An Intimate Relationship with Flunk

 

Frank A. Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer of Hope for Life International, Inc. which owns The African American Pulpit and he is the Senior Pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Memphis, TN.

I first heard the word Flunk years ago from one of my mentors. I was in seminary and did not have much of a preaching calendar, but he was schooling me in some of the basics of preaching. I remember him saying about one of his preaching experiences something to the effect of, “Flunk came in and sat on the last row and would not leave. Flunk said ‘Amen’ while I preached. Flunk was bold and got downright loud and said, ‘Go ‘head Preacher!’ Flunk laughed, enjoyed himself, and had a wonderful time while I preached.”

My mentor laughed a deep and hard laugh, and I laughed deep and hard too. While I was too young then in my preaching ministry to have met Flunk, it was interesting that he spoke of Flunk as if Flunk were a person.

Well, it was not too long before I met Flunk, and once I met him, we developed an intimate and personal relationship. As a matter of fact, I was sitting in a hotel room late one night after preaching at a prestigious seminary, and I decided that I knew Flunk so well that I wanted to write about Flunk. Flunk had just visited me. A few hours earlier, Flunk jumped up on me, had me by the neck, and no matter what I did, would not let me go. I rode home in the car with my host and apologized profusely that Flunk had showed up that night, especially since it was the last night of three nights of preaching. Flunk had not made an appearance the other two nights, but on the last night, Flunk came boldly in the door, and it was devastating. If Flunk shows up the first or the second night, you can redeem yourself and dismiss Flunk. But when Flunk shows up the last night, all you can do is go to your room and have a conversation with Flunk. I talked long and hard with Flunk that night. I want to share with you what I have learned about Flunk.

The place to begin the discussion is by defining Flunk. Every preacher worth his or her salt knows Flunk, but probably has never been formally introduced to Flunk through a definition. Flunk is both the experience of a sermon or sermonic design that did not connect with or meet the needs of the people, and the resulting emotional, physical, and spiritual distress the preacher experiences upon that realization. The layperson would say that Flunk is to preach poorly. Flunk has shown up when you are on the sermonic journey, and all of a sudden discover that you are all by yourself. Flunk has visited when you are lousy at preaching, not lousy every time, but lousy on a particular occasion, despite your most intense efforts to be good. In short, when Flunk grabs you and overpowers you, you fail at the preaching task.

Now I know that there are some who are reading this who will say, “The outcomes of preaching are up to the Holy Spirit, how can one know that one has failed? We do not know what God is doing in the human heart.” These statements are absolutely true. The results of a sermonic discourse are up to the Holy Spirit. All of us have had the experience of preaching some of our best sermons, but there was no response that we could discern and quantify. Then, we have preached a sermon that we thought was not up to par, but the response from what we could see was overwhelming. The Holy Spirit is ultimately in charge, but flunking is a significantly different experience than misreading the outcome, or not relying upon the Holy Spirit for the outcome. To demonstrate what I mean, let me give you an example of one of my biggest experiences with Flunk that I recounted in my first book on preaching.¹

I was the guest preacher at a church and had structured the sermon for celebration. The gospel resolved a complication of life and the people enthusiastically received the resolution. I joyfully reinforced the gospel truth and the church exploded in praise and thanksgiving to God. The church was literally in mass pandemonium in the Spirit of God. There was such an explosion of emotion that I was stunned, lost my equilibrium, and literally did not know what to do. To that point, I had received and accepted the conditioning that taught one to be afraid of emotion, especially free and spontaneous emotion. To handle my own anxiety, and re-establish a sense of control, I recounted the following quote to shut down celebration:

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.²

Though this insightful quote fit with my subject, it had the effect of shutting down celebration because people had to go totally cognitive to process the ideas. People experienced this as an abrupt shift, and it had the effect of decisively breaking down the upward movement to celebration. Celebration was crippled beyond repair, and I was never able to recover. The celebrative sermonic design crumbled into ashes, and there was nothing to do but close the sermon, and lean on the tender mercies of God. I am sure that there were people who received the gospel from the sermon, but the gospel could have been so much more effective if I had not shut down the celebration.

This was primarily due to my misreading the effect of the sermon and not leaving the result up to the Holy Spirit. This was a fundamental flaw in the preacher that caused the sermon to collapse for the people. This was a visit from Flunk. Flunk jumped up on me, had me by the neck, and no matter what I did, would not let me go. Sometimes the sermon breaks down because of the preacher or the preacher’s response to what is happening around the preacher. Let me now tell you what I learned in the intimacy of my relationship with Flunk.

Flunk Likes Big Occasions

Every preaching assignment is a big occasion, and therefore has the potential for Flunk to arrive, but some sermons, lectures, etc. are more important to a preacher for various reasons. For example, when we are visited by Flunk at home, redemption is always readily available. Our members love us and they say things like, “Pastor cannot hit a home run every week. Even Barry Bonds strikes out one out of every three times at bat.” Our members love us and are able to put our preaching in the effective curvature of our entire ministry, and offer us much grace. I have said to many a member who said, “Pastor that was a great sermon,” “That’s only because you love me.” The love of the people for the pastor covers a multitude of homiletical sins. But it is a different matter altogether when Flunk meets you “on the road.” There is not as much love and grace. People say things like, “They said that the preacher had so many credentials. With all those awards, titles, and degrees, I thought he (she) was really going to preach. He (she) must have bought all that stuff, because they did not preach their way out of a wet paper bag.”

