Our newly elected Southern Baptist Convention president Ed Litton was in the news recently because it was revealed that he had “plagiarized” sermons from the well-known mega church pastor JD Greear. Greear responded by saying that he gave him permission to use the sermons. However, Litton still got in trouble from the media because they said he was plagiarizing. As I read and listened to some of the responses from other pastors there was quite a vibrant discussion about what exactly is ” plagiarism” in preaching. Here are my thoughts on this topic.
1) Sermons are not academic presentations.
On Sunday morning when I preach, my main goal is not to present an academic article or to make something that is going to be used for profit. My main goal when I preach is life change. My goal is that when someone hears a message they will be motivated and inspired to grow in their faith, think more deeply about a spiritual issue, or make changes in their life that will benefit them spiritually. As I preach, I try to minimize distractions and keep them engaged so that they will hear and understand the word of God.
How does this relate to plagiarism? Since sermons are not academic presentations they should not be held to academic standards. When you go to a Broadway show, a food tasting event, a Christmas play, or a concert, do you treat them the same as something from the academic world? No! So why would you do the same with sermons?
2) Sermons are a collaborative effort.
It is no secret that pastors use other sources to help them prepare for a sermon. For example, the vast majority of modern pastors do not simply open the Bible, read a passage, and then start making a sermon based off of what they read. They dig into the passage, pray through it, and then read other commentaries about that passage to make sure that what they are thinking is not off. It is also normal for pastors to listen to other sermons to get ideas and hear how it is presented.
This does not mean that a pastor should copy other sermons verbatim, but the idea that a pastor simply gets up on Monday morning and creates a sermon out of the blue with no help from other sources is unrealistic.
Since sermons are collaborative and aim to impact people with life change, it is impractical to cite every source of every idea. How would you like to listen to a sermon that pauses every minute and gives the name of some theologian that you have never heard of?
How this works for me:
Each week I try to create a sermon that is biblically correct and engaging, while also in my own “style” of preaching. In other words, I really try to preach a sermon that is MINE. However, in the process of creating a sermon, it is inevitable that I am influenced by other theologians. On a weekly basis, I read or listen to other pastors to figure out the best way to outline a text or present a point. In all of these “big picture” situations, I never cite people from the pulpit because that would bog down the sermon with unnecessary information.
I tell a lot of stories in my sermons and I get them from a lot of difference sources. There are whole websites designed for pastors who need sermon illustrations, which I use. I also grab stories from commentaries and other sermons. In most of these situations, I never cite where I got the story from. Again, citing would distract from the main point of the sermon.
When I use a quote in my sermon, I usually say, “One pastor wrote…” and then give the quote. But again, I almost never give the name of the pastor or theologian unless it is important to know.
In my almost four years at Island Pond, I have never copied another full sermon word-for-word. There was one series I did a few years ago that was put out by the SBC and encouraged churches to use/copy the sermons they sent out. In that case I did use parts of the full sermon, but at the beginning of the sermon, I said, “Most of this sermon is from…” to let everyone know where it came from. However, in every other case, the sermon has come from me with varying degrees of influence from other people.
In conclusion…
I try to make my sermons original and personal, but I also freely use material from other pastors that will enhance the sermon without citing every idea. My goal is not to present my sermon as an academic presentation but a message that will impact the heart, so it is not practical to cite people during the message.
Going back to the issue with the newly elected president, unless new information comes out, it sounds like he does the exact same thing that most pastors (that I have encountered) do. We collaborate. We share. We use what works. We want lives to be changed by the gospel, not have everyone fact check every point.
A number of years ago, megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll got in trouble for plagiarizing in a book he wrote. This is not good! However, that is a very different situation from what pastors do on Sunday morning. Publishing has very clear rules for plagiarism. Sermons, on the other hand, are completely different.
In conclusion, don’t judge an apple according to standards for an orange. They are two very different things and should be judged differently. Likewise, don’t judge a pastor’s sermon by the same standard as a pastor’s academic pastor or a book he wrote. All are different, and all should be treated differently.
UPDATE: After this blog was written, more information came out that alleged Ed Litton did more than what I mentioned above. For example, some have shown that he used personal illustrations given by Greear but told them as if he did those things. If this is the case, then he is flat out lying and that is not acceptable for any Christian, much less a pastor, to do.