Pastoral Plagiarism
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Ray Van Neste writes on the sad and sinful practice of pastoral plagiarism.
I blogged on plagiarizing in the pulpit last year. Over the past few years, I've had to confront some pastors regarding this sin of theft, as well as counsel those sitting under the ministry of plagiarizing pastors. It's dificult to do, but must be done. May God grant grace and repentance to these brothers.
I blogged on plagiarizing in the pulpit last year. Over the past few years, I've had to confront some pastors regarding this sin of theft, as well as counsel those sitting under the ministry of plagiarizing pastors. It's dificult to do, but must be done. May God grant grace and repentance to these brothers.
posted by JT at Wednesday, March 22, 2006
17 Comments:
Yes, The subculture suffers from So many echoes and so few voices.
It is really sad to hear that this out and out stealing is still a problem. One of the unique aspects of the ministry of the word is that it is delivered through a human person who is different from every other human person. When I was called to pastor a parish, God called me with all my gifts, skills and faluts to be the pastor/teacher, not Bob, John, Mary, or Bill. When we preach a sermon that is not ours we take away a part of the reason that we responed to his calling to minister to this group of saints.
I think many times, most pastors do not spend enough time in the word. Were all my sermons great? Not by a long shot. But, they were what I sensed, from my study of scripture, what God wanted me to say to the people of God who responed to God's calling on my life, by selecting me to be their pastor.
If all we need to do is restate another pastors sermon, then lets go right to the source and just paly a tape recored message from the poplualr preachers past and present.
Sadly, there is a group of pastors in my area that meet regularly to distribute copies of message to one another, many of them have been taken from pastors.com. These men then preach these messages as their own to their congregations. Some of these men are pastors of the fastest growing churches in our area. It is pathetic to think of the trust that the congregations put in these men to deliver God's word to them, only to be cheated week after week.
There is no integrity in preaching another man's words as your very own. I wonder how many from within these congregations would continue to be a part of those churches if they knew just where their pastors are getting their "home run" sermons each week.
It seems that Steve Sjogren article referenced in Ray Van Neste's blog has been pulled off of www.pastors.com. I tried to find a copy somewhere else but could not.
Anyone save it or know where to find it??
Thanks,
Jeff
We should plagiarize God's thoughts in our sermons; not man's.
I saved the content of the article:
Don't Be Original - be effective!
By Steve Sjogren
There has been much talk in recent years on blogs and Web sites about how much of other people's sermons is appropriate to incorporate into your own messages. When does it get to the point of "plagiarism"? A friend of mine in Cincinnati was recently dismissed by his church's board of trustees because of this. As I predicted to that board of trustees, the size of that thriving church has been cut in half, the momentum they had been experiencing has gone away, and they are in big financial trouble. What a needless waste of God's momentum that had been resting upon them.
At a seminar, Dr. Cho, pastor of the world's largest church in Korea, was asked during a question and answer time, "How do you put your weekly messages together? They are so powerful!" He said, "Honestly, I have never given an original message in all my years of ministry here at Yoido Church. Each week, I preach word-for-word messages from either Billy Graham or W.A. Criswell from Dallas First Baptist Church. I can't afford to not have a home run each weekend when we gather. I don't trust my own ability to give completely original messages." Wow!
I regularly read the blogs of my favorite communicators from influential churches around the United States. Without mentioning their names in this article, they are young guys who are well-known to everyone reading this piece. They are all authors. They all have very large churches.
Each of these pastors has recently come out on their blogging sites and admitted, curiously, the same thing. They get approximately 70 percent of their messages each week from other people – word for word according to them. They fill in their own personal illustrations and stories, of course. Two of the guys that I am thinking of as I write this have churches of more than 10,000 in attendance each weekend.
We need to get over the idea that we have to be completely original with our messages, each and every week. In my mind there is a tremendous amount of pride (let's call it what it is) when we insist on being completely original as communicators. In our desire to give "killer messages" we are dishing out something far less. Think about it for a second: If you really were giving a killer message each week, would your church be the size that it is right now? Maybe you need to be open to doing things a different way.
After listening to tens of thousands of messages over the last 30-plus years as a leader, I have come to the conclusion that there are probably only a handful of truly unique communicators in a given generation. And those communicators are almost always the kinds of messengers who speak to already-believers, not the kind who can connect with not-yet believers.
What is a leader to do?
First of all, stop all of this nonsense of spending 25 or 30 hours a week preparing to speak on the weekend. The guys I draw encouragement from – the best communicators in the United States – confess they spend a total of about 15 hours preparing for their message. As I have already said, they get 70 percent of their material from someone else. Remember, Solomon wrote that "there is nothing new under the sun ..."
