In this section of the blog, we'll be providing illustrations or links to stories for use in your preaching. Below is an example of what these will be like.
Brittany McComb had seen plenty of success. Having excelled in music, swimming, photography, and all her classes, McComb was prepared to graduate as valedictorian of Foothill High School in Henderson, Nevada.
But McComb had seen enough of success to know that it was not the answer. All her achievements had failed to grant her fulfillment and self-worth. So as she penned her valedictory speech, she shared the secret of true victory with her classmates.
Or, she tried to.
School officials took issue with McComb's acknowledging that God, through Christ, had rescued her from bondage to perfectionism. Citing separation of church and state, they deleted every mention of Christ in her speech, and presented her with a redacted, state-approved speech. They warned McComb that, should she try to deliver her own version of the speech, they would turn off her microphone.
McComb consulted family, close friends, and the Lord intensively before she finally took the podium on graduation day. And she did what she knew she had to. She delivered her own version of the speech, all the way up to the first erasure: "God's love is so great that he gave his only son up…."
Her microphone went dead, as promised. But McComb finished her sentence anyway: "…to an excruciating death on a cross so his blood would cover all our shortcomings and provide for us a way to heaven in accepting this grace."
In the media's hubbub over the event, much was made of McComb's deviant behavior, while the fact that the audience began cheering and chanting, "Let her speak! Let her speak!" was nearly ignored. And McComb is clear on where she stands regarding submission to authority.
"I have always been one to uphold the standards of the school, to respect my elders, to respect authority," she says. "But when you tell me I can't be who I am, that's when I have to take a stand."
Brittany Tarr, Wheaton, Illinois; source: Lynn Vincent, "Speaking Her Mind," WORLD (September 16, 2006), p. 28–29
Brittany Tarr is assistant editor of preaching resources at Christianity Today, International.
Posted by Brittany Tarr at 8:00 AM on February 20, 2007
