I'll never forget hearing the news a few years ago about a lead pastor of a mega-church in Charlotte, NC resigning from his position after an admission that he had spent two years plagiarizing sermons. The pastor admitted that he had been deeply depressed and felt that he had nothing original or creative to offer so he resorted to downloading sermons from other church leaders ... [read more]((my guest post on RobShep.com))
Labels: Church, Creative, Issues, Leadership, Videos
There's a fine line between "borrowing" and "plagiarizing," and I'm glad you talked about turning to others for inspiration and exchanging ideas. I have all of my sermons uploaded to sermoncentral.com and occasionally get an e-mail from a pastor out there who asks permission to use my stuff. One guy even told me he would put my name on the notes page he passed out to his congregation!
I appreciate these guys' sincerity, but my response to all these inquiries is to use whatever of mind they want and not to give me any credit. We need each other. And if anything I have put out there can help a fellow minister or layperson communicate the Gospel more effectively and possibly lead people to Christ, how could I possibly be upset over that? I tell these guys, "Use anything you want, don't give me credit, and we'll rejoice together in Heaven with the people who were saved because we didn't care who got the credit."
Rick Warren says that "The pastor who wants to be original or nothing...is both." Truth.
Stephen, there is a fine line, for sure. It's encouraging to me to hear your heart for ministry, but I must say, not everyone feels the way you do. There are many leaders who don't mind sharing, but want their works cited. I think its important (and right) to honor their request.
I'm ALL about a Kingdom community though -- sharing, exchanging, resourcing. I've certainly tried to do that in my ministry and I hope to see a day when the "Church" is more unified in that way.
//TC//
Thanks for the guest post!
dear tc,
this is emily from sbux. why does it sound like robots are stomping with apocalyptic music in the background? it's scary. i'm scared. see you at work!
-emily
@Emily - haha. That soundtrack is for you, Emily. =) JK. It's actually the must-see video firing in a prior post. Check it out.
//TC//