Some preaching assignments are what we call “major.” The number of people to which you are preaching or a church in which many preachers desire to preach are not what determines if an assignment is major. Major is determined according to whether the occasion is important to you. Major can be different things to different preachers, but the more that you want to do well, this makes the occasion more major to you. This is the first rule of Flunk: the bigger the occasion, the more Flunk likes to show up. While all preaching assignments are major, the bigger the occasion is for you, the larger Flunk’s inclination is to be in attendance.

Flunk Likes a Lack of Prayer Preparation

>Flunk most frequently occurs when the preacher has not prepared himself or herself for the preaching task in prayer. Very often, a visitation by Flunk is a direct result of a lack of prayer by the preacher. Sometimes the people do not pray, but most likely it is a lack of prayer by the preacher. Sometimes we do not utter one word of prayer until we stand in the pulpit before the people, or when we enter the church to get ready to preach. Usually, it is too late then, though God is sometimes gracious for the sake of the people. Flunk usually occurs when we have not “stood on prayin’ ground” and prayed ourselves to the place in God from which all good preaching flows. At the hotel late at night, I had to be brutally honest with Flunk and admit that I had not “stood on prayin’ ground.”

Flunk Likes a Lack of Sermonic Preparation

Right along with a lack of prayer preparation, Flunk most frequently occurs when the preacher has not adequately prepared the sermon. Often, we will preach one of our “war horses” (a sermon that God has moved mightily through before in several settings, so we believe that we can ride it in any setting). Because it is a war horse, we think that we do not need to spend extensive time going over the text or our notes. We do not read the Scripture afresh. We do not ask God for a fresh word in a familiar sermon. We assume that because God blessed through the sermon in the past that God will bless again. We say to ourselves that we do not have to worry because we have preached this sermon many times.

Flunk Likes a Non-Rested Body and Pre-Occupied Mind

Flunk usually visits when the preacher does not have a rested body and mind. Usually the preacher has not had any rest. The reasons are many and varied as to why the preacher did not get rest. Sometimes when we are out of town we will fellowship with preachers late into the day, and when we get back to the hotel, we do not have time for adequate rest. Sometimes there are problems at the church that we are trying to handle on the road, and those problems involve many long phone calls. Sometimes there are problems at home; if there is a spouse or children, they may be clamoring for our attention. Sometimes we have neglected our physical bodies by abusing them with a lack of exercise and poor diet. Sometimes it is collectively the long hours and arduous demands of ministry that wear us down. Sometimes we are doing too much. We said yes to one too many engagements. Sometimes we have internal conflicts and situations that are personal to us and no one else. Sometimes planes are delayed and we spend all night in the airport. Sometimes we are sick with the flu, upset stomach, or other ailments. Whatever the reason, the body is not rested and the mind is preoccupied. Flunk will show up and sit on the front row when the preacher is not rested or is preoccupied.

Flunk Likes Flawed Worship

Flunk usually resides in places where there is flawed worship. Sometimes the people are not worshipping, no one has prayed, the song before you preach does not bless you, the choir is not good and they are long, or you are put up to preach real, real late and the people are already worn out. Sometimes the preacher spends an inordinate amount of time lifting the offering(s), or the choir director does not show up or is angry when he or she arrives and will not go to the organ when you need him or her to. Sometimes the microphones are not working, or the lights are dim and you cannot see the manuscript. There are one million details in worship that when left unattended can flaw worship for the preacher. Flunk will come and sit in the front seat of flawed worship.

Flunk Likes Use of Unspiritual Means (Gimmicks) to Shake Flunk Off

Many of us have felt the hands of Flunk around our necks. We all will try to shake Flunk off. Flunk has seen many of the measures we use to attempt to shake Flunk off. Flunk likes it when we go to our favorite material (illustrations) that have nothing to do with the sermon but have always gotten us an “Amen.” We get cute and showboat in an attempt to stir the people emotionally and shake Flunk off. We berate the people because “they are not deep enough” to understand where we are coming from. We take an exit ramp, and immediately go to our whoop, trying to throw flunk off of our trail. We go to our conversion story. We break out into a song. Flunk likes these and other unspiritual means of trying to shake Flunk off. Usually, these measures secure Flunk’s grip tighter around our neck.

Flunk Hates Humility by the Preacher

There is only one way to shake Flunk off: humility and dependence on God. Sometimes the sermon cannot be saved by our attempts. When I go to my seat, and I experience the agony of Flunk, I have learned to say to God and myself: “Lord, I preached not as I ought, but as I was able.” In other words, I am a human being. I am not a preaching machine. I am dependent upon divine grace and mercy far more than my skill and experience. Also, I have learned it is important to not take myself so seriously and give myself some grace. We will not hit a home run or ring the bell every time. Preaching is much more about the grace and mercy of almighty God than we can ever admit or realize. To defeat Flunk, I place myself at the feet of the mercy and the grace of almighty God.

Flunk Is a Great Teacher

Every preacher meets Flunk sooner or later. I have come to believe that God uses Flunk every now and then to teach preachers. Flunk is a great teacher. Flunk will make one not overemphasize an occasion, pray mightily, do more than adequate sermon preparation, get some rest, bring your own praise regardless of the worship of the people, and make you humble and dependent on God. Flunk will make you an awesome preacher.

The next time I preached, after having my discussion with Flunk that night at the prestigious seminary, God really blessed, and I was the preacher that God would have me be. After Flunk shows up, most preachers are awesome at their next preaching engagement. God just might let us flunk every now and then to keep us humble and remind us who is in charge of the preaching moment.

Notes

1. Frank A. Thomas, They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 1997), Chapter 5.

2. T. S. Eliot, The Complete Poems and Plays 1909–1950 (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1962), 145.