The 'Puter Ate My Sermon!

Tropical storm Fay rained down upon our rural area all day and night this previous Saturday. I had worked up most of the text for Sunday's sermon and had only the finishing touches to put on it prior to heading to church Sunday morning. The storm knocked out the electricity at our home and much of the surrounding area overnight Saturday. I got up in the dark and tried my best to find clothes that didn't need ironing. With no water (we have a well), no lights or electricity, I headed to the door. My sermon was stuck inside my PC and I couldn't print it out.

When I got to church some had said they saw me drive by earlier. Yep, I headed uptown to get a sausage biscuit as we couldn't cook anything at home that morning. I told those gathered about our dilemma and went on to say that I couldn't print out my sermon due to no electricity. I was assured that the sermon would be just what The Lord wants to be said.

Sure enough, to my amazement, the sermon was just what we needed to hear. The Lord spoke things through the scripture that I had not planned and I was as inspired as the congregation. After church a small group came to me and said that I should let my computer eat my sermon every Sunday! I don't know if I'm going to follow that advice but I'll certainly be more willing to let the Holy Spirit guide the message more than me.

Small, Rural Church Preaching

Being a rural preacher it is somewhat different from being in highly populated urban environments in many ways. Most rural congregations are small. When one visits there to deliver the message, there is a sense of "invitation to join our family" that doesn't present itself in larger environments. It is something that those from an urban background sometimes wrestle with.

More than that, you will meet and shake hands with every person there, making a special connection that doesn't quite come about in a large congregation. The folks in these small churches want to know about you, your family, and why you are there. Contrasting that with larger congregations, in these there lacks that personal interaction (perhaps merely due to the numbers). It is something to be missed and yearned for by the big city preacher.

I like the rural preaching assignments. These days I have my own congregation in a rural area and my focus will be more about them than rural preaching at large. Nonetheless, I cannot forget the small church experiences that brought me to where I am today. Today I'm serving ONE congregation. Lord willing, this small rural congregation may grow to be a large rural congregation. But a rural congregation, it will remain.

Brother Marty