In his memoir “The Pastor” (2011), Eugene Peterson identifies one of the most serious threats to biblical preaching””a “pragmatic vocational embrace of American technology and consumerism that promised to rescue congregations from ineffective obscurity” but that “violated everything””scriptural, theological, experiential””that had formed my identity as a follower of Jesus and a pastor.”
The obsession with measurable “results,” the rebranded promise of some technique or strategy: Preachers are bombarded with this stuff every day (four keys to success, six marks of a healthy church, seven principles of growth). Many ignore it and get on with their work in “scripture, sermon, and sacrament.” Praise God for that.
Our two LC-MS pastors preach excellent Law and Gospel sermons every Sunday. The problem that non-LC-MS pastors have is either they don’t want to or the members don’t want to hear that they are sinners every Sunday and that they need to look to Christ on the cross.