"A NOTE ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF SERMONS"

Andy Naselli of the Gospel Coalition shares the statement against plagiarism that was originally designed by the leadership of TGC and originally posted on their resources page.

I believe this statement adequately summarizes the ultimate effect of a plagiarizing pastor: "...your ministry will sooner or later, and deservedly, become sterile."

It also adds wise counsel for how to prevent the temptation to plagiarize: "Listen to many sermons, not just one or two. You will be far less likely to steal..."

You can read the rest of Naselli's post HERE.

A NOTE ON THE USE AND ABUSE OF SERMONS

The instant availability of thousands of expository sermons and addresses prompts us to reflect a little on how they should not be used, and how they should be used.

To take the latter first: many of our Council members avidly read the sermons of others, or, increasingly commonly, listen to them while they are driving or walking or jogging. Good preaching not only opens up texts, but helps us learn how others tackle the challenge of structure, apply Scripture to their particular congregations, relate their texts to the central themes of God and the gospel, and much more. We soon sense their urgency and God-given unction. We are sent back to the study and to our knees to become better workers who do not need to be ashamed of the way we handle the word of truth.

The bad way to listen to the sermons of others is to select one such sermon on the topic or passage you have chosen and then simply steal it, passing it off as if it is your own work. This is, quite frankly, theft, and thieves, Paul tells us, will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:10). Yet in some ways that is not the most serious aspect of this form of plagiarism. Rather, it is the deep damage you are doing to yourself and others by not studying the Bible for yourself. Ministers of the gospel are supported by their congregations so they will give themselves to the ministry of the Word and prayer. That demands rigorous study. A faithful minister of the gospel is never merely a biological tape recorder or CD, thoughtlessly parroting what someone else learned, thought through, prayed over, and recorded. Indulge in this exercise and before long you will starve your own soul—and, no matter how good the sermons you steal, your ministry will sooner or later, and deservedly, become sterile, for the stamp of inauthenticity will be all over you.

One helpful suggestion: Listen to many sermons, not just one or two. You will be far less likely to steal, and far more likely to be stimulated and helped, if you listen to five or ten sermons than if you listen to one.

 Additional HT to Justin Taylor.

Doug Goothuis on Technological Temptations Pastors Face

Dr. Doug Groothuis of Denver Seminary wrote an excellent article a few years ago entitled, Keeping Integrity in a Compromised World: Resisting Two Technological Temptations. The article was originally published in Denver Seminary Magazine (Fall, 2007).

Dr. Groothuis outlines two tempations faced by pastors. The first temptation is neglecting scripture memorization by relying on Bible software and digital technology. The second temptation is neglecting sermon preparation by downloading and lifting other people's sermons word-for-word without crediting the original author. the second temptation is ovbiously the one most relevant to our website. I've excerpted the relevant part below, but you may read the entire article HERE.

The renowned preacher Phillip Brooks astutely wrote that “preaching is truth through personality.” More than that, Christian ministry as a whole should be the demonstration of truth through personality. As followers of the Truth Incarnate (John 14:6), we should radiate God’s truth through a godly personality, one full of Christian virtues, such as faith, hope, and love. We should “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We should live out Christian integrity, a personal wholeness of holy purpose, and refuse to use devious or improper methods (2 Corinthians 1:12). But keeping our integrity in a compromised world brings its challenges...

The contemporary scene offers a host of counterfeits in the ways of ministry and Christian living in general. I will focus on only ways areas in which pastors and other Christian workers may be seduced by the spirit of the age instead of relying on the Spirit of God: relying on Bible factoids instead of possessing a deep knowledge of Scripture, and sermon stealing...

Temptation #2: Although I lament it, some preachers are sinning against God in their methods of sermon preparation. From what I can gather, this may be fairly widespread. This, too, is encouraged by an irresponsible use of computer technologies; and it robs preachers of their integrity before God and their congregations. A recent article in The Wall Street Journal noted that various web pages are offering word-for-word transcripts of sermons by well-known preachers to those who desire to produce successful sermons. Instead of putting in the study time, prayerfully laboring to forge a godly message through the prism of one’s own character, some claim it’s better to acquire material from sermons that are “road tested.” One pastor said, “If you got something that’s a good product, why go out and beat your head against the wall and try to come up with it yourself?”[4]

There is nothing wrong with learning from others and incorporating their insights into one’s sermons. The Internet provides some solid resources for this, if one knows where to look. Some in the two-thirds world—who have very limited access to study tools that those in the United States take for granted—are helped by getting basic sermon outlines online. Nevertheless, we are commanded by God not to steal (Exodus 20:15). Lifting other people's sermons word-for-word without crediting the source is intellectual theft. It also commits the deadly sin of sloth (or acedia), since the one who takes other people’s sermons is not bothering to study out the material for him or herself.[5] By so doing, pastors lose their integrity and their divine authorization...

