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Ministers Summit: Update three
10 February 2008
George Knight: the radical conservative who never beats around the bush
Seventh-day Adventist historian Dr George Knight presented the keynote speeches during a quinquenniel professional development seminar for ministers organised by the church in Australia and held on Avondale College's Lake Macquarie campus, February 5-10. Phil Ward, editor of the seminar's daily newsletter, asked Dr Knight:
What is the biggest spiritual danger for ministers?
Seventh-day Adventist historian Dr George Knight presented the keynote speeches during a quinquenniel professional development seminar for ministers organised by the church in Australia and held on Avondale College's Lake Macquarie campus, February 5-10. Phil Ward, editor of the seminar's daily newsletter, asked Dr Knight:
What is the biggest spiritual danger for ministers?
Working with the sacred on such a regular basis that it loses its sacredness.
And the second biggest?
To believe parishioners when they say you have preached a good sermon. It's easy to take credit for God's gifts.
When preaching, do you deliberately try to offend your audience?
When I preach, I want my audience to hear and to remember. So, I'm likely to say things in a way that shocks them. If I think there is a wake-up call needed, I'll issue a wake-up call--as long as it's biblical. Jesus never beat around the bush, and He talked the language of the people. We've made him into a nice, gentle college professor. He wasn't.
I'm told you preached like a nice, gentle college professor during your most recent visit to Australia, but you preached like an African-American during this visit.
I have different styles. I belonged to an African-American conference in the United States for 10 years--the African-Americans even ordained me. I change my approach totally for different topics. I am willing to use any technique I think will work for the topic and the audience. The only thing that is the same with my different techniques is that I always deliver the message with enthusiasm.
Theologically, are you a radical, a progressive, a conservative or a traditionalist?
I tell you what I think Jesus was. He was radical conservative. He was willing to smash traditions to get back to the conservative teachings of the Old Testament. Jesus used radical means to arrive at conservative ends. And me? I want to model myself on the radical conservativeness of Christ.
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