Johnny Can’t Read; Johnny Can’t Write

In his book Why Johnny Can’t Preach, Dr. T. David Gordon succinctly asserts that Johnny can’t preach, and the reason Johnny can’t preach is found in these two statements:

1.   Johnny can’t preach because Johnny can’t read.

2.   Johnny can’t preach because Johnny can’t write.

In these two statements, Dr. Gordon is not saying that preachers are illiterate or uneducated. He’s uncovering a broader societal issue and arguing from the belief that contemporary preachers live in an image-rich and visually driven world.

He’s not trying to say that Johnny is incapable of reading but that Johnny lives in a world of sound bites, vignettes, and tweets, thus, culturally, Johnny is conditioned to scan blurbs rather than read literature carefully.

His second assertion is like his first. His point is not to say that preachers lack the ability to write but that they do not work hard to master the discipline of writing, and thus they lack clarity and precision in their preaching.

My ordination mentor, Dr. Arnold Fleagle, passed along these helpful words to me early on in my ministry. (While I’m sure they did not originate with him, I have found them immensely helpful over the years.) “Dennis,” he said, “reading makes a deep man, but writing makes a precise man.”

I think this is part of what Dr. Gordon is trying to say. But his assertions bring up more questions, don’t they? What do we read? How can we learn to be a better writer? How can we make time for this?

What are your thoughts?