W.E. Sangster on Pulpit Plagiarism

"Plagiarism is a nasty sin. It would be nasty in anybody, but it is doubly nasty in a preacher. What kind of ethical sensitivity has a man who takes somebody else's work and passes it off as his own? From a man set apart to divide the word of truth it is dishonorable indeed.

The heartiness of our condemnation makes it necessary, however, to be plain what we mean by "plagiarism." A man is clearly no plagiarist (literally, abductor, kidnapper) who takes a sermon and tells his congregation from whose volume he has taken it. No congregation of author would resent that on rare occasions, especially if the sermon expounded some difficult theme, and the preacher felt unequal to the subject himself. Nor is a man a plagiarist who seeks stimulation for his mind from the work of other men. In that sense of the word Shakespeare would be a plagiarist. So many of his stories are borrowed; the lustrous garments are all his own. To cut a piece of cloth off another man's roll is not, I think, a sin in literature of homiletics, but to steal the suit that he has made and parade it as one's own is plain theft. The robber might as well have put his hand in our pocket and taken our purse.

Years ago I was on holiday at Tighnabruaich in the lovely Kyles of Bute. I went to worship on the Sunday evening and sat under the ministrations of a visiting preacher. When he announced his text, I was arrested at once, having preached on the same text myself two or three weeks before. I was still more arrested when he began with a flat contradiction of the text -- as I began myself. Word for word my sermon came out out -- just as it had appeared in a verbatim report from a religious journal which had published it without permission. The central illustration was a personal experience of mine. He gave it as his own. My children sitting beside me in the pew remembered the sermon and looked at me in astonishment. I blushed for the cloth. If I had been preaching in the pulpit a week later and had repeated my sermon, I should have been suspected of plagiarism.

But that salutary experience taught me something else. Nobody can steal like that and really make it his own. The whole thing lacked a certain conviction. It wasn't his! The experience he was describing had not been beaten out in his own life, and he said things I had learned in sorrow as though he was mildly inquiring of someone's cold in the head. On his lips that message did not do the work it was made to do. He was not behind it. If there were no ethics involved in plagiarism, it would still be a thing to avoid. One secret of power in preaching is to know the truth of what you are saying and believe it utterly. There are senses in which everyone can say with Paul, "my gospel," for there is something of himself in every message the preacher honestly prepares. You are false, and you feel false, when you steal another man's message and offer it as your own."

W.E. Sangster, The Craft of Sermon Construction, pp. 199-201

Wretched Radio on Pulpit Plagiarism

Back in the Spring of 2009 an example of Pulpit Plagiarism made waves around the blog-o-sphere.

Earlier that year a somewhat well-known pastor, Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch.tv, told a personal story about an experience he had at VBS as a child. A short while later a lesser-known pastor, Tadd Grandstaff, shared the exact same life experience. He got caught plagiarizing.

Now I would show you the clips, but as luck would have it, all the original sources have been removed from the Internet. But as certain Pulpit Plagiarizers should know by now, nothing ever gets completely removed from the Internet. Here are just a few of the popular blogs that covered the issue in 2009.

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In addition, Todd Friel from Wretched Radio discussed it on his podcast which includes audio from the sermons in question HERE.

Around that same time, Pirate Christian Radio covered the controversy and followed up with Grandstaff's non-apology apology. You can listen to those clips below.


February 16, 2009

February 17, 2009

Interestingly enough, this is apparently not the first time Grandstaff has been caught plagiarizing! In 2007 he wrote this blog article criticizing some of the "stupid people" who confronted him about stealing the words and ideas of other and passing them off as his own. You can read that gem HERE.

The Guardian: Polish Priests Threatened With Jail For Plagiarising Sermons

Polish Priests Threatened With Jail For Plagiarising Sermons 

Kate Connolly in Berlin 

The Guardian, Friday 25 April 2008

Poland's 28,000 Roman Catholic priests have been told by church authorities that they may be fined if they are discovered to have plagiarised their sermons from the internet, and could even face up to three years in prison.

The church has published a self-help book on writing sermons to lure parish priests away from the growing habit of stealing the words of their fellow clergy.

Father Wieslaw Przyczyna, the co-author of To Plagiarise or not to Plagiarise, told Polish media that the guide had been written to address what had become an increasingly common problem, as more churches put their sermons online and an increasing numbers of priests used the internet.

Przyczyna, a sermon expert at Krakow's Pontifical Academy of Theology, added that the book's aim was to shame culprits and prompt them to confess what they had done.

"Unfortunately the practice has become more usual than not," he said. "But if a priest takes another priest's words and presents them as his own without saying where he got them from, this is unethical and against the rules of authorship."

