Thanksgiving for Preaching Lab
From February to November 2021, we had a class—Preaching Lab—where a group of ~20 brothers came together to be equipped for the ministry of the Word. We hear from them what they have learnt, how they have benefited and what they were thankful for.
One thing that I have been hearing frequently as the thanksgiving of our members is the number of men and women in our church who are able to teach others. By God's grace, not only have we been able to supply teachers and preachers for our own pulpit and camps, we have also been able to help other churches who are currently in need of teachers and preachers.
We thank our leaders who have been deliberate about training the members of the church who are identified to have been gifted and proactively exercising their possible gifting. Last year, we gathered around 20 or so brothers from our church and ACTS Baptist Church to be equipped on how to handle God's Word for teaching and preaching in a class called Preaching Lab.
These brothers are:
Beh Soo Hee
Hewlett Chew
Matthew Choo
Samuel Ho
Yanadi Tan Ivory
Lam Lup Meng
Kagen Lim
Lim Seng Guan
Joshua Lowe
Mok Chuan-Xin
Marcus Ng
Ngo Thian Chye
Kenneth Poon
Andrew Sung
Bryan Tan
Tan Chong Tien
Jonathan Tan
Andrew Wong
Yeap Keng Teck
Victor Chan (ACTS Baptist Church)
Roy Lam (ACTS Baptist Church)
In the ten sessions, Ps Eugene and Ps Oliver taught from several books and from their own experiences:
Overview of biblical preaching
Framework for approaching the biblical text
Sermon evaluation
Understanding the Bible (Biblical Theology)
The three horizons
Applying the Bible
Sermon preparation
Besides the teaching, the participants also had the opportunities to prepare and deliver their 5-minute outline summaries as well as 12-minute sermonettes. From such a safe environment to practise, they were able to give and receive constructive feedback for their summaries and sermonettes. Beyond that, they have also developed friendship and brotherhood where they can share and consult their teaching preparation in the future, knowing that they will receive edifying help.
We are thankful for the gifts of pastor-teachers that God has provided for us. Do encourage them to exercise their gifting when you meet any of them.