verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the living, breathing,
dynamic Word of God and is confronted by the Spirit of God with the truth of God, there
is an awesome collision of truth and life, of intellect and will, commandment and call.
The surprise upon the soul by the grip of God through his truth is truly glorious.

Never mind the man behind the curtain. Seriously.