My link yesterday to Israel Galindo’s post on trying to change others generated quite a few comments, especially on Facebook. Some questions arose about preaching, and I made this comment: “As a preacher I did begin to shift my thinking about the task at hand from telling people what they ought to do to sharing as clearly as I could my own understanding. A mentor of mine, Larry Matthews, talks about saying, ‘That’s just how I see it.'”
Israel himself wrote an article for Congregations a couple of years ago called What’s Systems Theory Got to Do with It? Addressing Congregations’ Emotional Processes in Our Preaching. It highlights the fact that we must consider far more than rational content when preaching to a congregation over the long term.