Responses to the self-help guide suggest that the problem also exists in other parts of the world, particularly in Britain and America, where the practice has been dubbed "pastoral plagiarism". In the US, the Rev E Glenn Wagner, a former evangelical pastor, and the Rev Robert Hamm, a former minister, resigned in 2004 after admitting to lifting sermons.

Homilists - or experts in the art of religious discourse - argue that while it might be a popular view that no sermon is necessarily based on original thought, a priest should be encouraged to convey ideas in his own words to help foster better dialogue with his congregation.

The 150-page Polish guide is being sold to priests in for £6.

The church authorities have said they will start to carry out systematic checks in an attempt to clamp down on the practice and will rely on sharp-eared parishioners to compare online texts with those in Biblioteka Kaznodziejska, a monthly magazine that publishes sermons which have been delivered from the pulpit in Poland.

Church heads are also discussing the possibility of teaching trainee priests about the concept of intellectual property.

The main culprits are said not to be older priests, who often do not have access to the internet, but their more youthful counterparts.

Young priests turn to the web when they are less than proficient at public speaking, and particularly on a Saturday night when they are panicking about having nothing to say at mass the following morning, said Przyczyna.

But Przyczyna has already faced a backlash to his anti-plagiarism crusade. He told the online Catholic News Service that he had received complaints for "harassing priests and exposing their weaknesses".

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[Additional Coverage]

Scott Gibson: Should We Use Someone Else's Sermon?: Preaching in a Cut-and-Paste World

Dr. Scott M. Gibson is a preaching professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Gibson has written a book called Should We Use Someone Else's Sermon?: Preaching in a Cut-and-Paste World.

Here is the description from the publisher:

With easy access to sermons on the Internet, plus pressure to deliver the next sermon with little time to prepare, no wonder some pastors have resorted to plagiarizing other people's sermons, passing them off as their own. 

This growing epidemic has received coverage in the Wall Street Journal, on National Public Radio, and elsewhere. Some pastors have been caught in the act and dismissed from their churches. Is this fair? Is this stealing? How can you recognize it? How can it be prevented?

This book not only helps explain the problem, but it also explores the ethical implications and gives advice on how to avoid it or deal with it if the problem surfaces in your church. It includes study questions at the end of chapters and a concluding case study.

The book is available from Zondervan.com or Amazon.com.

You can read the first chapter HERE.

South Florida Sun Sentinel on Pulpit Plagiarism

Internet Sermons Inspire Ministers To Be Creative

Some Clergy Members Even Make Website Words Their Own

September 20, 2009|By Lois K. Solomon Staff Writer

If you are giving a sermon any time soon, feel free to use one of the Rev. Harold White's.

The Baptist minister, who retired in 1999 after 47 years at the pulpit, has loaded 600 sermons he gave during his career on to his website, Angelfire.com/fl5/hleewhite/. He has 600 to go.

White, who lives in West Palm Beach but spent most of his career in McMinnville, Tenn., says his site has received more than 10 million hits. The most popular sermons are holiday-related, including those for Easter and Mother's Day.

White said he prefers that ministers not repeat the sermons verbatim, but he knows their use is out of his control once he posts them.

"It's between them and God what they preach," said White, 76. "Nobody wrote these for me. It took me a long time to realize they don't belong to me; they belong to God."

White's sermon project competes among an abundance of sermon websites that have been created in the past few years to assist ministers who need help brainstorming an eloquent Sunday message.

White's site is free, but many charge for access to their databases, including PreachingToday.com [$69.95 a year] and IFindSermons.com [$100 a year]. There also is SermonCentral.com - which sells access to 150,000 sermons, illustrations, videos and PowerPoint presentations for $119.50 a year - and specialized sites such as Sermons4Kids.com, BlackSermons.com and a site for sermons from the Episcopal church.

The Rev. Jeff Knight of First Baptist Church of Deerfield Beach subscribes to SermonCentral. He said he uses the site for help with funerals, when he must find something inspirational to say quickly.

"Funerals pop up all of a sudden, and the site gets my creative juices flowing," said Knight, 41, who has led the church for four years. "If it's on SermonCentral, you can use it as it is" and it is not considered plagiarism, he said.

Many pastors recite the online sermons word-for-word, a big mistake, said Scott Gibson, preaching professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and author of Should We Use Someone Else's Sermon? Few will admit to plagiarizing, he said, although it has become extremely common.

"Plagiarism isn't new. It's gone on for centuries," Gibson said. "The Internet makes sermons available in a different way. I want folks to use what they've been trained to do, to do their own work."

Responding to charges of plagiarism, more than 7,000 pastors have signed on to "The Preacher's Pledge," according to SermonCentral, promising to use the Bible as their main sermon source and not to copy others' work.

