SCRATCHING THE ITCH

Twenty five years or so ago I was part of an inter-church planning group that hosted a large crusade in Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland for Argentinian Evangelist Luis Palau. Palau was pretty much an unknown quantity in those days, but he had an impressive resume and was touted as "the next Billy Graham."

We all know now there won't be another or a next Billy Graham - that mantle seems to have fallen on a local church leader, not an evangelist, the man frequently referred to in the media as America's Pastor, one Rick Warren.

But Palau has been an effective minister, sharing the gospel with millions of people over several decades. His preaching is still relevant and powerful.

All those years back, I had an inside track to the man himself and remember sitting with Luis Palau and chatting one night after the crusade service was over. I was raised on expository Bible teaching and without being immodest, would suggest I was pretty good at it myself.

So Palau's style intrigued me. He did not teach through Bible passages, expound verses or even explain Greek words. He talked about things like marriage, loneliness, parenting, death, sex, mission, etc and of course he used a lot of Bible as he did so.

I asked him about his style and still remember his answer - Roger, you need to scratch people where they are itching.

It took me a few years to get the point and make the transition, but that's what we endeavor to do week by week at CATMO. We don't feed people with Bible information, we address things that really matter to them and apply the Bible to these issues.

I guess it works. Our current series - Discover Recovery is proof of that. When you teach on subjects that really matter to people, they respond and lives are changed.

Guess that's why we sold a heap of CD's of the teaching after service today. We must be scratching the itch!