President’s Perspective Matt Proctor

Matt Proctor has served as president of Ozark Christian College since 2006.

ALL BECAUSE OF A SERMON

Matt Proctor

Billy Graham sat at the back of the revival tent. The North Carolina teenager didn’t want to be there, but a neighbor had invited Billy to drive his truck into town for the revival. In 1934, a sixteen-year-old country kid like Billy rarely got a chance to get behind a steering wheel, so he said yes.

Billy prepared to tune the preacher out, but as Mordecai Ham preached, something happened. “The evangelist had a way of describing sins and shortcomings,” Graham later remembered, “and demanding, on pain of divine judgment, that you mend your ways. I was so sure he had singled me out that night that I actually ducked behind the wide-brimmed hat of the lady sitting in front of me.”

Convicted, young Billy came back the next night and the night after that. Ham preached from Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” When the choir sang the invitation hymn, Billy walked the aisle to commit his life to Christ, and over the next 70 years, he preached that same gospel to over 2 billion people.

All because of a sermon. The Most Powerful Place on the Planet

The most powerful place on the planet might be a pulpit. Many people would laugh at that sentence. To them, preaching seems ineffective, silly, a joke. I heard the story of a preacher, elder, and deacon who were deer hunting when a huge buck crossed a clearing. The preacher and elder fired simultaneously, so when the buck dropped, they didn’t know which one had shot it. The deacon leaped up to investigate, and after examining the deer, he hollered back, “It’s the preacher’s. He shot this buck.” “How do you know?” asked the elder. “Look here,” replied the deacon. “The bullet went in one ear and right out the other!”

For many, that’s preaching—in one ear and out the other.

Sermons don’t make any real difference, and the most powerful place on the planet is not a pulpit. But the Bible paints a different picture. 1 Corinthians 1:21 says, “It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.” Inept as it may seem, preaching is divinely effective. “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb 4:12) One preacher engraved on his Bible cover the letters TNT—because God’s Word contains explosive power—and I tell my preaching students that when they open their Bible to speak, there’s no telling what might happen. Even on Bad Sermon Days

I’m reminded of this most when I’m preaching a bad sermon. Sometimes I’ll preach a sermon I know is not connecting, and I think of my friend in Bible college who spoke at a little church one weekend. He could tell the sermon that morning was a clunker, but church people are nice. So as he shook hands afterward, everyone encouraged him, “Nice job. Nice sermon. Nice job.” Except one lady. She said, “Nice try.” Ha! I have preached my share of “nice try” sermons, and on those days, I just want to get done quickly, go home, and try again next week. But God, in his great celestial sense of humor, often gives me the best response to my worst sermons, and as the invitation song is sung, people are coming down the aisle. Folks are making decisions for Christ. A lady is shaking my hand, saying, “You have no idea how that touched me.” I’m thinking, “You’re right. I have no idea how that touched you.” The fact is, however, I do know. Ineffective as my words may be, God’s Word remains powerful. In Isaiah 55:11, God says, “My word that goes out from my mouth…will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

And in thirty years of preaching, I’ve seen people surrender the rest of their years to Jesus Christ…because they heard a sermon. I’ve seen people give their marriage one last try…because they heard a sermon. I’ve seen people give up lucrative careers to go be missionaries, break off an ungodly relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend, become foster parents, give their money, share Christ with a friend, repent of longstanding sin, and start a Bible study at school…all because of a sermon.

I’ve seen people find hope in the midst of grief, comfort in the midst of pain, grace in the midst of guilt, guidance in the midst of confusion, and power in the midst of weakness all because—in the bumbling, stumbling, fumbling words of a preacher—they heard the Word of God. The pulpit really might be the most powerful place on the planet. A School Full of Preachers

At Ozark Christian College, we prepare students to stand in pulpits. When I enrolled at OCC in August 1988, the first verses I memorized were the last words of Paul, “Preach the Word” (2 Tim 4:2). All of us at Ozark have taken those words to heart. Look at our faculty. We invest personnel in what we believe matters, and we have five professors in our biblical communication department, led by Mark Scott. Mark remains one of our movement’s most respected preachers and coauthored a textbook on preaching, Letting the Text Win (College Press, 2014). Someone said, “You can teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are.” Ozark has long graduated outstanding preachers because that’s who our entire faculty are— preachers.

Look at our students. Someone asked recently how many preaching majors Ozark has. The quick answer is 40. But a little context: we graduate many preachers who aren’t preaching majors. (For example, many youth ministers preach regularly to teenagers and eventually become pulpit ministers.) So in the fall of 2019, our numbers look like this:

40 Preaching Majors

74 Biblical Studies Majors

9Church Planting Majors

98 General Ministry Majors

79 Youth Ministry Majors

Ozark has long graduated outstanding preachers because that’s who our entire faculty are—preachers.

This doesn’t include majors like missions, children’s ministry, and others who will at times preach, but we have at least 300 students this fall who will likely preach regularly in days ahead. Most telling: look at our graduates. Of the twelve largest Christian Churches, nine have Ozark graduates preaching from their stage. At our tribe’s gatherings— the old North American Christian Convention, the International Conference of Missions, the Spire conference, CIY conferences—you’ll almost always find one or more OCC grads preaching. Every Sunday, in hundreds of pulpits large and small, you’ll find Ozark alumni with Bible in hand proclaiming God’s truth.

So thank you for partnering with us in preparing preachers. Because of your support, God’s Word is loosed from pulpits around the world…and lives are forever changed. Bible vs. Bullet

OCC graduate Mark Moore serves as teaching pastor at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Phoenix, a congregation of 30,000. On January 1, 2012, Mark preached from Psalm 33. His sermon that New Year’s Day was entitled “A New Song,” and his message: no matter your past, God can give you a new song, a new start, a “do-over.”

Afterward, a man named Miguel shared his story with Mark. 2011 had not been a good year for him—poor choices, dark despair, lost hope. It had been so bad that Miguel had decided to take his life that Sunday morning, January 1. His gun was loaded and in hand, but before he pulled the trigger, he had an inescapable feeling that he should go to church.

That’s how he ended up sitting in the sanctuary as Mark preached, and God’s Word found its way past Miguel’s defenses, penetrated his heart, and burst inside him with the bright hope found in Christ. He came forward at the end of the service, ready for a fresh start.

As he finished telling his story, Miguel reached into his pocket and pulled out the bullet he’d removed from his gun. “I guess I won’t be needing this. Not really sure what I should do with it.” Mark spoke up quickly, “I’ll take it.” After pocketing the bullet, Mark embraced Miguel and prayed with him, and on that New Year’s Day, Miguel found new life. All because of a sermon.