Gibson said the average pastor spends about 15 hours a week on sermons, seeking the perfect mix of direct message, smooth language, biblical references and reasonable length. But as many pastors have gained national reputations for their televised preaching, the pressure on the average pastor today to lead and entertain has magnified, Gibson said, leading some to depend on the words of others whose work they may consider more glib and powerful.

The Rev. Ray Henry, pastor of Belvedere Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, said he visits Harold White's site a few times a year for inspiration, usually around holidays. He said he spends about eight hours a week working on his sermons, which are about 12 pages long.

"You take the idea and try to build your thoughts from his," said Henry, who has been a pastor for 40 years. "Every pastor pulls something from somebody."

Henry said he never copies others' sermons. Besides the immorality of plagiarizing, he said, people can tell when the words are not your own. "Your personality comes out in your writing," Henry said. "It won't come out well if someone else wrote it. You've got to make it your own."

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The New York Times Covers Pulpit Plagiarism

Clergyman Is Accused of Plagiarism 

By DANNY HAKIM 

Published: March 13, 2002 

Journalists. Historians. Now the clergy?

The rector of Christ Church Cranbrook, a prominent church in this wealthy town near Detroit, has been suspended for 90 days while the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan investigates accusations that some of his sermons, as well as his writings in a church newsletter, were copied from Internet subscription services for clergymen and other sources on the Web.

The rector's defenders say that the use of such material is common among the clergy and that the accusations are merely a pretense by his opponents to oust him.

The rector, the Rev. Edward Mullins, declined to comment, as did his lawyer. Bishop Wendell N. Gibbs Jr., head of the diocese, has asked the rector and others involved not to discuss the situation.

Bloomfield Hills is a lush terrain of million-dollar homes. The church is an imposing Gothic structure with 1,100 member families and a parking lot that fills up with Lexuses, Mercedeses and Cadillacs.

In recent years, the church has had its share of trouble. In 1993, a rector was dismissed after he admitted to having affairs with parishioners. The church was without a permanent rector until Mr. Mullins took the job in 1996.

Last year, Mr. Mullins, who is 55, faced a revolt from about a dozen staff members. In a letter to him that found its way to the bishop, they accused Mr. Mullins of having a divisive management style, said he had mistreated the church's longtime verger and demanded that he seek counseling.

On Jan. 30, the problems escalated when a group of parishioners sent a letter to the diocese outlining 10 cases in which they said Mr. Mullins had committed plagiarism, including entire sermons and writings in the church's ''Good News'' bulletin, from several Web sites.

Some paid subscription services provide sermons, and Mr. Mullins used those services as well as other Internet sources, according to the letter, instead of writing his own.

''Along with other questionable actions he has taken during the past five years, the plagiarism of his spiritual messages causes us seriously to doubt his fitness for the ordained ministry,'' the letter said. ''How can a priest of the church lay claim to a defense of such dubious morality as 'everybody does it' and 'I paid to use those materials?' ''

Mr. Mullins appears to have strong support, both among parishioners and the vestry, a body akin to a board of directors.

''He's a great asset to Christ Church,'' said Dorothy Allhouse, a member of the church for six years. ''People come to church for his sermons, whether they're his, they're incorporated or however he does it. He puts the message forth that needs to be put forth.''

The Rev. Harry T. Cook, a friend of Mr. Mullins and the rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in nearby Clawson, said, ''He's had more than a year of unrelenting pressure, mostly generated, I'm told, by members of his staff and a very few members of the congregation who have made it a lifetime vocation to make his life miserable.''

''I don't hold any brief for Doris Kearns Goodwin, Joe Ellis or Stephen Ambrose,'' Mr. Cook added, referring to three prominent historians enmeshed in controversies about fabrications or plagiarism, ''but if plagiarism of the sort that Ed Mullins is accused of is punishable, there would be no one preaching on Sunday.''

In a letter to Mr. Mullins informing him of his suspension, Bishop Gibbs said he was investigating whether the rector had violated his ordination vows by plagiarizing. The bishop also wrote that he was investigating whether Mr. Mullins breached confidences during counseling sessions and refused to give communion to a parishioner. The suspension was first reported by The Detroit Free Press.

The Rev. Clayton Morris, liturgical officer of the Episcopal Church, said, ''I don't know of any policy in print'' against plagiarism. But Mr. Morris added, ''If you use somebody else's prose, you cite the source.''

There is ample leeway for borrowing in Christianity, considering that preachers have been returning to the same subjects for two millennia, said David Hein, a professor of religion and philosophy at Hood College in Frederick, Md. But citations would be expected in written material, Mr. Hein said, and some amount of original thought is a crucial part of a clergyman's role.

