Making a Difference – Part 3: Ted Martens

Training for ministry is a lot more rigorous than most folks realize. After the usual college track, there is a three year master’s degree program with the various aspects of theological and language training. (Unfortunately, most pastors never use their language training I have learned.) It can be very taxing on both home and personal life. There are shining moments in the course of this training that make it all worthwhile. This is one of those moments.

A part of this training is the taking of courses in Homiletics. (That is just a fancy way of saying “preaching classes.”) There are usually two semesters of those courses. In my seminary they required those two, but they also required one additional class your final year entitled “Senior Homiletics: Preaching the Old Testament.” That would give me one entire semester more training in this field than what many seminaries require. My seminary’s thinking was that if you are a bad preacher, and/or do not handle Scripture well, it does not matter how good you are with other duties; no one will be there in the first place.

I had a slightly different direction in training than most other men and women. I was a speech communications major in college in preparation for my seminary. The major was one selected by me to prepare me for ministry before seminary. (This came after years of searching for direction. I had dabbled in Political Science, Elementary Education, Finance, and even thought about Medicine and law enforcement before finally hearing what God was really telling me. I was 25 when I finished college and 30 when I completed seminary. But I digress . . .) My college major required two semesters of Homiletics before I ever hit seminary. So I ended up with five semesters of preaching in college and seminary. (Some folks are just not too bright and have to have it crammed into them!)

My college homiletics professor was a speech teacher named Ted Martens. Ted had his PhD from Ohio University. He was a good speech teacher, but that was not his real strength. His real strength was his love of the Scriptures and his passion for seeing it handled and preached well.

Ted was not the most fun teacher. He could be fun, but he likewise could be, and often was, harsh in his criticisms following a sermon in class. He was aware of it and would say, “I wish I was more like,” and he would give the name of another professor who was jovial and would always find something good to say about the speech, even if it stunk. “But I am not,” he would add. I am me. It is not personal. I do not dislike you. I just want to help you become all you can and should be. If you work hard, I will work just as hard beside you.” And he did, as you will read in a moment.

I was warned by other students what he was like, but never one to back down from a challenge, I elected his class section. I will never forget the ending of my first sermon in class.

Dr. Ted Martens was a stickler in training folks to do expository/Biblical preaching. His rationale was that if you could do that type sermon, which is by far the hardest to do, you could do anything else. In hindsight, he has proven right in my life. Due to that bias however, he would hammer into you a proper handling of the Biblical text until you were blue in the face. He was relentless on doing your exegetical work and preparation so you had something worthwhile to say on Sunday. He would say things like “Length is not a problem if you are good.” Or “If folks are coming to hear you preach on Sunday, in God’s name be sure you make it worth their while!” “They do not need a news report; they need to hear from God!” That sort of stuff makes an impact upon you.

In homiletics class your sermons are only 12-15 minutes in length so you can hear two folks and still have time to discuss and evaluate. In these classes everyone filled out an evaluation on everyone else when they preached. There was a specific form, so you knew what to look for, along with a space for general comments. In a class of 15 you would get 15 evaluations, when you include the professors. A class with preaching played out like this:

· Preacher #1
· Everyone finalizes their written comments
· Preacher #2
· Everyone finalizes their written comments
· Class discussion of #1
· Class discussion of #2

It could be a pretty daunting, intimidating and painful experience.

My first sermon was from James 2:14-25 on faith and works. To be quite blunt . . . I sucked. I sucked big time.

I was the second preacher so I should have been discussed second (see above). After completing my sermon, the silence seemed an eternity! I waited while Dr. Martens pencil went feverishly. The entire class started to get edgy. After what seemed like forever, Dr. Martens said, “Terry Mann, I’ve got you! Starting at verse one, walk me through the argument of the chapter.” I almost wet myself! My worst fear was about to materialize. I stuttered and stammered and tried to do what he requested. At one point he said, “Verse 9? What are you doing there? What happened to 2-8?” The rest of the class saw blood . . . mine. I was swimming in a shark feeding frenzy and I was the main course! Their thinking was probably, if we let him have it, we spare ourselves.” It was a painful 20 minutes. So much so, that the other preacher got about 30 seconds at the end of the class.

Dr. Martens handed me my evaluation at the end of class and said “See me before you leave.”

I thought. “Oh great! He is going to tell me to go back to banking! Leave the preaching for those who are called and good at it.”

His private comments to me were pretty simple. “Terry, you have good skills. You are going to be a great preacher. Do not let this get you down.” I get tears in my eyes even today when I think of how powerful those words were for me when I really needed them.

The grade on it was a “C.” C for “Christ is gracious and this grade is undeserved,” if you get my point?

In the two week lecture break between the classes first and second sermons, I heard Dr. Martens tell us several times, “If you are stuck in your preparation, call me. Here is my home phone number. I will help you. Now, don’t you wait until the last minute, I will not have much patience then.” I must admit, I wondered if he really meant that, but he did give us his home phone number.

As I prepared for my second opportunity on a Tuesday, I was struggling a Sunday afternoon into the night remembering my last experience. I finally got desperate, and thought. “I am going to give Dr. Martens a call. It cannot be worse than what happened last time.” I dialed his home phone around 9:00 p.m.. One of his children answered. I asked for him, and nervously waited as he came to the phone.

“Dr. Martens, this is Terry Mann. I am in your 9:00 a.m. Tuesday – Thursday Homiletics class.”

“Hi Terry. I know who you are.”

“I am scheduled to preach this Tuesday and I am having a rough time.”

“Just a minute Terry, let me get my Bible and we will talk . . . now, what passage are you preaching from?”

“Exodus 2.”

“Okay, let’s go through this together.”

The next 20 minutes changed my life. He helped me learn how to walk through a passage of Scripture asking and answering questions. He helped me get my Big Idea, and breakdown the passage. Then he said, “Does that help?”

I replied, “Yes sir.”

“Good. Thanks for calling. Get me a good sermon from that passage for Tuesday. I look forward to hearing it.”

Dr. Ted Martens did more for my Bible study than any class I have ever taken in any location. He made me believe it was the priority of my ministry. He sold me on the fact that people did not need to hear what I thought; they needed to hear what God thought.

In those two separate twenty minute encounters, Dr. Martens had a bigger impact on my preaching that he, or you, will ever know. He made a difference. He made a difference that is evident in every sermon and every talk anyone hears me deliver to this day. Ted Martens, another person who really was “making a difference.”

By the way, my second sermon . . . I got an “A”