Would You Know A Great Young Preacher If You Saw One?

Maybe you heard or maybe you haven’t but Driscoll got himself in some trouble over here this week. He basically challenged the evangelicals of the UK to start pumping out some good preachers instead of guys who give comfortable sermons that would satisfy your grandmother’s sensibilities. I suppose he offended them a lot more than that but that was the jist of it.

I heard all about it as I’m at Wycliffe Hall, arguably the most conservative, preacher-valuing, evangelical training Colleges in the UK (or as I now call it, “Ground Zero”). You can imagine I heard a lot of grumbling when the news got out.

Now I am a Canadian, Driscoll is American and my friends here are British…I’m officially staying out of this fight, trying to be a peacekeeper. Like a UN of the blogosphere if you will.

Here is a teaser of what generated all the debate if you’re interested.

How Are Young Preachers Developed?

Let’s say the UK took Driscoll’s challenge and started all over again. How would you develop a guy that you wanted to be a good preacher? He would have to love Jesus, love people, know his Bible, be bright and have character drive all that.

The good news is that we don’t have to start all over again; I see God has been doing this for a long time now.

Last night I was at a house party with a twist. My friend Warren paused the small talk and announced that my friend, Jonathan Sherwin, was going to give his testimony. It was a bit strange given that it was a party but the fact that I’m mentioning it shows it’s effectiveness.

A Mid-Party Testimony?

Jonathan shared with the hushed crowd that despite doing well in school, he knew he didn’t want to do the predicable pathway of academic, corporate, family, retirement, death - a journey many of his peers and his culture were settling for. He said he felt like his life was destined for something more. He wanted to do something different. Something… bigger.

Bigger, he thought was being a marine. Jonathan had a dream to go to the military but an untimely injury prohibited his taking the test one year. Eventually, he got the call from God and Jonathan surrendered his life into the hands and plans of his Creator, Jesus.

Difficult, uncertain circumstances followed for my friend. I hate that part. As some of these tougher years were shared, I knew that this stage of the story is common for the people God so often uses. It’s right there all through Scripture, church history, in the lives of my friends and myself. John Bunyan takes Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress through “The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death.” In the book, it is the path all the faithful must walk through.

Spurgeon once said something that has always stuck with me, “God builds his greatest warriors on the highlands of affliction.”

However painful, there was a very obvious, traceable theme work of God’s providence through the whole story. Now some years removed and within the comforts of an Oxford living room, we could all see that God had been with my friend the whole time and was leading Jonathan on the path that would lead him to the OCCA course today and a bright future in ministry tomorrow.

The Point

My point is that while Jonathan was sharing, I was nodding and thinking, “This is how the Lord does it. This is how he builds his leaders.” He calls them, gifts them, befriends them, breaks them, stretches them and then anoints them for his service. It is my pleasure to be around these types at Wycliffe Hall and watching them in these very intentional days of academic training. 

Who Is Jonathan Sherwin?

You ask, Mr. Driscoll, who the great leaders are in the UK. I could point to you several but only have time for one right now. Jonathan Sherwin is the guy that you seek to build the A29 movement around. He loves Jesus, loves the Bible, understands culture, champions the centrality of the atonement and knows the importance of reaching men. All he has to do is marry well, wear plaid and he could compete with any of your multi-site guys I hung out with last year. 

There are good guys over here in the UK. God has been building these guys for some time and they will be unleashed on churches and at apologetics conferences very soon. God hasn’t given up on the UK, Pastor Mark. 

Though I will humbly clean up the mess, next time, it will save you some serious UK PR if you just ask me first.