Indeed, churches have taken punitive action on plagiarism. In October, the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Mo., was forced to resign after being accused of appropriating sermons by the Rev. Tim Keller, a Presbyterian pastor. Several years ago, an Episcopal clergyman was dismissed from a cathedral in San Francisco for plagiarism.

Phil Ware, a Texas preacher who co-edits Heartlight, an Internet magazine (www.heartlight.org), was among the sources Mr. Mullins is accused of using. Mr. Ware said he thought that his writings should be properly cited but that he did not want Mr. Mullins to lose his job.

''The joke used to be,'' Mr. Ware said, ''that 90 percent of all church bulletin articles used to be written by A. N. Onymous.''

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Charlotte, N.C. Pastor Resigns Over Plagiarism

Pastor admits to stealing sermons

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The senior pastor at one of Charlotte's best-known churches admitted that parts of some of his sermons, broadcast on Christian radio programs, were stolen from others.

The Rev. E. Glenn Wagner of Calvary Church resigned, admitted that depression led him to plagiarize sermons the past two years, and asked for forgiveness in a letter read Sunday in his absence at four worship services.

"On a number of occasions, when I felt literally empty and devoid of any creative ability, I used material from the sermons of some of my brother preachers," Wagner's letter said.

Gary Hubler, clerk of the lay leaders who oversee the church, said Wagner's plagiarism was first detected two weeks ago. That's when a church elder heard a radio sermon that sounded like something he had heard Wagner preach.

In his letter, Wagner, 51, cited "a downward spiral, emotionally and mentally, which left me very tired and discouraged and fighting a losing battle with depression."

Billy Graham's father, Frank, was one of the church's founders, which began in 1939 as Bible Presbyterian.

Calvary has become an independent, evangelical congregation known for its $39 million pink complex and 6,000-seat sanctuary in south Charlotte. The church draws an average of 3,000 people to all of its Sunday services. Wagner was credited with increasing weekly worship attendance by 1,000.

Wagner came to Calvary in 1997 from suburban Denver, where he had worked as a vice president and minister-at-large with the Promise Keepers, a Christian men's movement. He was accustomed to preaching to thousands at Promise Keepers events in stadiums and arenas.

At Calvary, his job was to help energize a church dealing with paying its bills and filling the three-tiered sanctuary.

Church leaders have not said how many of Wagner's sermons used unattributed material from other pastors, or which ones. They are studying the text of Wagner's sermons going back two years.

The church has suspended the distribution of tapes with Wagner's sermons from that period. None of Wagner's sermons from the past two years will be used on his show broadcast on Christian radio stations.

In his letter, Wagner said he had tried to resign two years ago, but that church elders wouldn't accept it. Instead, they gave him time to rest.


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Pastor Resigns After Admitting Plagiarism: The Southwest Missourian - November 12, 2001

Pastor admits he plagiarized sermons

Monday, November 12, 2001

The Associated Press

 

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A Presbyterian church that lost a senior pastor to suicide about six years ago is digesting news that another one has left the pulpit, this time by resigning after admitting he plagiarized sermons. 

The Rev. W. Barnwell "Barney" Heyward Jr. made the confession in late October in a statement he read to his 1,800-member Central Presbyterian Church of Clayton congregation, said Eric Schmidt, the church's executive administrator.

The church's governing board of elders received Heyward's resignation in the week before he told the congregation at the church in this St. Louis suburb, Schmidt said.

Schmidt said Heyward initially was confronted after preaching an Easter sermon that others recognized as the words of the Rev. Tim Keller, a nationally renowned Presbyterian pastor in New York City. Heyward recently was confronted again for other plagiarism incidents, Schmidt said.

Schmidt then resigned and "did the honorable thing," Schmidt said. "Members of staff and the congregation realized he had preached sermons of other people."

This week, Heyward told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he wouldn't publicly discuss his actions.

"The church has my love and the session has my support," he said.

Central Presbyterian has suffered from a series of pastoral troubles, including the July 1995 suicide of the Rev. Timothy Brewer, the church's senior pastor. The church, which belongs to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, spent three years searching for Brewer's successor.

In 1998, the church hired Heyward, a Greenville, S.C., native who received his master's degree in divinity at Covenant Seminary in Creve Coeur, another St. Louis suburb. When hired, Heyward told the Post-Dispatch he considered himself an "average" preacher in a church that prided itself on strong preaching.

Not shaken by resignation 

Bob Busse, a church elder, said Central Presbyterian members were "not shaken" that Heyward resigned, though "they were shaken when the discovery came out that he had done this."

Preacher plagiarism problems are not new -- or on the wane. In a profession known for its high attrition rates and tough time demands, online sermon archives and Web sites such as desperatepreacher.com make it easy for pastors to cut corners on originality.

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"The Article That Started It All"

Today I want to point out a trend I noticed after doing some research. The number of online articles on pastoral plagiarism seemed to balloon around the year 2006.

