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The Lost Authority of the Pulpit
Theodore Wedel:
Is the authority of the pulpit under a cloud in contemporary church life in America? Statistics are not available, and armchair indictments ought to be suspect. Yet evidence is not lacking that the Sunday sermon, still an institutionalized marvel of loyalty to tradition in our common life, occupies a place of less importance, in the eyes of both minister and people, than it did in the days of our fathers. One proof of the dwindling of its importance is fairly incontrovertible, namely, its comparative brevity when set alongside the sermon literature of previous generations.
– Theodore Wedel, Theology Today, p. 165.
5 Pt. Salt 
…wow, that’s a telling quote and very appropriate for today. I have some in my social circle who say that “[they] don’t attend their churches for the sermons. [They] attend for the community aspects.” To be fair, I used to voice the same sentiment until 15 months ago. What changed you ask? It was by God’s grace and His Spirit that I began picking up on suspicious teaching from the pulpit. The founding pastor left, so I thought there was a chance to “reform” the teaching/ the doctrinal foundation of the church.
Unfortunately, the new pastor rejected the sufficiency of scripture, especially inerrancy as a new theological invention in the last 150 years. I learned this from his own words via email exchanges and a final in person conversation. I’m 36 Joel, and it’s very hard to find pastors and church leaders, near my age (whether older or younger), who believe in the authority of the scriptures. The title of this post is so true that it hurts.