I recently posted at the For the Church site. I’m including the beginning of the post below with a link to the full article.

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PREACHING LIKE A BOY BAND TRYING TO PLAY THE BLUES

Nobody wants to hear a boy band play the blues. Whatever the polished pretty boys might know of hurt and heartbreak, they surely can’t dive deeply into the hardship of life. Even if they sang the words and notes all right, the feeling would be all wrong.

Sadly, I feel that too many preachers are like a boy band trying to play the blues. We find a nice melody, locate a catchy hook, and auto-tune our voices so that we sound pitch perfect. People nod along in pleasant agreement, enjoying themselves, and maybe even remembering a line or two for the drive home. The song (or the sermon) was entertaining but never really engaged their hearts.

It’s time to give up the boy band and start singing the blues. Blues music has a rawness and authenticity that is birthed out of real struggle. The blues are honest about hard times, but in a hopeful way that also convinces us that a time of trial is not the end of the story…

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Read the full article at http://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/preaching-like-a-boy-band-trying-to-play-the-blues

-jdl