Do The Work

Phillip W. Martin and Terry Francis
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Religion & Spirituality

The archive of Do the Work, conversations between Phillip Martin and Terry Francis. www.phillipwmartin.net

  1. 12/13/2022

    That's All, Folks, for Do the Work

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0234 · Originally streamed December 13, 2022 How do you end something that has done its work? This is the last regular episode of Do the Work. My schedule is tighter, and Terry and I agree the original purpose has been fulfilled. Ecclesiastes 7.8 says the end of a matter is better than its beginning. We look back to the preacher interviews of 2019 and the daily Bible studies of 2020. The friendships built along the way were the best part. Terry says the show helped him heal after a move he did not choose. I ask Terry what helps him as a communicator. He names Humes' Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln and The Elements of Preaching by Warren and David Wiersbe. He rereads Leadership and Self-Deception every year. I reread The Juggling Act each January. Build a quiet circle of friends who see the world differently and will call you out when your life does not match your words. We invite friends to lunch at Petra in Temple Terrace on February 6 before the Florida College lectures, and we ask prayer for an injured Florida College student and our friend Shane. Pray for the men who preach and shepherd where you worship. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    That's All, Folks, for Do the Work

  2. 12/06/2022

    People Who Need People Are the Luckiest Preachers

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0233 · Originally streamed December 6, 2022 Preaching is about people, and preachers are people too. Terry starts there. We carry an unspoken line between clergy and laity, and it hurts us. I hear it from people who have walked away from faith. Many describe preachers as if they were perfect. When that picture shatters, often six months after a young person leaves home, faith goes with it. Be authentic. Terry calls it bogus when a preacher says admitting struggle would hurt his example. I say thick skin is a sign of abuse, and one day it ruptures. Notice how Scripture refuses flawless heroes. Elijah has his anxiety in the wilderness. David is more villain on his palace roof than Goliath was on the field. Terry adds that preaching the truth without relationships will not be okay, and preaching on attendance will not fix attendance. We talk about churches that divide over personality and then call it doctrine, and about too many small churches in one county. I close on Ecclesiastes. Without a living relationship with Jesus, our preaching is vanity. If you do not preach, take a preacher to lunch this week. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    People Who Need People Are the Luckiest Preachers

  3. 11/29/2022

    It's a Hard Knock Life for Us Preachers

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0232 · Originally streamed November 29, 2022 What is the work of preaching really like? The series is winding down, so Terry and I use this episode to encourage men who preach. You are not alone. The academic load and the emotional weight are heavy, and there were seasons when that weight felt like depression to me. Terry compares it to a football player who works all week for three hours on the field. The work draws in the family too. Preachers' kids share a code no one else has. Terry reminds us that the prophets felt rejected and grieved. I don't think the preacher's inner life differs much from Jeremiah's. Long Sundays leave you physically spent by Monday. I tell young men to budget for a gym membership, and I mention a friend's recent heart procedure. Do not neglect the academic side. Terry recalls the professor in Howard Hendricks' story who wanted his students to drink from rushing water, not a stagnant pool. Read beyond the old brotherhood manuals. Wright, Witherington, Carson and deSilva add to what we already have. Terry still calls this work a blessing he would not trade. Pick one book outside your usual shelf and read it this month. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    It's a Hard Knock Life for Us Preachers

  4. 11/15/2022

    Crazy Little Thing Called Preaching

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0231 · Originally streamed November 15, 2022 What does a preacher love about preaching? Terry and I turn from the hard parts to the blessings. Constant complaint can discourage the men who might preach. I love seeing a life change after it meets the word. Terry feels the fire of Jeremiah 20 and the weight of the parable of the talents. Still, his real reason is people. Every Friday at a quarter to seven he eats breakfast with church kids at Sneaky Pete's, a counter inside a gas station. During our years in Cookeville, 52 college students passed through the church there. Forty-five of them are now active in local churches. Then the bad reasons. Some say a man preaches because he failed at everything else. The work would grind that man to dust. Others think the job takes a few hours a week. It does not. I aim my content at an A every week and accept a B on delivery. Terry suggests Toastmasters if delivery lags. Preaching can become the lazy man's paradise. No competent preacher I know keeps a 40-hour week. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    Crazy Little Thing Called Preaching

