Interviewing Dan Cates about the Preacher's Local Work
"Your family needs you as much as, even more so than, the local congregation does."
I’m excited to share with you another interview with a fellow gospel preacher and also a man who has served as an elder in the Lord’s church.
Dan Cates is one of my teachers from when I was in preaching school, but he was a friend a long time before that. His advice will be beneficial to you.
How did you get started preaching? Did someone in particular encourage you to preach? Did you always want to preach, or did something happen to change your mind?
I was privileged to grow up in a preacher's home with both a father (Curtis A. Cates, Sr.) and grandfather (Curtis C. Cates) who preached. From a young age, I loved learning the Bible and teaching it, so easily followed in those footsteps early on (I was teaching a Bible class shortly after conversion, preached my first sermon three years later, and was preaching weekly at the age of fifteen).
I was not pressured to preach; in fact, for a time in my later teenage years, preaching was an afterthought as I considered a career in teaching. Ultimately, at twenty-two I began to attend preaching school. Even over the next few years I considered teaching (grammar or history or geology) rather than preaching.
How has your approach to preaching changed from when you started preaching to today?
I don't know that the approach has changed too much; if it has, it would be in the realm of patience with those to whom I preach.
Early on, preachers expect for hearers to react immediately and positively; in reality, immediate reactions are often either negative or the product of emotion; accordingly, I have learned to let reason take its time to produce positive results.
Who were some preachers who had the most influence over your development as a preacher? How did they help you to grow?
There were many whom I heard and, perhaps more importantly, watched in my early years--obviously Dad and my grandfather. Other great influences included Rex A. Turner, Sr., (who started what is now Amridge University) and W.B. West, Jr. (who started Harding Graduate School). Three of those four were, in my estimation, primarily teachers (especially of subjects like history and language--which were among my favorites); while a student at MSOP, I was able to learn under a similar, great influence, Richard Curry.
I am blessed to now teach subjects taught by those four. The same way I consider them more teachers than preachers, I would consider myself.
What would you say to a Christian man (young or old) who is considering preaching? How would you advise them to proceed?
I would advise him to make sure that is what he wants to do, to count the cost (not just financial, but especially emotional--"the care of the churches" [2 Cor. 11:28]), and then to be trained by preachers for the task at hand (who better than preachers to train preachers?).
How would you encourage a less experienced preacher to keep going through the ups and downs of preaching?
Really the same as the young man. So many, even untrained preachers, think that preaching is just preparing a Bible class or practicing public speaking. It is so much more!
How did you connect with an older generation when you were young, and how did you connect with a younger generation as you grew older?
I probably grew up a little too early in some ways; while brethren Turner and West were seventy-some odd years my seniors, I saw them as friends (because of the way that they treated me [brother Turner would ask about my "girlfriends" when I was six or seven years old and brother West would stay with us when he taught in Montgomery and we would enjoy ice cream together nightly and he would call me "Danny"--in fact, he was the only person ever to do so]); it was not hard, therefore, to relate to those who were older, but I really struggled relating to others my age.
Ironically, I believe that I am better able to relate to those who are younger because of the way that I was treated by them when I was well younger.
How has your appreciation for your brothers and sisters in Christ grown over the years? How would you advise less experienced preachers to think of their brethren?
As we grow and see our own weaknesses, we should appreciate others and what strengths they offer more. That certainly has been true in my case.
As far as how preachers, indeed any brethren, ought to treat their brethren, Paul answered that in 1 Timothy 5:1,2: "Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity."
How would you advise less experienced preachers to face conflicts in the Lord’s church? What have you learned from going through various challenges within the congregation?
While an ability to see things from multiple angles/viewpoints and an abundance of patience are underlying keys for handling conflict, ultimately, the attributes of love can play a role (1 Cor. 13:4-8). I would suggest that one be prepared for anything to happen.
Many times I have heard former-students say that they didn't really think that all of the stories their instructors and other preachers told them could really have happened until they began to experience similar bizarre circumstances.
How have godly elders helped you over the years? What advice would you give preachers who are facing the challenge of an eldership that isn’t all they are supposed to be?
I have been blessed to have served under wonderful elders; however, I have also had to labor under ones who ultimately proved to have been unqualified. Godly elders can provide great support, even when they are challenging preachers (especially young ones). The hands of godly elders should be raised by godly preachers!
Sometimes preachers have to endure elders who are growing into their jobs and responsibilities. Preachers can patiently help that process, realizing that elders are human, too.
For preachers in situations where elders are not truly qualified, the focus should be on doing their job and slowly preaching the things that have to be addressed so that the work is not hurt and the rest of the eldership or congregation can ultimately see for themselves potential problems.
How has your prayer life developed over the years? What advice would you give younger preachers about prayer?
Over time, prayer has really eased the burdens of preaching for me. When I was younger, I may have tried to handle things myself when I should have let God handle them. Preachers do not need to think that God speaks to them but they cannot speak to Him. When we study His Word, He speaks to us; when we pray, we speak to Him.
There can be a lot of reflection and realization in study; however, those things can also be a product of prayer.
Too, the preacher will express to God what he could never express to man, and, in reality, there are some things that only God can understand. The preacher should lay his heart open before God in prayer.
How did you try to balance your work and your family? What advice would you offer younger preachers with small children at home?
If I were successful as a preacher but my family were lost, I do not know that I would have been that successful a preacher. I was blessed to have two parents who elevated the Lord's work, but not the congregation over the family. Your family needs you as much as, even moreso than, the local congregation does. If sister so-and-so calls you "my preacher," that's great; but that does not compare to having a grown child who can call his dad "my preacher."
My advice would not only be to put family above the congregation, but also to lead not drive/push the children. If the preacher is truly modeling the way, the children will see that and follow; however, if he be domineering and force Christianity upon them, then it is not on merits of God and Christ and the Bible and the church but on the coercion of the father that obedience comes; accordingly, when the child is out from under the father's rule, there is nothing to keep him.
I would also encourage young preachers not to speak badly about the elders or congregation (any member) in front of the children. If they learn that brother so-and-so is in sin; help them to understand that his soul still matters and that God still loves him and show them that you love him, too.
What Bible passage(s) mean the most to you in your life right now? How has it come to mean so much to you?
Ecclesiastes 7:8 has always meant so much to me for its teaching on patience and pride in the latter part of the verse, but also for its simple, beginning instruction "Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof." I have a tendency to start more things than I finish, so I often view the verse from that standpoint; more importantly, though, the meaning is complementary to the earlier 7:2: "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart" and 7:1b: "and the day of death [is better] than the day of one's birth."
It is not how one starts but how one finishes that is most important, so we must live in view of eternity!
If you would like to say anything to younger, less experienced preachers that hasn’t been mentioned, please do so here.
Simply, "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:2)
Dan Cates preaches for the Independence Church of Christ in Independence, MS.
Dan also serves as one of the instructors at the Memphis School of Preaching in Memphis, TN. He’s heavily involved with the school’s online Bible program - which is free for anyone who’s interested. Click here to explore their archived classes.