A Rare Gift

I have a lot of favorite preachers. By "favorite" I do not mean to incite celebrity status. I simply mean they faithfully preach the text of the Bible with passion and integrity. They have an eye toward the culture, but they are not driven by it. John Piper has topped the list for several years now. John MacArthur is right there. R.C. Sproul is a faithful expositor as well. But these last several months someone has been right at the top:

My pastor. Peter Grainger, pastor of Charlotte Baptist Chapel in Edinburgh is a gifted expositor. When he is in the pulpit he is proclaiming the word, not stories to tickle the ears. I am touched by the way he seems to be changed by the text he preaches.

When I come to church I am not praying that the pastor will shake my hand. I am not praying that he will welcome me like I am in his living room. I am not praying that he will deliver some witty quip at the door on the way out. I am praying that he will tell me the truth. Peter does that, and I love him for it.

Whoever your pastor is, pray that God would give him a passion to preach the Word. Tell him the most important parts of his ministry are his time on his knees and in the pulpit. Don't chase him down on a Sunday to talk about paint, paper towels in the bathroom, or what someone is wearing. When you see him on a Sunday say, "Preach the Word to us, Pastor. We came to hear it."