That's because in March of 2006, Steve Sjogren wrote an article on Rick Warren's website, Pastors.com, entitled "Don’t Be Original – Be Effective!" where Mr. Sjogren argues that it's completely acceptable for pastors to plagiarize their sermons.

 Of course, as you can see HERE, the article was removed during the dust-up that followed. But thanks to the miracle of modern technoloty, you may read an archive of the article HERE.

Ironically, you may not plagiarize Mr. Sjogren himself without written permission, or at least acknowledgment of him as the source! (See HERE.)

Since so much of the material found on this website refers to this article, it would be a good idea to check out "the article that started it all."

Also,this article and some other similar issues led to a feature on Pulpit Plagiarism in the Wall Street Journal later that year on November 16, 2006. See HERE.

Stolen Good: Tempted to Plagiarize by Thomas G. Long

Dr. Ray Van Neste of Union University points out this article from Thomas Long entitled "Stolen Good: Tempted to Plagiarize."

I highly recommend this argicle. It gives much food for thought.

I really appreciate this comment from Long that Dr. Van Neste quoted HERE. It really emphasizes the disconnect between congregations and pastors who plagiarize.

The preacher comes from the pews to stand in the pulpit. Only preachers who deliver their own sermons stand with one foot in the life of the people and one foot in the biblical text. No Internet preacher stands in this same place. No borrowed sermon, however fine, can answer the question that cries out from every congregation, "Is there a word today, a word for us, from the Lord?"

Online pastoral inspiration increasing: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's sermons? by Bill Meyer

Here is an interesting article on Pulpit Plagiarism written by Bill Meyer, an editor of The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio, published on July 26, 2009.

Online pastoral inspiration increasing: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's sermons?

Pulpit Plagiarism: What responsibility do preachers have to make a sermon their own? by Colleen Carroll

(This article was first published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on November 18, 2001. The original article is no longer available on the paper's website, so I am producing it below in its entirety.)

Pulpit Plagiarism: What responsibility do preachers have to make a sermon their own? 

By Colleen Carroll 

St. Louis Post-Dispatch 

November 18, 2001

Pulpit plagiarism--or sermon borrowing, depending on whom you ask--is as old as the art of preaching itself. Now, in the age of the Internet, cribbing sermons is easier than ever. But so is getting caught.

A pastor at Clayton's Central Presbyterian Church near St. Louis, Mo., recently resigned his pulpit after confessing to his 1,800-member congregation that he had preached sermons that were not his own. The admission came after church staffers and members recognized some of his sermons as the work of the Rev. Tim Keller, a nationally renowned preacher at New York City's Redeemer Presbyterian Church.

Text and audio versions of Keller's sermons are among the scores of Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu sermons or teachings available online. Cregan Cooke, director of communications and media for Redeemer Presbyterian, said the unauthorized borrowing of sermons is "not an issue" for the New York church, because Keller--like many religious leaders who post sermons online--simply wants to spread his message. "All ministers borrow from each other. It's a very common thing," said Cooke. "The only issue is attribution."

Indeed, originality has never been paramount in a profession built around the exegesis of ancient texts and propagation of age-old doctrines. Theological accuracy, inspirational power and dynamic delivery matter more to most religious leaders. Many St. Louis area clerics say they often cull online sermon guides--as well as journals, tapes, CD-ROMs and books--to mold their own remarks.

Brian Larson, editor of Preachingtoday.com, an online portal for sermon materials, sees demand rising for Internet sermon services like his. Just 2 years old, the service had 12,512 subscribers in January 2001. Last week, he counted 17,790. Larson said he has no problem with preachers sharing materials, if the author gets credit and the church accepts the practice. "All preachers are preaching from God's word," said Larson, who is also editor of Preaching Today, a long-standing audio service. "It's not their idea."

The use of canned sermons has plenty of precedents. Some writers, including a few in St. Louis, make their living crafting sermons and sermon outlines for subscribers. Books and mimographed copies of sermons have long been big sellers at clergy conventions.

From Massachusetts to Texas, preachers have been caught delivering sermons verbatim--and without attribution--that they purchased from online and print sermon services. In one case reported by the Boston Globe, a minister lost his job after publishing cribbed sermons under his own name.

Baptist preacher and civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was criticized after his death for plagiarizing parts of his doctoral dissertation and sermons. Many scholars denounced his actions in the academic realm, but defended his sermon borrowing as permissible. "In some aspects of the oral tradition, you hear a number of stories ... that are good but can't be tracked," said Enoch Oglesby, United Church Professor of Theology and History at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. "If it enhances the common good, so be it."

