While all pastors have times of struggle, they should be “empty pitchers before the fountain of God’s word,” said Robert Smith Jr.

Smith, presenter for the July 15 Intentional Leader Series sponsored by the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, was professor of Christian preaching at Beeson Divinity School more than 25 years, where he held the Charles T. Carter Baptist Chair of Divinity. Previously, he was the Carl E. Bates associate professor of Christian preaching at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

The theme of the ILS was the minister as “preacher who exposits Scripture,” and Smith told the audience that preaching involves “something old and something new.”

“We preach what the Reformers did,” he explained. “Calvin and Luther and Melanchthon preached the same doctrine we hold. This is orthodoxy. But we must be open to communicating doctrine in a fresh way. 

“Psychology explains that we’re ‘right-brained’ when we use images, metaphors and pictures. We define, but we also give a picture. These things will move our hearers.”

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.