John’s testimonials are lacking in content and repetitious: “Look! The Lamb of God!” Yet on the basis of his witness two of his followers become Jesus’ first disciples. Having seen, John testifies so that others might see…

As Karl Barth said, anybody who stops on the sidewalk and points upward will draw a crowd of onlookers, each one looking up to see what’s captured another’s attention.

That’s my theory for why people still gather on Sunday morning to hear me, a frail, fallible preacher who is less attractive than Joel Osteen and less practical than Rick Warren.

Perhaps pop TV preachers have enabled the church again to marvel at the wonder of an artless human being standing up and witnessing to the truth.