This is the on preaching podcast with H.B. Charles Jr.

The podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.

Good day and thanks for listening to the podcast.

In this episode, I want to talk to you about preaching as a pastoral candidate.

This past weekend was Memorial Day weekend 2020.

Memorial Day weekend is a kind of anniversary of sorts for me.

2008 Memorial Day weekend marked the first time that I preached in the pulpit of the Shiloh

Metropolitan Baptist Church. I was originally invited to preach as a guest to fill the pulpit on that

Sunday morning. I think they had a series of guests to fill in on Sundays concerned about

maintaining the congregation through what they expected to be an extended period without a pastor.

By the time that weekend arrived, I was asked to be considered as a candidate for the pastoral opening.

I don't think this was a serious matter to the team here. I really think by that point,

by the time I was scheduled to come preach, the church was tired of hearing guest preachers

who were not, you know, really being considered as pastor, and they, they really wanted to hear

candidates to find them their next pastor. And so I, I agreed to allow my name to be submitted

as a pastoral candidate or presented to the church as such. I don't think the board,

a group, or committee here took that seriously. and I didn't take it seriously as well.

But that weekend I preached and as I flew home that Sunday night little did I know that God was up to something.

And a couple of months later I was at the end of July, to be specific, of 2008, I was called and

selected and voted to be the new, the next pastor of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church

here in Jacksonville, Florida. And so Memorial Day weekend is always a precious weekend to me,

because it reminds me of that weekend when

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