Preaching Seminar in Juarez - Slideshow
A slideshow of images from a preaching seminar held in Juarez, Mexico and hosted by Calvin Theological Seminary.
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The Center for Excellence in Preaching of Calvin Theological Seminary (CTS) sponsored a preaching seminar on October 15-16, 2004 in Juarez, Mexico. It was held at All Nations Seminary, a ministry of All Nations Korean Church in Los Angeles, California, the largest congregation in the Christian Reformed Church and host of a CTS continuing education event in October 2003. The preaching seminar was led by Duane Kelderman, Vice President for Administration and Associate Professor of Preaching at CTS, and was attended by 50 seminary students and 25 area pastors, and 5 seminary staff. Organizer John Lee reported that students learned much, and many are writing follow-up sermons on assigned passages to receive seminary credit for the seminar.
Kelderman reflects . . .
"I have an exercise in which I ask students to share with each other their memory of "the greatest sermon I ever heard." I've done this exercise for over a dozen years to set up a point I make in a lecture on "Preaching As Confluence," namely, one of the factors that goes into a "great sermon" is not just the sermon itself but the listener's situation, things that were going on in my life that opened me up to be moved in this way. Despite all the years I've been doing this exercise, I was not prepared for what I heard. Many were sermons through which God called them to ministry. Most were stories of the sermons that led them to Christ. One woman was living a sexually immoral life and told of the preacher who preached from John's gospel where Jesus says to those who want to stone the sinful woman, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." She told us how she experienced the acceptance of God in that sermon in a way she had never comprehended it before. At the same time that pastors spoke of not knowing how to preach God's word, it was also obvious that God's Word and Spirit continue to change lives in powerful ways."
"I realize our primary goal in the Center for Excellence in Preaching is to make more and better preachers in North America for CRC pulpits. But we need to do these kinds of international events because the impact is so significant. The pastors and students are so hungry and eager to learn."