{"id":978,"date":"2009-03-02T14:05:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T14:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/little-man-of-god-preaching-tips-from-an-11-year-old.html"},"modified":"2009-03-02T14:05:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T14:05:00","slug":"little-man-of-god-preaching-tips-from-an-11-year-old","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/little-man-of-god-preaching-tips-from-an-11-year-old.html","title":{"rendered":"“Little Man of God”: Preaching tips from an 11-year-old"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has qualms about climbing into the pulpit to preach might want to take a page from this tyke<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The first time Terry Durham preached, he was not in front of a group of people or even inside a church. He was in the bathroom of his grandmother\u2019s home in Fort Lauderdale, delivering his first sermon surrounded by toothbrushes, soap and towels. He was 6 years old.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Five years later, Terry is an ordained minister who preaches almost every Sunday at True Gospel Deliverance Ministry, a 20-seat nondenominational storefront church that his grandmother founded in 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey say, \u2018How can you be a preacher when you\u2019re so young?\u2019 \u201d said Terry, now 11. \u201cBut when they listen to me, they\u2019re shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGod just put his Spirit upon me,\u201d said Terry, who wore a baby blue suit with matching snakeskin shoes, the kind of outfit he usually wears on Sundays. \u201cHe said, \u2018I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.\u2019 But he didn\u2019t say how old you had to be or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the week, Terry attends fifth grade at Liberty Elementary School, plays Uno with his friends and attends choir practice. Terry, who said he earns A\u2019s and B\u2019s in school, reads the Bible every day in addition to studying theology through classes offered by an online university.<\/p>\n

But Terry said he was happiest when preaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m in the pulpit, it\u2019s like something turns over me,\u201d he said, \u201cand I just turn into a man of God. And when I\u2019m out of the pulpit, I just turn into a speechless kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry sat in a living room decorated with three posters of him in his Sunday clothes and bearing the words \u201cLittle Man of God.\u201d Sitting on a large red and gold couch, he tapped his shoes against the floor and explained how he prepared for his sermons.<\/p>\n

He does not write anything down, he said. He simply reads the Bible the day before the service and waits for the Spirit to move him. \u201cI don\u2019t plan to say those things,\u201d he said, \u201cbut when God gives them to me, I say them right away to be obedient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turning the pulpit over to a youthful minister like Terry is not unusual in black churches not overseen by a central body, said Prof. Christine Gudorf, chairwoman of the religion department at Florida International University.<\/p>\n

In these churches, she said, age is not an issue, and seminary training is not necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s God who chooses the minister, and the Holy Spirit gives charismatic gifts, especially gifts of preaching,\u201d Professor Gudorf said. \u201cThe community recognizes that gift and confirms the person in a ministerial role.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can read more at the Times link<\/a>.<\/p>\n

PHOTO:<\/span><\/b> <\/span>by Oscar Durand for The New York Times<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone who has qualms about climbing into the pulpit to preach might want to take a page from this tyke: The first time Terry Durham preached, he was not in front of a group of people or even inside a church. He was in the bathroom of his grandmother\u2019s home in Fort Lauderdale, delivering his…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-art-of-preaching"],"yoast_head":"\n"Little Man of God": Preaching tips from an 11-year-old - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2009\/03\/little-man-of-god-preaching-tips-from-an-11-year-old.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Little Man of God": Preaching tips from an 11-year-old - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Anyone who has qualms about climbing into the pulpit to preach might want to take a page from this tyke: The first time Terry Durham preached, he was not in front of a group of people or even inside a church. 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