Preachers have beautiful feet. You read that correctly. Before your thoughts turn to hammer toes and plantar warts, consider this: Scripture agrees with me. Paul quoted Isaiah to the church in Rome, “As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15)
He was talking about preachers. In the verse just before his podiatric metaphor Paul wrote, “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14–15)
Paul was thinking specifically of his Jewish brothers and sisters in this text. Despite his calling as the Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul began the chapter declaring “my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.”
The Evangelical Imperative for Preaching
God’s heart still breaks for the lost. Even though some think preaching is foolish business (1 Corinthians 1:18–21), God still wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). How does God do that? Through preaching.
Charles Spurgeon, one of England’s greatest preachers, credited a sermon he heard on Isaiah 45:22—“Young man, look to Jesus Christ”—for becoming a Christian when he was 15 years old.
Louis Zamperini was a hero and World War II prisoner of war. In 1949 he attended a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles where Graham’s sermon on forgiveness and salvation led him to surrender his life to Christ. He went on to forgive and reconcile with his former captors and became an evangelist himself.
Johnny Cash was addicted to pills and booze and even though he grew up in a Christian family had walked away from God. It was gospel preaching that led him to rededicate his life and shape his public witness as a Christian artist.
Introducing the Better Preaching Podcast
God loves the lost—and preaching leads them home. That’s why we began the Better Preaching Podcast. Better preaching helps more people find the God who loves them.
The Better Preaching Podcast is founded on four assumptions:
- Preaching matters – God uses preaching to change lives. (Romans 10:14–15)
- Better preaching – One can become a better preacher. (2 Timothy 2:15; 4:1–3)
- We’re better together – Learning from the past leads to the future. (Jeremiah 6:16)
- Great sermons are timeless. (Psalm 119:1–5)
My Story
It was a long list of preachers who changed my life. I learned about Jesus from my father, Larry Weller. He became a Christian because of the preaching and witness of a minister named Jim Platner. Jim became a Christian through the influence of preachers like Hank McAdams.
I’m not only a preacher because of this spiritual ancestry, but I am a better preacher because of the example of preachers like Dr. Gary Carpenter, Bob Russell, and many others.
Lost people matter. So preach like it.
The Better Preaching Podcast can help.
