I have two predictions I need to make.
1. Tomorrow, we’re going to launch a 24 hour “what if” project at 9AM Eastern that aims to dent the universe and save lives. It will be fun and fast and shine big glory on a big God.
2. This Sunday, your pastor will use a Chilean miner sermon illustration.
Next week when both of these have come to pass, you will email me and ask, “How do you do it?” I will respond, “It’s just what I do. The club can’t even handle me right now!” And we will laugh, oh we will laugh.
But predicting that pastors will dig the Chilean miner rescue story is too easy. Anyone can predict that. I’ll actually tell you the four types of Chilean miner sermon you can expect:
1. Redemption
This one practically writes itself. The most obvious sermon illustration is the concept of redemption, of being pulled from the dark of a collapsed mine into the light of a brand new day. I would preach on Psalm 103:4, about a God “who redeems your life from the pit.”
2. Secrets
One of the crazy parts of this story is that both wives and mistresses got involved in the rescue vigil. Wives showed up at the scene only to discover for the first time, that their husbands had been having affairs. Imagine concealing an affair, deleting texts and hiding phone calls for years, only to be exposed by a collapsed mine? There’s not a guy on the planet that saw that one coming. I would preach on Luke 12, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.”
3. Danger
It’s fun to think that now that the miners have been rescued they’ve reached safety, but in some ways they’ve just entered into a different kind of danger – fame. Book deals are in place. Movies are coming. There’s a reality show in the works. (Please tell me it will be called “Mining with the Stars” and they’ll put G-Level stars in mines and then rescue them week by week.) There have already been reports about the families fighting over the new wealth and attention. You could easily preach on the dangers of the world.
4. Community
Trying to raise some money for a new capital campaign at church? Running into some struggles getting people to buy into the teamwork needed to complete a big project? Two words, “Chilean Miners.” You can’t help but be inspired by how the government of Chile, the miners and everyone involved pulled together. It was unreal. And it might just be the nudge you need to finish your church project.
Those are the four sermons you might see this weekend.
I’ll see you on Monday and you can tell me if I was wrong.
But remember, I called Michael Phelps. And after a recent shout out from Pastor Mark Driscoll, I’m feeling like, well, quite frankly, all I do is win.
Think we’ll hear about Chilean miners at church?
