August 3, 2026 / When Efficiency Replaces Soul Formation

8.3.26

Hey, Calvary Fremont –

Would you like that hamburger thrown into the microwave for a few minutes or put onto the BBQ to be tended by a pro? Yeah – me, too. Would you want your pastor to spend thirty minutes on his laptop and put together a sermon written by AI – complete with suitable humor and pointed illustrations – or would you want him to labor for hours in the Word and appropriate literature, writing and rewriting his sermon, seeking after the heart and mind of God revealed in Scripture? Yeah – me, too.

Some will protest and say, “Why spend 10 hours writing a sermon when you can get the same result in 30 minutes?” It’s a sensible question. If I can mow my lawn in 10 minutes with a power mower, why take an hour and mow it with something I have to strenuously push, and then rake up the grass? The power mower makes more sense – and I get the same result. Would I rather take 20 minutes and wash all the dishes or take two minutes and put them into the dishwasher? The dishwasher makes more sense – and I get the same result. If I can prepare a ready-to-go sermon in 30 minutes, why take 10 hours and go slowly and prayerfully through the text inductively studying the immediate and remote context, do word studies, consult the commentaries and theological journals and books I have read, write and rewrite the principles I will use for main headings, find and think through various illustrations and relevant application? Why take the time to do all that when I can get the same result – a ready-to-preach sermon in 30 minutes? My argument is that you don’t get the same result.

An AI sermon doesn’t need a thoughtful pastor – just a knowledgeable technician. Yet I don’t want my pastor to be a technician – I want him to be a man of God. Some will protest and say, “The two are not mutually exclusive. You can be a savvy technician and a man of God at the same time.” I say, “Yes – theoretically.” Here’s the catch – the AI sermon preparation approach bypasses one of the most, if not the most, critical process of the ministry – penetrating, prolonged, and prayerful interaction with the Word of God which forms the man of God. The pastor just doesn’t put together a sermon for Sunday. He just doesn’t grab a text, mix in some humor and illustrations and applications and tell himself, “That’ll preach.” The text for that week’s sermon challenges and rebukes and corrects and edifies and searches the pastor as he studies it. He is unmade and remade as he studies through the passage. The pastor doesn’t entrust himself to Artificial Intelligence – he is seeking Divine Intelligence. He is not satisfied with accurate Biblical information and relevant theological knowledge, with cute illustrations and timely application – he is satisfied with nothing less than a revelation of the heart and mind of God to him – and it is this which is communicated to the congregation.

Technicians are trained; men of God are called. Being a powerful communicator can be taught; anointing comes from the throne of God. Is the Church settling for trained communicators over called and anointed men? One of the ‘selling points’ of AI sermons is the time it will save the pastor. Yes, it shaves times off of sermon preparation – and soul formation.

This “Let AI write your sermon” craze is crazy. If a man generates an AI ready-to-preach sermon, all of the information and knowledge that comes to settle into the heart and mind through hours and hours of study and research is bypassed. All the Greek and Hebrew and history and theology and philosophy and culture and commentary and thinking and praying is bypassed. Some will protest, “He got all that in seminary.” Yet we all know – if you don’t use it, you lose it! Someone has said that any pastor who faithfully carries out his task of preaching week after month after year, with all of the preparation it takes, should be awarded a fresh Masters Degree every five years.

But here’s the kicker – I once fed AI a Bible passage and asked it to write a sermon for me based on that text. And it did. And it was good! It was theologically sound, pastorally sensitive, and peppered with good illustrations and relevant applications. It was a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise. Think of all the time I could save. But this short-cut would cut-short my spiritual formation. More than anything else, that frightens me. More than good communicators with good sermons, the Church needs men of God. Don’t let short-cuts cut short the work of the Holy Spirit. As more pastors lean on AI, I predict larger and larger incidences of pastoral burnout as they bypass that which is meant to form and sustain them.

Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim