I was thirteen years old when my family first visited Good News Baptist Church. The Army had just moved us to Virginia and we were trying to determine what church to join. I remember a couple of things about that first visit. I remember how friendly the people were. We were welcomed warmly almost as soon as we walked in. I also remember how big the church felt. There were a couple hundred people there and my family was used to churches of a few dozen.
One thing that didn’t stick out to me too much on that first visit was the preacher. I don’t mean that in a bad way. There wasn’t anything wrong with him. He was a kind man with white hair. He had a pleasant voice and his preaching was good, but there wasn’t anything especially flashy or unique about how he carried himself or how he preached.
It was a good church. We visited a few more times and pretty soon my parents decided that we would join. Good News Baptist Church has been an important part of my life ever since.
In my junior high and high school years, week after week, I sat with my family in the church auditorium. I sang lots of hymns and listened to lots of sermons, most of them preached by Walt Coles, that nice, white-haired pastor of the church. Week after week, Sunday after Sunday, his preaching was very similar. Whether he was preaching through a book of the Bible or expounding on a certain topic, he preached straightforward, Bible-packed sermons. He had a way, when he preached, of taking you by hand and walking you through a Scripture passage, teaching as he went.
It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was consistent, and I learned a lot. Like most young people, I got more excited about having a guest preacher in than hearing another sermon from Pastor Coles. I didn’t think much about what impact his preaching had on me at the time.
It’s funny how, sometimes, you don’t realize the most profound things about your own life until years later. But as the years have passed, I’ve begun to realize how much I owe to the simple, consistent, Bible teaching that Pastor Coles gave us week after week.
Most kids don’t really appreciate the influence of their parents. Most young people don’t appreciate the impact of their pastors. But time brings perspective. And Pastor Coles’s preaching played a big role in laying a strong Biblical foundation for my life that prepared me for all I would learn in Bible College and beyond.
I can’t pinpoint a specific Sunday or a sermon series that transformed my life. It wasn’t that. It was the sum of all the parts. It was the accumulation of many Sundays and many sermons. It was the ordinary preaching ministry of an ordinary pastor.
He just faithfully preached the Bible, and because of that, I owe a lot to Pastor Coles.
On the last Sunday of 2024, I found myself wanting to find a way to put my appreciation into words. We were saying goodbye to Pastor Coles and his wife. He retired over a decade ago, but now they are moving away from Virginia. There was lunch at the church that day and people had the chance to get up and say a few words of thanks. I knew that I wanted to say something, to somehow express my gratitude—but I didn’t know what to say. My heart was full, but the words just weren’t coming together. How do you say thank you for something so simple and yet so profound?
I’m an assistant pastor at Good News Baptist Church now. I get the chance regularly to preach from the same pulpit from which Pastor Coles preached so many of those sermons. Sometimes, as I prepare a sermon, I find myself longing to preach a single message that has a profound impact on people’s lives. I want to preach a message that transforms people’s thinking and changes them forever. I want to preach a sermon that people will talk about for years to come.
We live in an age of prominent preachers and famous sermons. Certain preachers are well-known for their skill in preaching the Bible. Some of them are known for certain sermons they have preached and continue to preach. We value oratorical skills and clever turns of phrase in the pulpit.
There’s nothing inherently wrong in any of that. I’d be the first to say I appreciate someone who takes preaching seriously and tries to do it well…
But just because a preacher looks good on YouTube doesn’t mean he’s making a difference. Well-crafted sermons and colorful oratory are not going to change the world. People’s lives are not transformed by good public speaking. It’s a healthy diet of God’s Word that makes the difference.
The Apostle Paul understood that. For someone who expresses himself so skillfully in his letters, Paul recognized that clever prose was not the power behind his ministry. He told the Christians in Corinth,
“…I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified… And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:” (1 Corinthians 2:1-4)
Paul recognized that simple words focused on Jesus Christ and empowered by the Spirit of God would make the difference. Not clever words, but a clear proclamation of God’s words.
When I wanted to share something to express my gratitude for Pastor Coles and his ministry, I thought of those verses in 1 Corinthians 2. Pastor Coles studied hard and worked hard to prepare well-crafted sermons. He expressed himself clearly and gave care to how he said what he said. But when I think of his preaching, I don’t think first about “excellency of speech” or “enticing words”.
That might sound like an insult. I certainly don’t intend it that way. It was clear that Pastor Coles loved the Bible. His preaching was first of all marked by submission to God’s Word and a desire to lift up Jesus Christ.
Paul said that he preached the way he preached “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:5)
Paul’s ministry resulted, not in people who worshipped Paul, but in people who had faith in God. And I think that was also the result of Pastor Coles’s ministry. He helped lives be built, not on earthly wisdom, but on the Word of God and the power of God.
That’s what matters.
To say something clever that impresses people with your insight is one thing. But to faithfully preach the Word of God multiple times a week for decades—that’s something else entirely.
Oratorical brilliance tends to draw attention to the skills of a man. Faithful exposition of God’s Word tends to draw attention to the trustworthiness of God.
If you preach or teach, which one are you aiming for? As you listen, which one are you hungry for? May God give us more preachers like Pastor Coles—men who are willing to be just another faithful preacher.
Exempla 