Still, Oglesby--like most clerics, scholars and ethicists--draws the line at the verbatim delivery of sermons that belong to others. Religious leaders who cross that line, and do not credit their sources, risk losing the trust of their followers. They may also preach sermons ill-suited to their particular faith communities, since the canned talks were intended for another audience. "You're cheating your congregation of your own holiness," said the Rev. James Cormack, Catholic pastor of St. Catherine Laboure Parish in south St. Louis County.

Cormack, a Vincentian priest who won the Great Preacher Award from the Aquinas Institute of Theology in 1995, said the occasional preaching of another's sermon is acceptable, as long as the speaker tells his congregation that the work is not his own. But repeated reliance on the words of another signals a problem. A prayerful, hard- working priest can capture his audience's attention, Cormack said, if he takes the time to pray and reflect on Scripture. "In the end, that cuts deeper than somebody who's slick and glossy and doesn't seem to have any depth," Cormack said.

Still, clerics agree that smooth delivery--and a few good jokes, which can be easily skimmed from Internet sites--liven up a sermon. Rabbi Ze'ev Smason presides over Nusach Hari-B'nai Zion Congregation, a 300-member orthodox synagogue in University City. To add to his repertoire of jokes and hone his speaking skills, Smason combs Internet sites in English and Hebrew and recently attended a public speaking seminar. In the age of the Internet and cable television, Smason said, religious leaders must work harder than ever to keep the attention of their audiences. "It's almost as if we're expected or we need to put on a show," he said.

Pressure mounts around the high holidays, Smason said, when synagogue attendance multiplies. At those times, Smason tries to "hit a home run" with sermons designed to draw sporadic attendees into more regular observance. The day-to-day pressures of full-time ministry--visiting the sick, teaching classes, offering marriage counseling--also make life busy for Smason, who said he usually has free time "between 2 and 4 a.m."

Good sermons require a substantial time investment: Homiletics instructors sometimes tell preachers to prepare one hour for every minute they speak in the pulpit. For preachers like the Rev. Jesse Williams, the senior pastor at Washington Tabernacle Church in St. Louis, that translates into 30 to 40 hours of preparation each week for his 45-minute sermons. "In the black church, the preaching moment is so paramount in the worship experience," said Williams, who also teaches preaching at Eden Seminary.

To compose sermons for his Missionary Baptist church, Williams browses the lectionary text, sermon books and commentaries for inspiration. He allows that originality is hard to come by in a theologically sound sermon. "We do all share ideas," Williams said. "But when it comes to composing the sermon, we owe it to the congregation to be original."

Jerry Vines On Pulpit Plagiarism

Jerry Vines has published countless resources over the years to help pastors study and write sermons. He along with Jim Shaddix, who formerly taught homiletics at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary but is now at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, authored a book on how to write and deliver expository sermons.

That book is called Power In The Pulpit, and is available HERE.

On page 206 of the 1999 edition of this book, Drs. Vines and Shaddix make the following statement:

“Read the sermons that other men have preached on the passage under consideration. Be careful how you borrow material, however. Plagiarism is rampant in almost every aspect of our society. Via the Internet, students and preachers alike now have access to complete research papers and entire sermons with the click of a mouse. Remember that the lifting of material word for word is improper. Be sure to give proper credit whenever you quote another preacher or writer. Jay Adams asserted that borrowing is permissible when you give new organization, new integration, and new expressing to the materials you have read. He suggested that you mix the materials through your own mind, add them to your own experiences, then present them in your own way.”

Audio: Al Mohler - Plagiarism in the Pulpit

Southern Seminary President Al Mohler and Southern Seminary Preaching Professor Hershael York discuss pastoral plagiarism on the Albert Mohler Show.

http://www.albertmohler.com/2006/12/07/plagiarism-in-the-pulpit-stealing-the-material-we-preach-2/

Relevant portion begins at the 11:15 minute mark. You can download the episode directly at: http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/totl/2006/AMP_12_07_2006.mp3.

Video: Does God Really Want Pastors to Plagiarize?

What is a sermon?

This is a good question for members of a congregation to think about. What do you expect your pastor to do each week as he prepares to deliver a sermon? What elements must a sermon include to actually be a sermon?

 

 There are probably several factors that make up a good sermon, but at its most basic level, a sermon must include at least two critical elements.

1. Sermons must explain a text of scripture.

Most pastors spend years at a university or seminary learning various tools and skills like hermenutics, exegesis, exposition and homiletics*, plus learning basic to advanced Greek and Hebrew, in order to be better equipped to dig into a passage of scripture to explain its meaning.

If your pastor uses a word or phrase in the Bible as a springboard to launch into a rant about some social or political issue, you’re not listening to a sermon. I’ve seen pastors quote a verse at the beginning of a “sermon” and then spend the rest of their “message” talking about issues in a way purely opposite the meaning of the quoted verse. I’ve seen pastors place their Bible on the podium, read a verse, then spend the rest of their time walking around raving about a topic without ever returning to the Bible. This may be a “speech” or a “talk,” but it's definitely not a sermon.

