To be quite honest, is this really how it should be in the Church of Christ, ie that there are favorite preachers and others that are not favorites? I am not refering to a comparison between preachers that preach the true Gospel and those that are false teachers and who preaches some other gospel. It certainly is true that some preachers are better orators than others and that on the ear they are perhaps more pleasant to listen to. But I also recently had the experience to listen to the sermon of a retired pastor who definitely is not a good speaker. The substance of the sermon was so deep that after the service my son spontaneously remarked on it.
Although perhaps not directly in the context of Vince's question I would like to point to 1 Corinthians 1:
11For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Without us sometimes realizing it we can develop an "I follow John MacArthur" or an "I follow John Piper" attitude if we practice some kind of favoritism with regard to preachers. God calls preachers and
He sends them to preach the Gospel to whom He wants. Some of them are gifted speakers, others not. We are
not to practice any kind of favoritism on the basis of the gifts that God alone gave each of them! Let us therefore not practice favoritism in the Church of Christ.
Vince, sorry if I am dumping cold water on you!
