Donn is always so gracious and thoughtful concerning this ole’ man. I don’t want to “fuss at him for mentioning my health,” as he supposed I would. Rather, I want to thank him, and continue to ask for your prayers. Growing old (now 81) has problems, but it also has compensations. Just think—I don’t have to travel to get my message out to you wherever you are. I don’t have to even make any more tapes, though, if I get better—which is possible—I may want to do so. There is already more on tape that we have which is not currently available. One series has to do with preaching. I hope that it is the sort of course that many of you will want to take when it does become available. I think it could be quite helpful. After all, I have been known for teaching counseling, obviously, but not for teaching preaching. Yet, in actual class hours at two seminaries where I taught, the bulk of my instruction was in preaching. Because I thoroughly believe that you can’t rightly separate the one from the other, I have made this series on video, and hope that someday we may have the resources to put it out there as well as our counseling materials.
While I counseled ten hours a day for two days a week for several years, I also pastored churches in which I preached regularly and spent much time thinking about preaching. I also designed and headed a doctoral program in preaching at Westminster Seminary in California, and the lectures that are on tape are part of what was used in that program, though in a somewhat modified and simplified form. At the moment we do not have the resources to make them available to the public, but we hope that someone will eventually make it possible to provide them.
So—fuss at Donn? Far from it. I thank him for the opportunity to discuss these matters and to request your prayers.
Blessings,
Jay