Preaching is the most undemocratic of routines in a free society. Week in, week out, people come and listen for a half-hour at a time to someone like themselves. They do not interrupt; they do not walk out. They can't switch channels. Sometimes the speaker scolds them, and they sit still for it. They are not students in a university, intimidated by a professor's power over their marks and futures; they are not employees dependent upon the speaker's power over their income.

Many of them, in fact, are giving sacrificially to keep the speaker's family fed, clothed, housed, and educated. Those of us who have assumed such an undemocratic prerogative had better believe we are engaged in the ministry of the Word of God; otherwise there is no hope for us!