  5. 11/08/2022

    When in Doubt, Leave It Out of the Pulpit

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0230 · Originally streamed November 8, 2022 What should a preacher do with his own doubts? Terry and I have both seen pulpits do lasting harm when a man brought unresolved doubt to the whole church. Doubt runs through Scripture, from the father in Mark 9.24 to Thomas in John 20. Terry sees doubt as healthy when it drives you back to study. Find a trusted closed circle, with people unlike you who will push back. I tell how the sermon story of Matthew Fontaine Maury and the paths of the sea does not survive examination. Faith built on a fact machine falls when the fact falls. Terry warns against the shotgun sermon full of questions with no resolution. Once a doubt becomes conviction, give it time before you preach it. I sort doubts by where they land. Dogma covers our applications. Hebrews 10.25 commands assembling, and Wednesday night is our dogma. Doctrine is what God actually teaches, like loving your neighbor. When we relabel doctrine as dogma so we can discard it, we end up doubting God himself. Talk your doubts through in the right room before you take them to the pulpit. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    When in Doubt, Leave It Out of the Pulpit

  6. 11/01/2022

    Don't Throw Out Your Faith With the Bathwater

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0229 · Originally streamed November 1, 2022 What should we do when someone says they are deconstructing their faith? Terry draws the line. Taking inventory of your faith is one thing. Throwing it out because your experience at one church was unsatisfying is another. Rachel Held Evans described it as turning over every doctrine in your cupboard. Inspecting the dishes is not buying new ones. We each tell our own stories. I grew up going to church for weddings, with family roots in the Foursquare church. Terry is fourth or fifth generation in churches of Christ and was taught what to believe more than how to reason. Seeing past failures does not mean discarding the whole heritage, and I point to Cane Ridge. Terry admits many inferences he was told were necessary are not. Shane Scott taught him that "I don't know" is an honest answer. Notice what a struggling young person needs. Unity, not uniformity. James 2.13 says mercy triumphs over judgment. I tell about apologizing in person to David Tant for how I treated him as a young man. Walk beside the one who doubts, the way a shepherd leads through the valley of Psalm 23. If you do not, someone else will. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    Don't Throw Out Your Faith With the Bathwater

  7. 10/25/2022

    Shoot for the Moon, Then Sow the Seed

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0228 · Originally streamed October 25, 2022 What goals should a preacher set? Terry tells how baptism goals once pushed people into the baptistry who never came back. We can control our sowing. We cannot control the soil. I used to set reading goals by the number of books. Now I pick a subject I do not understand and work at it for a year, from apologetics to what Scripture teaches about male and female. We talk about structured growth through courses and Toastmasters, and about getting back into the community through scouting or sports. If your sermons run sixty minutes, set a boundary and ask someone to hold you to it. One of Terry's elders reads a single book of the Bible every week for a year. Brent Kercheville taught Terry to preach a book with a theme in mind, like culture in Corinthians. I suggest preaching your own forgotten books of the Bible. Terry presses family goals hardest, and Bubba Garner's limit on meetings still shapes him. I reread Pat Gelsinger's The Juggling Act each January, and Dee Bowman's line stays with me: if you've missed heaven, you've missed it all. Find one person to hold you accountable to one goal this year. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    Shoot for the Moon, Then Sow the Seed

  8. 10/11/2022

    A Perfect Ten for the Digital Library

    Do the Work, Episode DTW0227 · Originally streamed October 11, 2022 What does Logos 10 offer a preacher? Terry and I look at the new release, which came with 30 percent off for the company's thirtieth anniversary. Terry's advice is to buy a package you can afford and add books as you study. His upgrade ran about $500, with a payment plan near $85 a month. I suggest the full feature set or Silver. Check the ratings at bestcommentaries.com, then find an affordable title in that top group. I demonstrate the new features. Sermon Builder now keeps version history. A quote tool finds sourced quotations by topic. Logos 10 runs faster everywhere, even on my 2011 MacBook Air. It also counts your print and Kindle books as part of your library, so a search points you to the page on your shelf. A young preacher handed an old library may not need to sell it. Logos now translates text into languages like Tagalog. Florida College lecture books from recent years are free as PDFs, and Logos opens those too. My one complaint is search. I wish it worked more like Google. Watch the original recording on YouTube Get full access to Phillip W. Martin at www.phillipwmartin.net/subscribe

    A Perfect Ten for the Digital Library
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About

The archive of Do the Work, conversations between Phillip Martin and Terry Francis. www.phillipwmartin.net

Information

  • Creator
    Phillip W. Martin and Terry Francis
  • Episodes
    135
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Phillip Martin
  • Show Website
    Do The Work