Steven Smith (1968–)

As I shared in my other review, Dr. Steven W. Smith quickly became one of my favorite faces to see at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and was always a joy to hear preach during Southwestern’s chapel worship services. I always found his sermons refreshing and edifying, and his delivery always seemed near impeccable. As it was with Recapturing the Voice of God: Shaping Sermons Like Scripture, it has been a joy to have his other work, Dying to Preach: Embracing the CROSS in the PULPIT assigned for a couple of my classes now and a joy to write a review of it leading up to a preaching conference at SWBTS. It seems as though his thesis sets out to explore the need for our message to reflect or affect the way we preach our sermons. In other words, those aiming to preach about a crucified Christ should be preaching in a crucified style, yet it really seems to come down to almost an absence of personal style, but more along the lines of his preface:

If the cross is God's chosen means of salvation, why is it not also our means of communication? If God saved through the cross, can we not preach through the cross? If the cross was God's means, why is it not ours…Must not a message of death to life be communicated from a preacher who dies so that others might live? (13)

That would immediately take me back to the old quote, “Preaching as a dying man to dying men,” because Dr. Smith notes, “A cross from the pulpit logically means a cross in the pulpit. So every preacher dying to preach must die to preach” (13). Dying to Preach is not for the faint of heart, but a call to make our pulpits our crosses and reflect the nature of our texts as we preach.

Biographical Sketch of the Author
Dr. Smith recently left his position as the vice president for Student Services and Communications and professor of Preaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to return to the pulpit at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, an established church with a storied history of faithful expositors of the Word. He held his position at Southwestern from 2003 until his resignation, teaching many preaching courses and serving as the Associate Dean for the Professional Doctoral Programs and as Dean of the College. He earned a B.S. in Communications from Liberty University, an M.Div from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Communication from Regent University, and has also authored a book entitled, Recapturing the Voice of God: Shaping Sermons Like Scripture, which is also one of the assigned books for this class. Having heard him preach and had the privilege of sitting under his dynamic teaching and with the experience he has had of preaching faithfully for many years, I believe Dr. Smith has much to offer young, aspiring preachers like myself.

Summary of Contents
Dr. Smith begins the call to embrace the cross in the pulpit by affording a few chapters to Paul’s ministry, particularly by exegeting first and second Corinthians. Here you will find a robust defense from many, many verses from Corinthians as he reveals a few important reminders, all alliterated like a true Southern Baptist; Ignite (preaching the cross of Christ), invite (sharing the sufferings of Christ, identify (bearing the reproach of Christ), and imitate (communicating the example of Christ). Many of these verses are laid out in a table for ease of reference in his defense of his positions.

As you make your way through some of the implications of igniting, inviting, identifying, and imitating in the proceeding chapters, he suggests faithful preachers that die to themselves so that others may live from their pulpit ministry will surrender to their text, their audience, and to the task of preaching.
The last point, made by the question, “Is it Biblical to want to preach good sermons?” is answered thusly:
We must become better in our preaching because God uses good preaching. With all the liabilities we have mentioned, with all of the red flags about style over substance, with all the warnings about a self-centered pulpit, we must commit ourselves to becoming good preachers. So with eight chapters of warning against letting the good of decent preaching rob people of the best of seeing Christ in the text, let me stop and scream, “Strive for good preaching” (156).

Which he takes right back to the cross of Christ on page 157, “Christ expended everything on the cross, because leaving anything undone would not have accomplished God's will.” In other words, the answer to that question is, “Yes!”

Dying to Preach contains three parts broken up into nine chapters before concluding with a very encouraging, yet convicting summary on bearing the cross in the pulpit. The second unit, on the “Four Implications of the Cross in the Pulpit”, seems to be the most robust section of his work and one that required a few readings to make sure I understood his points. For example, “Paul is suggesting a horrific, criminal irony: the means of preaching displaces the message of preaching (74)” and “Death is in the pew because few are willing to die in the pulpit (88).” Great, quotable lines, but one would really need to read through them a bit a few times to understand the implications he is making from the example of Paul.

Personal Interaction
I have been preaching from a manuscript since before I learned how to preach. Honestly, the only times I have not done so have been when I was required to do so for my preaching courses at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary or when out street preaching in downtown Bandera. It is uncomfortable to me to have much less than a skeleton outline, but I was reminded again of its importance, especially since he put to rest the example I often gave from Jonathan Edwards! I might not be ready to change – yet – but it did give me much text to highlight and I plan to go back to it later, especially as I prepare for a new start in a new church in New Mexico, Lord willing. In a sense, it gives me an excuse to try something new and step out of my comfort zone with folks that will need to get used to me anyway.

As I mentioned in my summary, from the table to references of his references from Corinthians was very helpful and I found myself taking many of them to my own Bible and looking them up in the context. In fact, that opportunity was afforded to me many times, especially when he quoted other verses. I was not necessarily feeling the need to look them up to disagree with them, but they gave the book and even more helpful aid in my preaching ministry, to see his points right on the pages of the Scriptures. For this, I wholeheartedly commend him.

I honestly do not find any reasons to critique this book, nor did I find nearly as many editing issues as Recapturing the Voice of God, so perhaps the most helpful quotes I found from Dying to Preach will frame this book for potential purchasers. Quotes like “The death to self that is demanded of the preacher works life in his people. In this way, the preacher becomes like Christ, who died so that we might live. If we do not die, they do not live (18)” and “We are redeemed rebels who are calling other rebels to be redeemed. We are no longer managing our image. No. We have thrown off our robes and are taking the long walk outside the city. We are looking up at the thrashed corpse and taking a stand-this is who we are! We are cross bearers because we are cross lovers (98).” Those hit home and encapsulate what I love about Dying to Preach. Dr. Smith uses vivid words throughout every one of the 175 pages to drive home the thesis he set out to defend as he explored the need for our message to reflect or affect the way we preach our sermons.

Conclusion
Thus, I ask, is this worth being on a pastor’s bookshelf? While there are probably no examples of must-read books, Dying to Preach comes mighty close. The reader may find many things with which they agree or disagree, but he would surely find a clear, concise, and clarion call to reflect the texts of our sermons with the way we preach them; to live a crucified life with Paul, with Jesus, and with the many faithful preachers we have come to love that was “willing to die in the pulpit (88).” Therefore, not only do I think Dr. Smith defended his thesis and was successful in what he had set out to do, but this was also a captivating read worth the consideration of any preacher, young or old, as they continue the work to preach the Word. If they will heed the words of his book, especially his third unit on our surrendering to Christ in the task of preaching, I wholeheartedly believe they will fan the flames of the fire in their bones and light fires in their congregations, and I believe Dr. Smith would note that to be done unto the glory of God alone. This book is much more about how we should think about our preaching than how we preach, unlike Recapturing the Voice of God, but if we get our minds right, our studies will follow, and so too will our pulpit ministries!… (mere)