I am so proud of my husband. Well actually, I'm always proud of him but I'm especially thrilled to be Mrs. Vetter (or Mrs. Vay-tah, as our Dutch church friends say) at the moment.Vince preached a wonderful sermon at church this past Sunday.
I'm not sure who was more surprised to see Vince in the pulpit - himself or the congregation. He has given sermons before, but not recently. So there he was on Sunday, before a rapt audience, telling them all about how Gideon and his army won a victory in spite of ridiculous odds.
We've been studying the book Judges in our weekly Bible study for the past several weeks, and Reinier, our pastor, has been preaching from it for the past month or so. There have been a number of lighthearted discussions about how even scaredy cats like Gideon can demonstrate that when God is behind you, it is possible to overcome anything, even 35,000 warriors. Reinier was planning to preach on the way Gideon used tests to make sure he could trust that God was asking him to do something. Then Reinier caught the "creeping crud" and was unable to give the sermon himself.
Well, now... several months ago Vince let Reinier know that he was available to give a sermon should he ever need someone on short notice. And here was an opportunity. But what timing -- in the middle of a really busy time at work and only 3 days to prepare. But nobody else stepped in to do it, so Vince was our guy. He read and edited, practiced and practiced, stayed up late rehearsing, and I got to hear it a dozen times or so before Sunday. I even got to help -- I pointed out that his description of how the Midianites "had been womping down on Israel for years" might be hard for our Dutch and South African crowd to understand (he changed it to "beating up on") By Saturday it sounded great to me, but of course I am biased.
Sunday came and it was time to deliver. Vince mouthed the words to the hymns but did not sing (if you've heard Vince sing before, you will understand), led the service, and then it was time for the sermon. I had been a little nervous up to this point. The average age of our congregation is around 70 years old, and they are very set in their ways. They like their sermons straight up, their hymns slow and traditional, and they're not very good with change. But there they were, enthralled with this Texan who smiled and thundered in turn, and who brought Gideon's fears, prayers and victories to life. By the end of the sermon you could have heard a pin drop. Afterward, he received many compliments such as "well, you did a lot better than I thought you would." High praise from our church members, and they meant every word!
Vince did a great job. I know it's not just my opinion, because the elders have already asked if he would be willing to give another sermon when the pastor is on vacation. And Reinier joked that he's going to have to acquire a Texan drawl. Good on ya Vince. And Reinier, we're lookin' forward to seein' ya back in the saddle real soon.
I'm not sure who was more surprised to see Vince in the pulpit - himself or the congregation. He has given sermons before, but not recently. So there he was on Sunday, before a rapt audience, telling them all about how Gideon and his army won a victory in spite of ridiculous odds.
We've been studying the book Judges in our weekly Bible study for the past several weeks, and Reinier, our pastor, has been preaching from it for the past month or so. There have been a number of lighthearted discussions about how even scaredy cats like Gideon can demonstrate that when God is behind you, it is possible to overcome anything, even 35,000 warriors. Reinier was planning to preach on the way Gideon used tests to make sure he could trust that God was asking him to do something. Then Reinier caught the "creeping crud" and was unable to give the sermon himself.
Well, now... several months ago Vince let Reinier know that he was available to give a sermon should he ever need someone on short notice. And here was an opportunity. But what timing -- in the middle of a really busy time at work and only 3 days to prepare. But nobody else stepped in to do it, so Vince was our guy. He read and edited, practiced and practiced, stayed up late rehearsing, and I got to hear it a dozen times or so before Sunday. I even got to help -- I pointed out that his description of how the Midianites "had been womping down on Israel for years" might be hard for our Dutch and South African crowd to understand (he changed it to "beating up on") By Saturday it sounded great to me, but of course I am biased.
Sunday came and it was time to deliver. Vince mouthed the words to the hymns but did not sing (if you've heard Vince sing before, you will understand), led the service, and then it was time for the sermon. I had been a little nervous up to this point. The average age of our congregation is around 70 years old, and they are very set in their ways. They like their sermons straight up, their hymns slow and traditional, and they're not very good with change. But there they were, enthralled with this Texan who smiled and thundered in turn, and who brought Gideon's fears, prayers and victories to life. By the end of the sermon you could have heard a pin drop. Afterward, he received many compliments such as "well, you did a lot better than I thought you would." High praise from our church members, and they meant every word!
Vince did a great job. I know it's not just my opinion, because the elders have already asked if he would be willing to give another sermon when the pastor is on vacation. And Reinier joked that he's going to have to acquire a Texan drawl. Good on ya Vince. And Reinier, we're lookin' forward to seein' ya back in the saddle real soon.
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