In my experience, preachers get a lot of compliments. Maybe some don’t; God bless them! What is the highest compliment a preacher can get?
One compliment I think I will never forget. It may qualify for the best ever. A church member said of her preacher, “He brought Jesus back to our church….” Thrilling, encouraging. Sad!—that Jesus would get lost down at the church, that the church would willingly or accidentally forget that Jesus is the center, that Jesus would be allowed to drop out of the vision of a church.
Would a church without Jesus miss him? Would they notice that he was gone? Is Jesus an essential part of what happens down at the church where you attend? If we are brutally honest with ourselves, too often the answer is “no”.
Woe be to preachers who let Jesus escape from the vision of the church! A great compliment: he brought Jesus back to our church! And that in a church whose sign says it belongs to Christ!