Paul Schafer doesnt believe in pulling his punches, and he asked some really searching questions in his recent interview of me. Pop over to his site if you want to read the whole thing. Here are some quotes from my answers:

"Well, lets put it this way, I know what God has called me to do in the church, and it is primarily to preach. I am passionate about preaching. I genuinely believe that other than prayer there is nothing else more important to the life of a church than preaching. I believe that preaching is crucial to the unfolding of Gods purposes. A message can unlock an individual's life sometimes saving YEARS of counseling. I am all for that! A message can heal a marriage, cure depression, release bondage to sin, bring a wanderer back to Christ and most amazing of all, be accompanied by the wonder of new birth. I believe that the word preached is the center of every healthy church and an appropriate approach to preaching will shape everything you do with your church structure and how you communicate outside of that golden hour on a Sunday morning."

.....there is something about the style of preaching which I think is vital - I want to see preaching which is hunting after souls......

A healthy church will be buzzing and people will be longing to be there.....I do think that one of the marks of a truly healthy church is that it will not remain small for long - well not more than ten years or so anyway. A healthy church will almost inevitably grow although in the early phases that growth may be very slow or even actually go into reverse gear for a while as some people leave!