I am happily a nobody who gets to talk about Somebody every Sunday at Calvary Community Church. I do not have an international platform. I do not have a national platform. I don’t have a state-wide platform. Come to think of it - I don’t have a platform!

Steve Burchett recently wrote an article that will not be written of me, or many preachers:

Many who have had the privilege of hearing [him] preach in person would testify that it felt like a monumental event. His preaching powerfully combines truth and passion, leading to convicted and exhilarated listeners. After the sermon, certain hearers might leave wondering if they were just in the presence of a figure who will be talked about in future centuries.

He is talking about Pastor John Piper.

Of course, in the post-sermon or conference talk or iTunes download euphoria, reality sets in:

Then they go back to their home church, where several things are different, including the preaching. Thankfully, the gospel is still proclaimed. In fact, the sermons are thoroughly biblical, but the ability of their regular preacher simply does not measure up to the phenomenal preaching they recently heard.

Unless you attend a church led by of one of the celebrated preachers of our day, you most likely have faced a similar situation. Either at a conference or on the internet, you have heard exceptional preaching, but each Sunday you’re back in your simple little home church that hardly anybody beyond your town knows about, with its “nobody” of a pastor who will probably never preach to thousands.

What if your gospel-preaching pastor is not as good as one of the great orators of our day? Is it time to sell the house, pack up the family, and change churches? No, I don’t think so. But what should you do?

He gives five suggestions:

1. Rejoice that your preacher is a man who proclaims the gospel.
2. Recognize that certain men are uniquely gifted by the Lord to have an international ministry and appeal, but this is not the norm.
3. If your pastor is (honestly) dull, but he preaches the truth faithfully, a little statement I once heard might be helpful for you to remember: “The mature worshiper is easily edified.”
4. Listen “outwardly” to the preaching. Here’s what I mean: Sit with your Bible open and routinely make eye contact with the preacher.
5. Verbally encourage the preacher(s) in your church. (Read the details of all five)

Please - do praise God for Pastor John, and Driscoll and Keller and Chandler and Carson, et. al.

But also praise God for the tens of thousands of ordinary pastors who faithfully exalt and exult in Jesus every Sunday. As one preacher opined:

They can preach the Gospel better than I, but they cannot preach a better Gospel.