This issue is not new, though it has erupted again: plagiarism in the pulpit.  Some of the most recent situations have involved prominent leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention, but the issue is certainly not limited to those circles.  This weekend, I wasted ten minutes of my life that I can never get back watching a “side-by-side” video of a young pastor alongside of Mark Driscoll; the young man had obviously lifted large amounts of content from Driscoll’s message, which was posted online a few years before this man copied Driscoll’s sermon.  Considering this issue and the publicity that has surrounded it, I thought I would share some thoughts.

My Experience

I preached my first sermon written by another man while I was in Bible college.  I brought a full manuscript to the podium and read verbatim the exact words of another preacher.  What makes this even more unique is that I did this during a preaching course in front of my professor and a class full of “preacher boys.  To my recollection, I received a decent grade on the project, and I was unapologetic for my actions.  What I failed to mention up until this point is that this was part of an assignment—to preach a sermon from a popular preacher from yesteryear.  The course was entitled “Preaching Practicum,” and rather than give us a traditional preaching course, the instructor sought to prepare us for unique speaking opportunities in ministry.  We were required to write messages for occasions such as a 3-on3 basketball tournament, a tragic funeral, and we were required to preach a sermon from another preacher of the past.  I cannot remember which man’s sermon I used, but J. Vernon McGee comes to mind.  Though I have never repeated this exercise, I did find it helpful to preach another man’s sermon to see how another man preached.  I even think some value exists to the practice of preaching the sermons of great men.  Besides a great way to teach church history, what church could not benefit from hearing a Charles Spurgeon sermon or a “preach through” of Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God!  Just make sure if you do this, that you cite where the sermon came from!

What I Do 

While I have never repeated this exercise, I have used another man’s material—what preacher has not!  But when I do, I do my best to cite where I received the information.  On rare occasions I have used material from a lecture or sermon; perhaps an outline or a key interpretation.  But I have disclosed that to our congregation.  In fact, just a few months ago I did just that.  I had taken a course in preaching Biblical narrative and the instructor had described a passage in the Gospels with such clarity and profound uniqueness that I could not separate what I wanted to say from what he taught in class.  So, what did I do?  At the beginning of the sermon I said something like this: “I should note that my mind has been shaped on this text from a course that I am taking on preaching narrative, so not everything I am giving you is original with me.”  Did I actually say that from the pulpit?  Yes I did, and so should you if you find yourself in a similar situation!  If you use another man’s sermon, cite your source!  Citation is truly the issue with plagiarism in the pulpit.  Men have taken large chunks of another man’s sermon and presented it as their own.  Even beyond that, men have taken key ideas or illustration unique to another man’s sermon or life experience and have shared them without crediting the source.  This is wrong on many levels, and I hope to address those over the course of the next article, but before I do, let me utilize this article to share some caveats.

• There is nothing new under the sun—the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote this in Ecclesiastes 1:9. In most cases, there is no such thing as a unique idea.  Ideas have been around since the beginning of time!  To think that one man might have something new to share is not a realistic expectation.  Even if I write my sermon without consulting a single outside source, chances are it has been said before.  

• Preachers as shaped by what they read and who they listen too, and that’s a lot—the job of a preacher involves much reading, study, and listening. It would be an impossibility for preachers to keep everything they have learned or heard straight, and to remember where they have learned it from or who said it first.  We are constantly taking in information—reading books, listening to lectures, and reading blogs.  We have also spent significant amount of time sitting under great men who have impacted us.  We could never keep all of that information straight!  We could never remember where it came from, if we said it ourselves or heard it in a class, or even if we heard it accurately.  To expect that every idea a preacher gleans from another source should be cited would in my opinion be unreasonable.  Beyond this, a good preacher listens to other sermons, sometimes on a topic related to what he is preaching on.  He evaluates the style and ability of other great men and even gleans understanding from their approach.  Whether we realize it or not, our content, style and delivery is being shaped by those whom we listen to.  I have always said, if you pay attention to my sermon on Sunday, you can tell who I have listened to during the week, because great men rub off on us even in ways that we do not realize!  Sometimes it is their passion and exuberance.  Other times they might point out truths in the text that we have yet to see and we glean from their understanding.  We have been shaped by many, many sources and we could never accurately identify or cite all of those who have shaped us.

• Not everything could or should be cited—to temper the discussion surrounding using someone else’s material I would simply note that not everything could or even should be citied.  For instance, if I want to study the origins of a rare Greek word, I might use anywhere from five to ten linguistic tools.  Each of these might shape my understanding of the word and the gloss or description of the word that I give our people might come from several of those sources amassed together.  If we cited everything we used in the compilation of a sermon we would need to submit a bibliography the size of one found in a seminary thesis!  As mentioned above, preachers are shaped by so many sources, and not every one of these warrants a citation or reference such as “I saw this in a commentary this week.”  Consider this as well—some books are written specifically to help preachers prepare a sermon.  Books have been published that are full of sermon illustrations, and pastors can find dozens of websites cataloguing illustrations under certain themes or topics.  Even I have been known to navigate to these sites from time to time if I am stuck trying to find a way to illustrate a truth.  Do pastors need to cite the book or website they use every time they find an illustration from one of these tools?  I suppose it depends on the illustration.  A preacher might say “it has been said,” or “I read this week that . . .”  But other times an illustration might not even need such an introduction.  Suffice to say that not everything could or should be cited in a sermon.

• Preaching is a unique form of communication—I think beyond all the above, preaching is a unique form of communication.  Pastors are not trying to earn a degree, they are not presenting a research paper of their own study and research, nor are they presenting a book to be published (though some of them do); they are presenting a sermon.  By the nature of preaching itself, a preacher’s job is to stand before God’s people and speak about someone else’s material; namely: God’s.  Preaching is unique from most other forms of research or publishing in that the “bread and butter” of a preacher’s duty is found in communicating material that they themselves did not create.  In addition, their goal is not to create a new or unique approach or present the authoritative work on a topic, as you might expect in a research paper.  Their goal is to faithfully preach God’s Word in a manner that teaches and challenges the people of God.  In doing this work, it is expected that pastor’s utilize other sources in their sermon preparation.  Commentaries, lexicons, theological dictionaries, and Biblical encyclopedias are used regularly by pastors, and people know that.  While I am not making and argument for plagiarism, I think it must be acknowledged that the sermons of many preachers are built while using the material of another, and this can be good and healthy when sources are used appropriately.  All of this to say that we must acknowledge that preaching is unique.  Certain use of sources and outside experts is necessary and expected, and while we ought not to plagiarize, the craft of preaching does rely on research and study of the material of others.

Final Thoughts

I have shared some personal illustrations of my limited experience with preaching someone else’s sermon as a class assignment.  I have given several caveats which I think are worth noting when discussing such an important issue as plagiarism in the pulpit.  In part two of this discussion, I hope to address some reasons why a preacher might plagiarize another preacher’s material, and then discuss several positive benefits of being open and honest about citing sources used in a sermon.