Travis Twyman On Teaching & Preaching Scripture

VUSA: Tell me why you’re so passionate about Scripture teaching. What in your story makes you so passionate about the Scriptures?

Travis Twyman: When I fell in love with Jesus, I fell in love with his Word. I know different things come more naturally to different followers of Jesus, and there are other character traits we all have to work on and develop. But one of the things that comes naturally to me is a love and passion to experience Scripture devotionally, to listen to it read out loud and to study it deeply as an inspired historical document. And to teach and preach Scripture in a direct, personal, applicable way.

Scripture, for me, has always been an invitation into a conversation with God. Psalms is arguably my favorite book in the Bible. But all of Scripture, not just the Psalms, is an invitation. I read it slowly, using it to reflect and interact with God in a conversation.

Also, in my role as a pastor, I like the preaching and teaching aspects the most. I see Scripture as a guide for life — and I see it as being very practical in ways we don’t even expect. Don’t we kind of wish there was a book in the Bible named “How to Get Rich the Jesus Way”? Or, “How to Raise Great Kids”? Books like that wouldn’t work. But in giving us the Bible, God actually gave us something that’s even more practical in a deep and transformative way.

[bctt tweet=”I see Scripture as an inspired historical document, but also as a guide for life. – Travis Twyman” quote=”I see Scripture as an inspired historical document, yes, but also as a guide for life.”]

I see Scripture as an inspired historical document, yes, but also as a guide for life. And if we really go for it, it can lead us into the kind of life that is truly life.

So, right now, how do you practically engage the Scriptures? What does that look like for you personally?

I read 30 minutes to an hour every morning, and I have five tabs in my Bible. So I’m always doing an Old Testament historical reading, a Psalm, something from the prophetic literature, a piece of the New Testament gospels, and one of Paul’s epistles. I’m sort of encountering the whole story every day. Sometimes I’ll blitz through a chapter or two in each of those sections, and sometimes I’ll get caught up in a verse, and the conversation will take me deeper than I anticipated.

On Fridays, I’ll take an additional couple of hours and engage in deeper study, which is different than my regular sermon prep. Sometimes I’ll have a commentary, but most of the time it’s just me and the text.

Along with the daily reading and my Friday longer studies, I do take a three-day quiet retreat once a year. There’s a lot of Scripture involved in that too. So that gives me a daily, weekly and yearly rhythm. Sometimes I include journaling in all that.

In all honesty, there have been times in my journey where it’s been so, so wonderful and fruitful. When I’m doing the readings, I just feel so filled. But there have also been times where I’ve just felt drier and drier as I pressed in further. There’s a whole conversation in that too.

That’s my rhythm of personal devotion.

I have also found that meditation and prayer are so much easier if I combine those two things with reading Scripture. They can be kind of separate entities, but when I put them all together into a “read, think, ponder and talk” process with God, that has been so much more fruitful for me.

In Inland Vineyard, how do you help your congregation engage with Scripture, both in how you preach to them and teach them?

Well, as simple as it sounds, I think the main thing is preaching week in and week out through books of the Bible. I’ve shared with people why I do that, and I encourage it, not as the only way to preach Scripture, but as arguably the healthiest way to teach Scripture. I’m being careful in how I say that. But I think it’s significant in helping people engage to model preaching books, chapter by chapter, and really leading the congregation through the text in the way that congregations were intended to hear it.

So give me a few examples of length. How long does it take you to teach certain books of the Bible?

One example: I could take Matthew and do it in 10 weeks, since you have 5 blocks of teaching and 5 blocks of works right there in the text. Now, obviously that’s not line by line, but you can move through the gospel of Matthew with that kind of flavor. You’d be getting the thrust and the force of the narrative.

Right now, we’re going through Ephesians in 12 weeks. I did Song of Solomon in 8 weeks. I would say I go with 4- or 8- or 10- or 12-week series. I’m not a “preach Romans for a decade” kind of guy, but I would say, “Hey, we’re going to do a rather extended series on Romans, and we’re going to go 16 weeks.” I think I’ve only done one series that long in the last seven years. That is stretching it for me.

Preaching in this way doesn’t mean I won’t have a theme. For example, right now we’re going through Ephesians, but the title of the series is “The War on Relationships.” When I was in Song of Solomon, it was “God, Sex and Romance.” I look at how the book addresses a topic that has a felt need to it. I will read and re-read it and see what I think is emerging as the overall kernel of intent.

Something prompts every writer to write something. If you’re going to write something to your wife, or to your community, or to your nation, there is a thing you’re trying to say that responds to a certain cultural or relational situation. I believe every book in the Bible has that, and I’ll try to find that and use that as the title of the series.

Some preachers in this day and age are so good at their task and so creative when they are pulling verses from different places and preaching topically. So people are getting Scripture, but in my opinion, they aren’t necessarily getting a model they can take home with them and do themselves.

I don’t see my role as preparing a good message in that vein. I see my role as, “How can I lead this community to engage with the Word in a way that they will actually do it?” My intent is to model how to get into the Word.

The other thing I would add is that I think preaching a sermon involves engaging three stories. The first is the story of the text. That’s where the power is. The second story is my story, the story of the teacher, and how the text has truly impacted my life. I think that helps people start to engage with the text. The third story is, of course, their story. I want them to see how they can draw the text into their own lives and apply it to every issue we’re struggling with as humans.