Borrow creatively from others in the Church world. Some are easier to relate to than others. The one guy who is the most borrowed from in the United States is, no doubt, Rick Warren. Warren's famous line is "If my bullet fits your gun, then shoot it!" By the way, who does Warren borrow from? He says that he listens to three or so preaching tapes a day! So who knows where he gets his stuff!
I can tell you from experience that many authors have lifted things – word for word – that I coined without asking for my permission. This material has gone into no less than a dozen books that have sold a lot of copies. Others have taken my unique ideas that I shared in messages, unique approaches to small groups that we used at our church in Cincinnati, or items I have written and are in print somewhere. Hear me: I DON'T CARE! There really is nothing new under the sun. God gave me the idea to begin with. I don't grasp it – I give it away freely.
Let's forget about originality – which is often a form of pride. Let's begin to focus on effectiveness, and pray that we will be powerful at connecting with not-yet believers.
A wise mentor of mine brought great liberty to me when he was coaching me in the area of how to put messages together. He said, "There once was a man who said, ‘I will be original or nothing;' in the end he became both." Dare to step out of the box. Regardless of what you have heard or been taught – hit a homerun this weekend with the help of a message master!
Well Done Steve!
It appears to me that the entire Pastors.com site is down. Once it is back up, this article may still be there. I'd be very happy if they take it down, provided they also give a retraction.
Justin,
Thanks also for the link to your previous post. I had nto seen it. The striking thing is that Sjogren argues that not using others material is due to pride! As the man you cite wrote, pride is typically the reason for plagiarizing.
slmayes, the information that you have shared concerning the group of pastors meeting in Jackson is completely false and a misrepresentation. These godly pastors gather together to encourage creativity and to discuss various passages. It is obvious that you have not taken the time to talk to anyone in the gathering of pastors.
On the topic of plagiarism, I believe it is sinful for a pastor called by God to dishonor Him by stealing a sermon, refusing to spend the time with Christ to bring His message to the congregation, and cheating the church with such laziness.
Eric,
I will repeat the same reply here that was made on Van Neste's blog:
I'm sorry that you think my information is false. But my information comes from a pastor who attended one of these meetings and withdrew because of what was taking place. These pastors were sharing printed copies of messages, many of which were purchased from pastors.com.
The radio broadcasts of the father and son preaching the same message has been confirmed to me independently by two different sources, neither of whom knows the other. I stand by the information I have posted here.
Have you read the article that Dr. Van Neste linked? The author of that article (which was posted on pastors.com) advocates doing just what these pastors have done.
The Pastors.com site is back up and the Sjogren article is still there.
Grief. I've heard examples myself, and I don't get "around" a lot. It's a good thing that there are other voices -- like Ligon Duncan's series on the "Together" blog a little while ago, or this from Al Mohler.
Did anyone else notice Sjogren's article ends with:
"©Copyright 2006. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
Eric,
Irony, sheer irony.
Eric Thomas:
You need to retract what you have said to Steve. It is you that is mistaken. The source of his information is from a pastor that once was a part of the group that you have so proudly defended. I was a witness to the exact conversation that Steve mentioned. The protocol according to this pastor was that each member of the group was to do research on a particular part of predetermined passage of Scripture and each were to bring their findings to the meeting to allow the others to use it. During this time some of the members brought sermons from www.pastors.com. It was at this time that the above mentioned pastor left. Also, this same pastor apparently irritated the member who was responsible for translating the text from Greek. It just so happens this particular member had a doctorate specializing in Greek, and didn't care for being corrected, even when it was obvious that the good doctor was wrong.
Mr. Deacon,
I appreciate that you and Mr. Mayes are repeating what your pastor-friend told you. I, however, am not merely repeating what someone else said. I am reporting personal, first-hand, eyewitness experience.
Further, I am not attempting to make a point on a blog or two by denigrating another pastor with second-hand information. It simply lacks integrity.
And allow me to repeat, once again, that those whom God has called to preach He has also has called to prepare the message through diligence and disciplined work in the study.
Blessings!
Eric,
You said that my information was "completely false and a misrepresentation." Deacon and I are reporting what a pastor who had been involved in those meetings actually saw. You seem to indicate that you have first hand experience in these meetings of pastors who actually met in the Jackson, MS area. Is that the case? If so, seeing as how these pastors have not been named, how can we be sure that you sat in on the same meetings that this pastor did?
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