2. Sermons must relate the truth of scripture to the heart of the hearers.

If you have the explanation of a text of scripture without application, you are listening to a lecture, not a sermon.

Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

The purpose of scripture is to expose our sin and train us to be more like Christ.

Pastors must take into account the congregation’s background and situation in order to make the application of a text. Aside from committing intellectual theft, this is one of the great weaknesses of a pastor who plagiarizes. He skips the part of preparation where he applies the text of scripture to the people he shepherds.

It is natural for the congregation of a plagiarizing pastor to feel that their worship services are empty and lifeless. Plagiarized sermons often feel bland and generic. It’s because your pastor is simply relating the application another pastor has made to a different congregation.

In my experience at a church with a plagiarizing pastor, the singing portion of worship had to be extra-emotional to make up for the dismal sermons. The nonbelievers in our congregation were not being confronted with the truth of scripture and the believers were not being fed. The shepherd was starving the sheep.

If this describes your church, I encourage you to speak to a pastor or elder about these issues as soon as possible. 

*Definitions

Hermenutics: The study of interpretation.

Exegesis: The study of interpreting and explaining the original meaning of a text.

Exposition: The process of setting forth the meaning of a text.

Homiletics: The process of writing and delivering a sermon.

What is pulpit plagiarism?

Simply, plagiarism is stealing and passing off the ideas or words of another as one's own without crediting the source. Every school, university, seminary has an anti-plagiarism policy that results in either failing the assignment or the course, or even being expelled. Countless journalists have lost their jobs due to plagiarism.

Why is it that some pastors think they can plagiarize entire sermons without consequences?

The truth is, they shouldn't. YOU can do something about it.

Let me offer a few tips for what to do if you suspect your pastor is plagiarizing.

1. Gather basic information about the sermon in question for your research.

The very first plagiarized sermon I discovered had three main alliterated points. I googled the points and found the sermon. Another plagiarized sermon I found had the exact same unique/unusual title (actually it was part of a three part series) as the original sermon. On yet another plagiarized sermon, I took note of a very specific quote from the pastor (there are 912 Hebrew words in 1 Samuel 17), and it let me to this website.

2. Ask someone else to look at your information to confirm whether this really is an issue of plagiarism. 

There is an old saying that there is nothing new under the sun. It's possible for a pastor to come up with a sentence or an idea that is very similar to someone else. If the amount of plagiarism is small or inconsequential, you may benefit from a second opinion. On the other hand, it if it clearly and totally plagairized word-for-word, you may need to consult another person, but for a different reason. Either way, this is a very serious issue, and the next steps require boldness and integrity on your part. You will need to be certain that you can prove your allegations.

3. Share this information with a second person and plan to meet with the pastor.

The reason for doing this is purely biblical. 1 Timothy 5:19 states, "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses." The reason for this is because of the elevated status of teachers/pastors. With greater authority comes greater responsibility. And it also comes with greater protection. Matthew 18 describes how to confront sin between believers, but for a pastor there needs to be two or more witnesses to validate the accusation.

4. Schedule a meeting with a pastor/elder of your church other than the plagiarizing pastor. 

If your church has a biblical form of church government, it may be the case that the other pastors/elders are aware of this problem and are addressing the issue privately. Part of the reason for multiple pastors/elders is specifically for the purpose of pastoral protection and accountability.

5. Insist on speaking directly with the plagiarizing pastor. 

I would recommend that you along with another witness and the other pastor/elder  meet with the plagiarizing pastor as soon as is convenient. Even if the other pastor/elder wants to handle the issue internally, still insist on speaking with the pastor directly. This will ensure that the issue is actually brought up in case the other pastor is not trustworthy or lacks the integrity to confront the pastor. It will also allow for future discussions of accountability and encouragement with your pastor.

Hopefully this will cause the pastor to repent and ask for forgiveness. Depending on the extent and frequency of his plagiarism, it may be necessary to address the congregation and assess your church/denomination's policy for violations of pastoral qualifications.

6. If your pastor refuses to repent, consult your church/denomination's policy for church discipline.

This kind of confrontation is not fun, but it is necessary for the purpose of maintaining integrity within the Christian faith and the church. If this type of deception is occurring at the highest level of leadership in the church, it is likely there are other types of sin also being committed and ignored.

In my case, the church did not have a biblical form of church government, the pastor refused to repent, and several of the church leaders and deacons helped to cover up the plagiarism. There were additional conflicts and deception going on that were uncovered during this process. These sins were also being tolerated and covered up, so suffice it to say, I ended up leaving the church.

If you can think of another step that should be taken, or if you disagree with one of the above steps, feel free to comment below.