Preaching Re-imagined - 1

I am interested in preaching. I brought up the topic at our last meeting and it seems to be one of some interest. Doug Pagitt's book Preaching Re-Imagined has drawn a lot of attention and strong reactions from many. Let's take a look at it.

Pagitt begins with an assumption that he believes the reader will share - preaching doesn't work - at least not as we've thought of it (pg. 18) This is why preachers read so many preaching books and attend conferences etc. We are hoping to find a 'key' to make preaching work.

Pagitt does, however, believe that preaching is important. The problem, he says, is that we've made preaching into 'speaching' (a term he coins). More on this soon.

He says that we live in a time where the best of 'speaching' is available to us through recordings, mp3, the internet, etc. but it still has not had the desired result.

I'd like your thoughts on the question, is preaching as we know it a broken form of communication? Pagitt's claim is that the problem is not that we're bad at preaching, but that 'speaching' (bascially the sermon as a speach given by one person to a group) is just not effective regardless of how 'good' we are at it.

I have strong feelings about the subject, but I'd like to know yours.