Following's a quick explanation of my latest convictions on the role of preaching...

• Preaching sermons is wonderful, I have nothing against it, love doing it, love being challenged by it.
• A good friend pointed out that Jesus preached sermons (sermon on the mount) and sermons are modeled all through the Old Testament. The Bible is definitely not lacking in examples of sermons. 
• The danger is giving more credit to a sermon than the Word. The Word does not become more powerful when it comes from a preacher's mouth than when it comes from a child, book, or donkey.
• The combination of the gifts of teaching and exhortation can produce some powerful preachers of the Word and God uses this. 
• To preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2) does not mean to preach a sermon. It means to proclaim God's Word, no matter what form that may come through (preaching, conversations, rebuke, evangelism). 
• The end goal of gathering with believers is not to listen to a sermon. Not a single command in the New Testament indicates this. We gather to worship the living God. Hearing a sermon can play a vital role in this process, but nevertheless, it is not the end goal any more than the end goal of evangelism is to be able to tell someone that you shared the gospel.
• Too much priority on the communication vehicle of preaching often minimizes the power and role of God's Word in every believer's life, every day of the week. The Word does not become more special at 10:30am on Sunday morning. It is as much the Word in a bar, on the beach, or through a worship song.
• Too much priority on the communication vehicle of preaching encourages the consumer mindset toward church services, especially in churches that pride themselves in being "Word-preaching" churches. 
• My goal is not to start a movement that eradicates preaching, arrests preachers, and replaces the Bible in churches with Dr. Seuss books. My goal is that we dematerialize our convictions on ministry structure and rebuild them on the foundation of what the Bible so plainly teaches. If we begin to see that living and sharing the Word is to be a way of life for Christians instead of a Sunday morning event, imagine the impact on our communities! But if we depend on a Sunday service to do for us what we should be doing every day of the week, the shrinkage of Christianity should take no one by surprise. 
• Rather than weakening my conviction over the power of the Word, this topic has multiplied my trust in the power of the Word many times over.