A Son's Tribute - Open air preaching

 

 

My Dad was blessed with an amazingly clear voice.  He was also blessed with a Merseyside sense of humour.

 

God used these qualities to useful effect when he preached in the open air.  I have done this very rarely and that is something I will probably always regret as preaching to the converted or nearly converted is significantly removed from New Testament preaching.  I think I heard my Dad preach in the open air at least as often as I heard him in religious meetings.  But the open air was more fun and more frightening.

 

Certainly this was where I first encountered hecklers.  But of course to an open air preacher hecklers are the equivalent (only more entertaining) of a church preacher's Powerpoint slides.  They punctuate the monologue and make it more interesting.  Open air preachers love hecklers and even drunken ones are useful - Southend seafront was especially good for that sort!
 

I suppose that being around open air preaching was one of my first experiences of the way that all things work together for good.  On the face of it there was a problem of contentious opposition, in reality the problem was a blessing. So many of Jesus's greatest stories were the result of awkward questions.

Open air preaching started to lose its value as the nation became more politely apathetic.  The gift of the New Atheists and all those antagonists that attack the Bible for moral reasons is a gift to be treasured, though with grace - which my Dad always exhibited.