I want to say two things about chapter two in the book, The Deliberate Church.

First, I agree with this quote:

Since all Scripture is ultimately about Christ, you can preach the Gospel as a natural outworking of any biblical text (Luke 24:25-27, 45-47).  But at the outset, it might be wise to let Jesus do the talking as much as possible—people usually won’t disagree with Him!  Perhaps begin with an exposition of Mark or John.  Let them hear Jesus saying the hard truths of the Gospel.  Present them as His words, not yours.  If they’re really Christians, His words will be more effective in penetrating their hearts than yours will.  This is why the expositional form of preaching is so important, not only at the outset but as a steady diet for the congregation—it presents the point of the text as the point of the sermon, grounding the authority of the sermon in the authority of the Scripture (45).

Secondly, Mark shares, “Three of the most important ways you can cultivate trust in your leadership among the congregation are expositional preaching, personal relationships, and humility” (45).

Let me insert a truth that God is teaching me.  When the pastor is not personally spending time in prayer before the Lord, he is not humble.  I don’t care how much of the Bible he knows or teaches or how he piously acts in front of others.  Personal, private, non-publicized prayer for others is tough because we have to stop thinking about ourselves.  Thank God for the command given to pray.

Also, no matter how much a church family strives toward right doctrine, if they don’t get together for corporate prayer to pray for one another, they are arrogant fools.  Corporate prayer shows corporate dependence and helplessness.  There should be a transformation of independent Baptist churches to dependent, praying Baptist bodies . . . humble . . . broken before God.  Blessings come only to completely impoverished beggars.