FreshMinistry: I've noticed that you refer to yourself as a "teacher" instead of a "preacher." Why? TREVOR: I think that there is a Biblical distinction between a teacher and a preacher. I think there have been times with people in the Bible where there is a distinction made, for example-Timothy. There are a couple of times where Paul instructs him to preach the word, and then there are times where he is instructed to carry out his gift of "teaching." Maybe it is a fine line, but certainly culturally, my style is much more teaching than preaching. There is also a lot of baggage that goes with the word, "preaching." FM: What is that baggage? TB: You've heard the statements "You don't practice what you preach," or "Don't preach at me." Its like the word pulpit or sermon or pew, there is a lot of stigma that goes with the word "preaching." And then, certainly, the idea of teaching has an expectation-that the people listening to me are learning. If I am preaching, I'm not sure what the expectation is. Beyond that, the crowd that I teach week end and week out is the most educated crowd to ever live in our country. Some of them are professional students, that's what they will do the rest of their life. Because they are so educated they are very groomed in the model of interactive learning and engaging in teaching. By the time they get done many of them will have between 16 and 18 years of education. Because of that, they are more comfortable with the term "teaching." FM: I like your visual illustrations. I've seen you use an ear of corn to illustrate the principle of sowing and reaping and a cluster of watches to illustrate the principle of doing something with the time we have on our hands. What's your favorite Visual Illustration of all times? TB: I have one that is my favorite. A couple of years ago I did a series entitled "Our Responsibility." In the series, I defined the word, responsibility as our ability to respond to things that He asks us to do. I used several New Testament Models of people sharing their faith with others. I was getting ready to wrap the series up, so I asked the crowd if they wanted to address the "nuts and bolts" of sharing their faith, or go on to another series on Discipleship. Overwhelmingly they wanted me to teach on the "nuts and bolts" of sharing their faith. I agonized over it all week. How can I be simplistic, yet cover everything I need to? I was sitting at my desk, doodling, trying to come up with a simple way to illustrate how they can share their faith. I looked down and my pad and looked at what I was drawing-a nut and a bolt. I went and got a nut and a bolt and stated playing with it. That night I used it as a visual aid. I said we are the nut and not every bolt can satisfy our needs, we need the one made for us-God. We passed out 800 nuts and bolts that night, and to this day, people still use them to share their faith with others. FM: Its probably pretty hard to come up with a new one every week-I mean, that's a lot of pressure. TB: I don't always use them. Sometimes I use a video to take the place of that. FM: Is it "either-or" TB: Yeah. Sometimes I don't use anything. If I have a great story or illustration it takes the place of the visual. I don't feel like the picture has to be "physical" for them to build a picture in their minds. That's why people read fiction. They build the picture in their minds. I"ve found recently that visuals are not the overwhelming driving element of the message-they are more of a single element of many in the message. Several months ago, toward the end of the message I used an artichoke as a visual aid and said, "Truth is like an artichoke." When you first approach it, it can be prickly, it can poke you, you almost want to resist it, and you have to pull it a part and begin to enjoy it. It was simple. A couple of weeks ago I said "We are like grapes." We hang out on the vine together. When you pop one in your mouth, you can't taste anything-until you squeeze one. I was talking about suffering-He didn't intend for us to hang out on the vine in our "holy huddles," all the time. The thing I did with the grapes wasn't the over ridding element in the message, it was support, like a good illustration. FM: What is the difference in the way you teach and your childhood pastors preached? TB: What's ironic is that I probably teach more like my childhood pastor than any pastor I've worked with or gone to church under since then. Bob McPherson was my first pastor, he was the master of the visual aid-he was hysterical. He used humor and visuals to draw the crowd in. I can still remember some of his visual aids-one day he used a woman's shoe, and it was hysterical. I remember him preaching on prayer. The example he used was "We pray for a picnic table, but what we don't know is that God has given us the ability to use the 2 X 4's we have to build the table." I realized a couple of years into my teaching ministry that I'm more comfortable with Bob's teaching style then any other pastor I've served. The pastor (Phil) I served under at Applewood when TNL started was almost the opposite of Bob's. He was very removed in his teaching style. He never told a personal story and wasn't into visual aids and we didn't have the technology to do video. Yet at the same time, there were things about his teaching style that really helped me, in particular, more in the study aspect. Phil was a great student of the Bible. FM: So really, the pastors you served under or served with, were really your preaching class. TB: Yes, very much so, because I've never taken a preaching class. FM: Teaching is your passion? TB: Yes. I don't like to study, but I love to teach. There is a lot of me that comes out in teaching that doesn't come out at any other time. FM: Is that when you are who you are the most? TREVOR: Yeah. There was a lot of things that I shared last night that I didn't intend to share. They weren't on paper. What was interesting is they even differed from one service to the next. PostScript--On April 1, 2001 Trevor resigned as pastor of TNL. |
