by Eddie Bragwell<\/p>\n
One of the encouraging things that I see among my brethren is the number of young men who are expressing a desire to make preaching the gospel their life’s work. Along with that the number of local churches that are willing to financially and morally support an aspiring young preacher as he works in a Paul and Timothy training arrangement. This is truly a cause for optimism.<\/p>\n
In my judgment, for whatever that is worth, brethren have too long relied on “Christian Colleges” to be kind of preacher factories for the brotherhood. Is there a place for colleges, owned, operated, and staffed by Christians, to which men and women can go for a good education, where Bible and Bible-related courses are taught along with secular subjects; where there is an on-campus atmosphere that is generally commensurate with biblical principles? Absolutely.<\/p>\n
A young man aspiring to preach may choose to go there, or any other school, to prepare himself to be able to “make tents” if necessary as he preaches the gospel \u2013 which he may have to do at times for the good of the church and his family. (Cf. Acts 18:3; I Corinthians 9:1-16). But, when we think of such schools as “preacher preparatory” schools, they have become our version of denominational seminaries.<\/p>\n
There is good scriptural precedent for younger preachers’ giving themselves to a study of the Scriptures and learning from the wisdom of older men, as Timothy did from Paul, with the young man being given the opportunity for “public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching<\/em>” in the church where he worked (I Timothy 4:13). We still think it a pretty good pattern to follow. As stated above, it is encouraging to see more of this being done.<\/p>\n When choosing an older “mentor,” at whose feet you choose to learn, be careful. Beginning with the first disciples, there were those whose ambition was to be first in the kingdom. (Cf. Matthew 18). They had to be reminded of the nature of true greatness in the kingdom \u2013 the way up is down. It is being as humble as a little child.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, there are some preachers today who obviously consider themselves great brotherhood “movers and shakers” with powerful influence to be used to increase their statue “in the church.” And “no doubt \u2026 wisdom will die with you (them)!” This is not judging. Their fruits and speech “doth betray them.” Unfortunately, the flair they project appeals to young minds and breeds in them an unholy ambition for greatness and brotherhood fame. There is nothing inherently wrong with being widely known and appreciated for your good work throughout large portions of the brotherhood \u2013 as long as such is not your ambition.<\/p>\n Each of us, preacher or otherwise, needs to have the ambition expressed by our Lord to his disciples who were seeking to be the greatest \u2013 the ambition to serve rather than be served:<\/p>\n “And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave \u2013 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many<\/em>” (Matthew 20:27-28).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When a young preacher with the driving ambition to simply serve the Lord, and others, sits at the feet of experienced older brothers with the same ambition \u2013 there is no telling how much good could come to the kingdom.<\/p>\n An additional few words: If you want to preach and your ambition is to become the best known, best paid, most sought after for local work and gospel meetings, most scholarly, then, for the Lord’s sake, and the sake of his kingdom \u2013 go into some other field. Don’t waste your time and the brethren’s resources to further your ambition. Also, if you look at preaching as just a stepping stone to get to something more profitable to do, you also should step aside. (I am not talking about one sincerely thinking he wanted to preach full time and after doing it a while realizes it is not for him, and his family, he decides to do something else).<\/p>\n If, at some later time, you humble yourself as a little child and seek to serve rather than be served and circumstances change then you may want to reconsider preaching the gospel as your life’s work. Then it will be profitable for you and those that hear you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Eddie Bragwell One of the encouraging things that I see among my brethren is the number of young men who are expressing a desire to make preaching the gospel their life’s work. Along with that the number of local churches that are willing to financially and morally support an aspiring young preacher as he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1511,536,380],"class_list":["post-26449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preachers","tag-preaching","tag-school"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26452,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/schools-among-brethren\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":0},"title":"Schools Among Brethren","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Don Martin Schools among brethren have been a troubling issue, but one not often and carefully studied. I shall not attempt to explore all the nuances of the school issue, but rather I shall focus primarily on the Church of Christ Seminary image inevitably involved with the Bible Department\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-go-to-school-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":1},"title":"Do I need to go to school to preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, I have studied the Bible all my life. I read everything I can. I preached for three weeks a year ago in a local congregation and asked all my elders to attend, and one did. He asked me if I wanted to teach in our congregation. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20581,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/professional-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":2},"title":"Professional Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2013 The trend toward developing a \"professional clergy\" among churches of Christ has been in the making for some time now. More and more, both churches and preachers, have come to view gospel preachers as professionals much like the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/preacher-231x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":93954,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/those-sorry-young-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":3},"title":"Those “Sorry” Young Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall via\u00a0Biblical Insights, Vol. 14 No. 8, August 2014 We hear criticism all along of the young preachers among us: \"They don't preach like the older preachers,\" they say. That's funny! It sounds like what people said of us older preachers when we were young. The truth is,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16207,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-college-issue\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":4},"title":"The College Issue","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"(Six articles were published in\u00a0Preceptor magazine by brother Robert F. Turner between April and October of 1962. They are presented here as one continuous thesis.) Educational Institutions Among the Brethren by Robert F. Turner (Preceptor, April 1962) Educational projects among members of the church of Christ began in the same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preacher-pitfalls-an-article-for-young-preachers\/","url_meta":{"origin":26449,"position":5},"title":"Preacher Pitfalls: An Article for Young Preachers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell, Sr. The Reflector\u00a0- August 2009 via\u00a0Ed's Sermons and Things Paul references Isaiah in declaring that the feet of those that preach the gospel are beautiful (Romans 10:15; Isaiah 52:7). I know of no higher calling for a young man to pursue than that of preaching the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}