This week we continue in the book of Acts, and I am in the middle of preparing Sunday’s sermon. Over the summer, I took more breaks from the pulpit than I have in almost a decade at CBC (outside of a sabbatical). A number have noticed, and asked why that is. It’s a good question! I might write a longer piece at some point, but I wanted to briefly give a few reasons off the top of my head. First, we have a Scriptural mandate to equip the saints for the work of ministry. In my mind, this means that in every area of ministry, and on every ministry team and committee, there should be an active push to raise up the next ministers and servants. Healthy ministry continually seeks to replace (or reproduce) itself, and that includes pulpit ministry. (As an aside, how is your area of ministry doing in this regard?) If we had other contexts in the church in which men could practice preaching before the congregation, that would be wonderful. But as it stands now, Sunday is really the only context for that to take place. Mark Dever talks about building a “deep bench” of pastors and preachers, and we ought to do just that. Second, it is good for me to sit under the preaching of others. It not only gives me a break and rest (which was needed this summer to work on a number of other areas of pastoral ministry), but it also refreshes me and helps me sharpen my own preaching ministry as I learn from others. And I believe every pastor needs to learn to sit under the preaching of others, and learn to sit himself under the Word of God as communicated by someone other than himself. (I’ll admit it’s not always easy for me to not be in the pulpit!) Third, it is good for the church to sit under the preaching of others. True, not every preacher is as gifted as another, and we want to give more opportunities to those whom the Lord seems to use especially in this kind of ministry. But no matter the giftedness, and assuming the preaching is faithful to Scriptures, it’s good for us all to learn that we do not sit under any particular person, but rather sit under the Word of God itself. I’m thankful we have a number of faithful servants in this regard. I pray for more. And I’m now excited to be back in the pulpit more regularly in the months ahead!