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There is a country Baptist church not far from me. In the last month they asked me to preach for them twice. No doubt these are good folks but they are really dry. I preached my heart and they look like manikans. I do not expect much from a congregation but something would be nice Recorded Sermons @ www.pastorwiley.com

Re: Preached in a country Baptist church

Larry , I have had several COG preachers preach at our baptist church. They all looked like a deer in the headlights at first. But when I talked to them later they were all blessed beyond comparison to what they have had in the past.

You can bet most were listening. I would bet you are right C! Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

I have no doubt they we we listening. It is always an honor to get to preach anywhere.Two weeks ago I preached am and pm. Today I am dealing with sinus drainage so I did not preach tonight Recorded Sermons @ www.pastorwiley.com

It snot good to preach when your nose is running.

This reminds me of an experience I had about 20 years ago, give or take. I preached a revival service in GA. I got tons of amens and response from the crowd that night. Great altar service. The next night people were telling me what a great job I did. I decided to poll them on what their favorite part of my message was. Surprisingly, only a few remembered any point I had made. Since then, I have learned to never gauge the effectiveness of my message by the verbal or nonverbal cues I receive (unless they're looking at their watches

Look for more subtle cues as to weather they are paying attention if it's not the culture to say 'amen' a lot.I remember once I was in Indonesia at a conference held at a Charismatic church there. They had an African preacher up there on stage when we got there, screaming and yelling about how bad Saul of Tarsus was, looking like a deer caught in the headlights, staring anxiously at the audience. It seemed like he was worried at the lack of 'amens' and other displays of enthusiasm he probably got from his African audiences back home. He finished up and got off the stage. Indonesians tend to be a bit reserved during the sermon. Some of the churches (COGs especially) tell everyone to speak in tongues, and they get loud doing that, but very quiet during sermons. The only church I heard of where they say loud amen's and such is the Gereja something or other Nusantara, which is the local branch of what used to be called the Boston Church of Christ, the one known for its heavy shepherding. I haven't been to one of their meetings, but my wife did many years ago with her cousin who was in it, and they said amen a lot and stuff like that