I just received a text saying: “I killed Jordan Thyer.” It was followed by the smiley face emoji. It took a brief, unsettling moment to remember the context. It came from a friend who was doing some Bible teaching at a conference. She mentioned she was nervous because (local pastor and gifted preacher) Jordan Thyer was going to be present. I had shared with her about the day I killed Tim Thorburn. It saved my preaching career. She, in turn, had killed Jordan and was thanking me for the advice.
For context, Tim Thoburn is a long-term member of the AFES senior staff at the UWA Christian Union here in Perth. Tim trained me for ministry through an MTS apprenticeship back when Kurt Cobain’s death was still a fresh memory. I owe Tim more than I can say. He encouraged me into ministry in the first place. Through a process that lasted many years and required much patience from him, he instilled in me a love for people, a love for Scripture, and a philosophy of ministry. Twenty years on, I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t do something, think something, or say something that I don’t owe, in some sense, to Tim.
Training as a Preacher
One of those things is preaching. It was Tim’s preaching that first captured my imagination. The simple but profound practice of making the content of the text the content of the sermon blew my mind. It was my introduction to what I later came to understand was expositional preaching. It remains at the centre of my ministry practice to this day.
Tim faithfully and methodically critiqued all my early sermons. Tim is about five times smarter than me, and his knowledge of Scripture is breathtaking. It was an exacting apprenticeship. In his quiet and gentle manner, he allowed for no sloppy thinking, no exegetical short-cuts, no sentimental fluff, no poorly reasoned argumentation. The Yoda vibes were strong.
Preaching to Impress
I went off to Theological College for four years, got married, and came back to Perth to begin my post-College ministry. For the first few years I was working with Tim again at UWA. One of the features of this happy arrangement was that I often found myself preaching to a room in which Tim was present. That in itself was not a problem, and Tim certainly did not make it a problem. On the contrary, he was a model of navigating the sometimes-tricky move from trainer to colleague. The post-sermon critique was put to one side and we got on with working in the ministry together.
But I made it a problem. Tim was in the room to listen to God’s word. But for me Tim’s head, like Mr Potato Head, became the largest head in the room. My de facto aim became: ‘Preach to impress Tim.’
The Day I Killed Tim
But then I killed him. I remember the day. It was a Tuesday in the Austin Lecture Theatre at UWA. As I walked to the front, for some reason it struck me: “I’m preaching to Tim!” It was like the end of The Sixth Sense… I suddenly realised what had been happening. My preaching had become stuck—I knew that. But I didn’t know why. At that moment I realised it was because I was still preaching to Tim. I was trying to show him that I had understood the text, made the necessary biblical-theological connections, kept it all Christocentric, and had faithfully applied it all to my listeners. But of course, I wasn’t really “applying it to my listeners.” I was applying it to one of my listeners: to Tim. And I wasn’t applying it to Tim for his own edification. I was showing Yoda that I’d finally mastered the lightsaber.
So I killed him, mentally. I said to myself: “Rory, stop preaching to Tim; start preaching to them.” And I did. It’s for others to judge whether or not that made a difference. I think it did. I think I can now confidently say that the two biggest positive influences on my preaching have been the day I met Tim Thorburn and the day I killed him.
Finding Your Own Voice
Now I find myself on the other side of that training process. Part of my role involves coaching and training others in teaching God’s word. I hope I am providing them some of what Tim gave me: a vision for and practice of expository preaching. Half my job is done when they have mastered the basic skills of exegesis, biblical theology, and sermon design and delivery. The other half of my job happens when they kill me, and start preaching to the people in front of them. It is a necessary step in any preacher finding their own voice.
Finding your own voice is not the first thing. Or even the second thing. Like learning a language or a musical instrument, the basics need to be mastered first. And if, in the early days of a preaching ministry, you sound suspiciously like the person training you, who cares? But in the fullness of time, finding your own voice does matter. You’ll need it in order to sustain a lifetime of teaching others God’s word.
