Interview
Dr. James Earl Massey
by Art Azurdia
James Earl Massey, D.Div., D.D., Hum.D., Litt.D. is Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor-at-Large of the Anderson School of Theology in Anderson, Indiana. Beginning in 1954, he served for twenty-two years as senior pastor of the Metropolitan Church of God in Detroit. Taking a leave of absence in 1963, he became Principal of the Jamaica School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica, for three years. Then, in 1969, he began serving concurrently as campus minister and professor of New Testament and Preaching at Anderson University. For five years, Dr. Massey was the speaker on "The Christian Brotherhood Hour," the international radio broadcast of the Church of God. From that platform, his weekly messages were heard throughout the English-speaking world. In 1984, he was appointed Dean of the University Chapel and Professor of Religion and Society at Tuskegee University in Alabama. He later returned to Anderson University to assume the post of Dean of the School of Theology. Dr. Massey is the author of several works, including The Responsible Pulpit, Designing the Sermon, The Burdensome Joy of Preaching, and Sundays in the Tuskegee Chapel. He has preached and lectured at over one hundred colleges, universities, and seminaries in the United States and on four continents and is a frequent featured speaker at national preaching conferences and workshops.
I first met Dr. James Earl Massey seven years ago in Dallas, Texas. We were both keynote speakers at the E. K. Bailey International Conference On Expository Preaching. From the first moments of his preaching I knew he would become something of a mentor to me—if only from afar. His commitment to the inspired text, prophetic quality, and unique clarity distinguished his ministry and captured my respect. Subsequently—and as an exceedingly kind providence to me—we have shared ministry on several occasions during which I have become acquainted with him on a more personal level. As such, his evident wisdom, integrity, and godliness have won a place in my affections that are reserved for only a few. Some months ago we enjoyed a meal together at a restaurant in Portland and our conversation turned to preaching, given the fact that he has endured in this ministry for sixty years.
Art Azurdia: Well, let’s begin with the most obvious. How did you know you were called to preach?
James Earl Massey: I was sitting in a worship service. As a music student in high school, it was my custom at that time to carry with me a score of music while riding on the bus or on the street car. I would study the score, examining the notation and the structure of the music, so that when I would sit down at the piano my memorization process would not be as long. That particular Sunday morning I was studying a score of Chopin’s preludes. The spirit of the service caught me at some point and I lifted my attention from the score to what was happening in the pulpit.
AA: So you were looking at the score during the service?
JEM: Yes.
AA: So there is hope for our children yet!
JEM: Yes, and I heard a voice speak to me in my conscience, saying, just as vivid as your voice is to me now, “I want you to preach.” The voice did not startle me, but I knew I had a challenge. The voice sounded familiar and yet of a higher order. I knew I had been ordered to do something, and I knew I would have to say “yes.” So I immediately responded within myself saying “yes,” and I turned to the person sitting beside me. We had not come together, but just happened to be sitting beside each other. I interrupted her worship and said, “You know what I am going to do with my life?” She said, “No James; what?” I said, “I am going to be a preacher.” She was a solid Christian girl and she said, “Why, that’s wonderful, that’s wonderful!” That was my first encouragement. Suppose she had thrown cold water on it? She didn’t. After that I informed my father and my mother. My father was a minister.
AA: Oh, is that right?
JEM: Yes. I also informed my pastor. He took me under his wing as did my father and they coached me in the way a father and a pastor are able. But since that high, holy moment of hearing I have known the work to which my head, my hands, and my heart must be given. And through thick and thin, sunshine and storm, I have known that this is the course my life must follow. I have never retreated from this path.
AA: Well, given the fact that you have given so many years to this . . . JEM: That was more than sixty years ago. |
I must preach from a text. I refuse to prepare a sermon without a text, for I take seriously Paul’s injunction to Timothy, found in 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word.” |
AA: Is that right? Well, after having done this for sixty years, would you please describe the non-negotiables that define your approach to preaching? A lot has transpired during those sixty years.
JEM: Yes, I’ve seen the rise of neo-orthodoxy, the demise of neo-orthodoxy, the flagrant days of liberalism, and the death of liberalism – in the pulpit at least. Then came the penchant for topical preaching, and then the rise of narrative preaching, but all along there were those doing the steady work of expositional preaching, and that’s one non-negotiable with me. I must preach from a text. I refuse to prepare a sermon without a text, for I take seriously Paul’s injunction to Timothy, found in 2 Timothy 4:2: “Preach the word.” I believe the word has been given and we don’t have to seek it. It is inscripturated so we can read it. It is available to us at all times: morning, noon, or night. The Lord speaks by means of the inscripturated Word. We don’t get off task by following hunches or little whims. A text is non-negotiable to me.
AA: Amen. JEM: Another non-negotiable is the needs of people in relation to what the text is saying, so that the text is matched to the times and tenor of people’s lives. I don’t want to talk about the Jebusites when somebody is in bereavement. It all has to be correlated with people and their need. AA: Yes, of course. |
Consequently, the mega-church phenomenon doesn’t appeal to me from a pastoral standpoint because the mega-church leader does not know the people intimately enough to deal with them family by family... I believe the pastor is the one who ought to know the most about the people so that he can preach the word to them in a relevant manner. |
JEM: Another non-negotiable for pastoral preaching is that the pastor needs to know the congregational members. Consequently, the mega-church phenomenon doesn’t appeal to me from a pastoral standpoint because the mega-church leader does not know the people intimately enough to deal with them family by family. There is a great deal of programming but not a great deal of pastoring – not by the leaders of the church, at least. I believe the pastor is the one who ought to know the most about the people so that he can preach the word to them in a relevant manner. This is a non-negotiable for me. I visited my people when I was pastoring; I visited the homes of my members – a large congregation of almost eight hundred. Moreover, I engaged in counseling and crisis situations within the community. It can all be done if the pastor has a heart for people.
