Wouldn’t it be neat if you could sit down and figure up how many sermons you’ve heard in your lifetime? I can’t imagine the number. Sundays. Wednesdays. Church camps. Gospel meetings. Lectureships. Devos. Chapels and not to mention funerals and weddings where sometimes the best sermons have been found. There is no telling how many sermons we’ve heard. I love them. I even listen to them on iTunes, YouTube, CDs, and podcast.

I heard something the other day though that made me stop, rewind, and listen again. The speaker was talking about Gospel preachers and used the words, “Please pray for those of us blessed to preach the Good News.” I understand what he was talking about. I totally get what he was saying, but I couldn’t stop wondering if maybe the reason why the church isn’t growing is because those who warm the pew have started thinking that the only one who should be preaching Jesus is the preacher.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I love and pray for preachers. My father, grandfather, uncles and brother are or were preachers during their lifetime. Some of my closest friends are ministers. I know what the speaker was trying to say, but what if we made it a point to fervently remind those listening that we are all preachers of God’s word? What if we reexamined some of the great preachers in the Bible? Those men and women who didn’t let class, gender, brokenness or peer pressure keep them from going and telling the good news? The woman at the well (John 4:29), the cleansed leper (Mark 1:45), and the thousands of others who took the word and overturned the world (Acts 17:6).

What if our churches were places to rejuvenate on Sundays so that each one of us could speak life, grace and truth into Mondays? What if every Christian man, woman, and child preached Jesus because that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. I know it’s possible. I read about it every time I pick up my nearest Bible.

We know that those who preach aren’t only in the pulpit, they are also on the pew. It’s the tired, stressed out mom who should get a reward for making it to services on time. It’s the divorced father who can’t believe his children are growing up so quickly. It’s the elderly woman with years of wisdom just waiting for you to notice. It’s the teen who is striving to live a godly life in an ungodly time. It’s the kid in the youth group with more problems than you could ever imagine.

The preacher is the teacher, auto mechanic, engineer, banker, lawyer, construction worker, doctor, nurse, gas station attendant, salesperson, and clerk. It’s every person in that building who has come face to face with the Messiah and been changed.

So friends, exhort those who listen to become those who teach. That’s how the lost will get found. And that’s how this beautiful Kingdom will once again overturn the world.

“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Romans 10:15)!

–Paula Harrington @ www.forthright.net