The Preachers' Oasis 2006

Grand Rapids, Michigan
July 10-14, 2006

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For five delightful and energizing days, 14 pastors representing 8 different denominations and 3 countries (the U.S., Canada, and England) gathered on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the first-ever weeklong "Preachers' Oasis." Each of the five morning sessions covered related yet distinct topics relevant to the preaching craft. These morning plenary sessions were followed by individual 1:1 meetings with the instructors in the afternoons.

Each of the 14 participating pastors submitted 2 video sermons (their Easter 2006 message and the sermon delivered on the Sunday after Easter). In addition to these videos, each pastor's congregation and congregational leadership submitted detailed evaluation forms in which their pastor's strength and weaknesses were noted in the areas of both sermon Content and also sermon Delivery. The afternoon 1:1 sessions focused on the instructors' evaluation of the submitted sermons on video as well as on a reflection on the feedback received from the congregation. This component of the Oasis event meant that each participant went home with a set of ideas tailor-made for his or her own situation.

The morning sessions were co-led by Dr. Randy Bytwerk, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College; Rev. Scott Hoezee, Director of CEP; and Rev. Mary Hulst, who is currently a Ph.D. candidate in communications at the University of Illinois.

Randy Bytwerk encouraged participants to find creative ways to think outside the box, to get into the habit of letting new metaphors, analogies, and images spark in their imaginations. Even ideas that seem crazy at first might, Bytwerk suggested, find their way into sermons in ways that will enliven those messages and engage hearers in fresh, new ways. Bytwerk also told the participants that if they did not yet have a database of ideas on their computers, they needed to begin building such a trove and archive immediately. Commercially available programs like EndNotes and ProCite can help pastors file away sermon illustrations, ideas, articles, and images in ways that make them easy to retrieve, even in the hurly-burly press of having to write a new sermon or two every week.

Mary Hulst talked to the group about "The Peculiar Sins of Preachers," noting how envy, pride, and sloth can sometimes become paralyzing attitudes that undercut a vibrant preaching life. Mary also made an extended presentation on the loves of the preacher, including how preachers need to learn how to love: God, Themselves, Their Congregation, The Text, and The Preaching Task. These categories of thinking sparked vibrant group discussions that ranged widely across a number of absolutely vital components of the preaching task.

Scott Hoezee encouraged the group to think deeply and regularly about finding the right language by which to convey the gospel message in ways that will connect with (and seem fresh to) contemporary congregations. He encouraged developing a strong program of reading for preaching that ranges across many different literary genre. Scott also challenged the participants to include a lot of variety in the kinds or types of sermons they present. Preaching the same type of sermon week after week may not take in to account the fact that in any given congregation, many different types of learners are represented. Some people learn best from straightforward deductive sermons whereas others respond better to more poetic inductive messages. To help encourage a variety of sermon forms, Scott gave an overview on "The Forms of the Sermon" and had the group listen to a sermon by Thomas G. Long that displayed a variety of just such communication techniques.

The week culminated with the workshopping of a text from Mark's gospel. Breaking up into small groups, with each group tackling a different aspect of sermon-making, the participants were able to put into practice the variety of topics covered in the week's presentations. When all the ideas generated in the small groups were brought together back in a plenary session, wonderful images, metaphors, language, and structural ideas emerged for vibrant sermons on that particular text.

But since this was an event billed as an "oasis"-like time, the group had a lot of laughs as they shared table fellowship and excellent food. Lunches were served at the Prince Conference Center each day (where most of the group members also stayed for the week). The group also enjoyed a number of evening outings, including a trip to Lake Michigan one hot summer evening as well as two meals out at local Grand Rapids restaurants.

Each day also opened with a time of "Morning Prayers" that sometimes included singing accompanied by participant Christine O'Reilly, who made sure to pack her guitar before she set out for Grand Rapids from her home in Ontario!

Participants in the July 2006 Oasis event included: Ed Campbell, Vicki Cok, Scott Greenway, Jerry Jones, Chris Lanham, Dan Moser, Christine O'Reilly, Liz Pinnock, James Poelman, Shelly Schultz, Cathy Stanley Erickson, Jim Totzke, Richard Vander Vaart, and David Willerup.

Feedback from the participants indicated that this first-ever weeklong "Preachers' Oasis" was a success as these preachers did indeed take some oasis-like time to travel from their work settings, be together, share with each other, and so in all these ways encourage one another in their mutual task of proclaiming God's holy Word to the people of God who each week come to church hungry for spiritual fare!