So that’s the rundown of the main service on Sunday. But of course, we utilize Scripture in all kinds of small groups. We have Bible study groups, devotional groups, our membership class, which all call for members and leaders to learn how to “self-feed.” That way, when we come to church, we’re feeding others. That’s a good term, “self-feed.” But a lot of the Bible is pretty difficult and confusing. It’s dense. You have a seminary degree. So maybe you’ve got your tab stuck in Ezekiel 16, and you can read it and get it on a different level than someone just walking into your church, where Ezekiel 16 might as well be in a foreign language. How do you help people deal with the Bible in its confusing parts, in its stranger-seeming parts?

I do believe the Bible is a guide for worship and guide for life, but yes, it’s also an ancient document. I will regularly talk about that. I’ll tell people, “People say the Bible is easy to read. So just go read it, and you’ll see there’s really nothing further from the truth.” It’s a difficult book to get hold of, because it is an ancient document and is dealing with tough concepts.

If you approach the Bible thinking it’s going to be an easy read, you’re going to be knocked off course really quick. I front-load that truth. I don’t do it to scare people away, far from it, but I would just rather they were warned almost, prepped for it. Rather than jumping in thinking it’s going to be easy and then thinking they’re stupid or unspiritual for not getting it.

I also tell people that Scripture is a book we will all be learning for a lifetime. So the idea of mastering Scripture is not what we’re called to do. Submitting to it is what we’re called to do. And that takes a lifetime and more.

And don’t forget that I have the specific role of explaining Scripture. In one sense, yes, we are all individually studying and reading it together and are trying to make sense of it. But I really do have a unique role in the body of Christ as we worship God to leading people to seek to understand the written teachings better. And I’m called — and frankly, I’m paid — to help people figure it out. I add the historical context. I put pieces together. That’s the role of a preacher, a teacher, a pastor.

The Bible is complicated, and so is your life. If the Bible was easy, it wouldn’t help you with your life.

Exactly.

Lastly, as you think about the Vineyard movement as a whole, we’re a Scripture-and-Spirit movement. And different people within the Vineyard are holding those different parts in tension. I believe part of your role is that you are holding that Scripture side. What does it mean to you to not let go of the Scripture side of that tension?

I would say that it would be a continuation of who we have always been. One of the things that drew me to the Vineyard early on was John Wimber’s willingness to talk about all the dynamics of the kingdom of God. Not only mercy, but judgment too … and how mercy does ultimately triumph over judgment.

John was willing to teach the full counsel of the kingdom message. I think that’s in our DNA, and I think we need to be resilient in continuing to preach the full counsel of God’s word. [bctt tweet=”We cannot just teach what is easy to teach, but we need to continue to develop the message of the kingdom of God.” quote=”We cannot just teach what is easy to teach, but we need to continue to develop the message of the kingdom of God.”]

It draws to mind the passage in Ephesians where Paul asks the Ephesians to pray for him that he would fearlessly proclaim the word of God. We’re a Spirit movement. We’re a works movement. We’re a movement that preaches, then has ministry time anchored in the Word of God deep within our souls.

Holding onto that tension is essential, especially because the culture is saying, “Give us something that will make our life better. Tell us how God can help me in my life.” I think we have to be careful as preachers to not succumb to the demands of the culture … yet remain incarnational in reaching culture. Culture is telling preachers today to dull the sharp edges of the gospel. And I think in our Vineyard DNA, we do not want and have never chosen to do that.

[bctt tweet=”Being a Word-and-Spirit people is incumbent upon the pastors and leaders. – Travis Twyman ” quote=”To stay true to that vocation of being a Word-and-Spirit people is incumbent upon the pastors and leaders in this movement.”]

The culture also tells us now that any sane person is naturally a universalist. So, in the next 30 years, preaching the full counsel of God’s Word and all the ramifications of the kingdom of God is going to be really difficult. To stay true to that vocation of being a Word-and-Spirit people is incumbent upon the pastors and leaders in this movement.

Another concern of mine is that in the next 30 years, we’re going to become a biblically illiterate generation. We’re moving that way. How do we turn that tide by the power of the Spirit?

What drew me to the Vineyard was that there was nothing in Scripture that was off limits to say. It all deserved to be said. We got to feel the weight of who God is and deal with that. I believe that is what ultimately changes lives.

Often, when I’m talking to young people about Scripture and its importance, they’ll interject with “Yeah, Scripture. But we’ve got to change the world! We’ve got to do things!” To that I say, absolutely! Think of some of your heroes that have changed the world. What was Mother Teresa reading when she decided to give her life to serving the poor? Matthew 25. Think of William Wilberforce when he decided to give his life to help abolish the slave trade. What was he reading? What was Martin Luther King, Jr. reading? He was preaching Galatians when he was filled with a vision. Bob Pierce: in starting World Vision, what was he reading?

Some people are called to works of justice. They are called to start hospitals and fight for human rights, and that is good. But I am called too. I’m called — and the church is ultimately called — to be readers and teachers of Scripture. That’s what’s going to light people up to go and do what they are uniquely called to do. In my opinion, 90 percent of the heroes that have changed the world would not have had their ideas without Scripture.

Yes, change the world. But remember what the impetus is for that change.