I look forward to our crossed paths in person!

[As an aside: I would like to leave the disclaimer that I'm not suggesting that my fellow intern's presentation style is comparable to my inexperienced nervousness while running for chaplain office. Just that I can relate to being the object of harsh misinterpretation of a similar nature.]

I’m one of the many Daves… and rather new… We haven’t actually met. But when we do end up crossing paths, I’ll be sure to clue you in

By the way, I didn’t realize that you attend PMC. I feel at a loss since I don’t know who you are! Would you mind revealing your name so I can try to put a face to a blogger or so we could meet if we haven’t already? You can shoot me an email if you don’t want to post it here (there’s the one in my blog description to the right or my usual one on the bulletin every week)

About your comparison in internship up-front presentation styles, I am a little conflicted. I am so grateful that I come off as genuine because, well, I am… or I try to be. And it’s not easy to be in front of lots of penetrating eyes and not put on too much of an act. On the other hand, I have to stand up for my fellow intern and friend. I mean no offense to you in the process, but I can guarantee for you that he is not putting on a holy show. The unfortunate misinterpretation may perhaps stem from his generally reserved nature. Also, he has a Masters in English, so his speech (and writing) is quite polished and poetic. It’s something that I admire about him, but I can understand how it may appear that the polish is a mask rather than just a polish.

To share an anecdote: when I was in college, I ran for Student Body Chaplain (yes, we elected our chaplains). There were two of us (actually the other guy goes to Fuller now, his name is Jesse Rivers). We had to give a speech in front of the 1800 or so students that would be in a general chapel session. It was the first time I did anything like that, so I made a “polished” speech. While up there, I just read it verbatim. Jesse, on the other hand, just grabbed the mic and spoke from the heart. I ended up looking like a fake, even though (I hope) I wasn’t. Later on, I passed by the voting booth and heard the person behind the booth telling people who to vote for (so much for democracy). He was calling me a fake and saying not to vote for me. I walked up while he was talking, embarrassing him, and voted, but it felt awful. I ended up being the class chaplain instead of the student body chaplain and I worked with Jesse, and that next year was when I learned how to be a little more comfortable in front of large crowds.

All of this is to say that it’s hard to know what is in a person’s heart behind their rhetorical style.

First…well…I hope no one reads this and gets upset…but I’m kinda glad for the times you’re up there instead of JS (if you know who I mean)… I don’t know what it is about his teaching/preaching—maybe even prayer—but he seems so fake. You don’t come across that way to me… You seem like you’re genuinely playing around with your message and not putting up a holy front. But perhaps I’m just reading into the other guy something that isn’t there…

The other thing I’ve noticed at PMC is the recurring use of the “so-and-so or it seems to us to be [insert what it or he/she seems to be to us]” in messages. Every time I hear it, the thing that someone or something seems to be doesn’t seem to be that to me. And it really pulls me out of the sermon. For instance: “when we compare the story to other imaginative tales of Jesus the boy, Luke’s account seems tame.” I don’t think I would or could have ever thought that… Maybe I’m the exception that proves the rule though… But it’s kinda strange how it keeps happening… Maybe that’s typical of church sermons. How should I know? I’ve never been part of an organized religious institution before…

That’s pretty much what my internship supervisor (Pastor Katherine) said. I used myself as an example for how I was a spoiled brat as a kid (showing that I was much worse than anything Jesus did). Then I talked about how Christina and I are trying to figure out how to apply obedience to God in our lives. The second one wasn’t self-deprecating, but it was more just as one example of trying wrestling with reality. I did make Christina a little bit of a hero, though

About the personal stuff in sermons, my preaching prof at Truett Seminary put it this way: “never make yourself the hero of an illustration; that tends to come off as cocky…instead use self-deprecating humor; people tend to respond to that better.”