The sickest I have ever been and still preached was . ..

Welcome to the board from Ireland Pastor Brian!

I once preached with strep throat and could just barely speak at all. It went well and the Lord provided in a great way.

I have been blessed, very few times in the pulpit when I was sick.

 

Hello Brian and welcome from England. I hope you will enjoy posting here and I hope you will feel better soon.

God Bless

 

I can work through a lot of things, but I am afraid of what I would say when I was sick enough not to preach!

 

I preached with a 103 degree temp. I don't remember what I said but I was invited back (guest preacher) so it wasn't all that bad. People didn't even realize I was ill. I am either really dedicated or really stupid or both lol

 

While this may not qualify as "sick", one Sunday during the song prior to the message, my nose began to bleed profusely. I tried to get it stopped but had to ask them to continue the music for a few minutes while we tried to get the bleeding stopped. It finally stopped and I went ahead and preached.

Fortunately my text that day was from the book of CLOTssians.

 

Just a couple weeks ago, I had a stomach bug so bad that I spent all day Saturday in bed or in the bathroom kneeling at the throne and I wasn't praying. I got up Sunday morning and still did not feel great but went ahead and preached as well. My head was spinning through most of it and I stayed pretty close to the pulpit so I could hold on to it since my legs were weak. I got through my message and I was finishing up I can remember thinking to myself, "that was a waste, that was the worst sermon I have ever preached." And in only a way that God can, 2 people came forward that morning to talk to me and share with me how touched they were and that God worked in their hearts during my message. So God clearly spoke to me that in my worst and in my weakness, God can still work mightily. A simple reminder, it is not me or my work, but all about Him and His work!

 

A number of years ago I was extremely sick (had a bad case of pneumonia at the time but did not know it yet) and literally could not speak because of the irritation of congestion that was literally in my throat – I was coughing up all sorts of bloody junk.

When it came time for me to present the gospel message every day for a mission Vacation Bible School that I was leading, somehow my throat would clear and I would regain my voice enough to say what needed to be said. As soon as I finished, I would immediately lose my voice again. This pattern went on for four days (Monday through Thursday VBS) without fail. God also worked mightily in the lives of the children and their parents through the week.

After VBS was over, I lost my voice and did not regain it for about 10 days.

I noticed that when I could not speak, I spent much more time in prayer. I’ve tried to apply that lesson to my life ever since.

 

I realize that sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but if you know you are really contagious, it could be better to stay home even if there is no sermon.

Church often has a big pool of elderly, pregnant women, children, infants, people on chemo, etc.
My family has gotten very ill at church because people came when they were sick.

Karen

 

Same here - my kids have gotten hand foot and mouth twice from there and my husband (the pastor) also got it once (TERRIBLE on adults)and had to cancel the night before on preaching at a homecoming in a neighboring state. If he is really contagiously ill, he calls a replacement.

 

Oh gracious! Pet Peeve! People who come to church or bring their children to church when they are sick! I've had moms say, 'I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow... I think she has strep throat'. Oh THANKS mom! I've refused children into the nursery who were noticeably ill! I will ask if the child has allergies or is on antibiotics tho. Sneezing is one thing. Burning up with fever is another!

I had one grandmother pulled out of the choir when her grandchild was vomiting, diarrhea and had soiled himself so badly that we had to strip him naked and try to wash out his clothes in a sink. She got angry at me but I sent him home wrapped in a baptismal towel!

Stay HOME if you're sick!

 

I stay home when I'm sick. I work in a school district, too, so it's a double whammy for passing around sicknesses.

Two situations that I can think of in my experiences:

I sometimes battle positional vertigo and have had to hold on to the pulpit until "the ride" was over.

One of my first times preaching, I lost my voice as soon as I started and had to whisper to the crowd. Oh, and this church had no microphones. Fortunately, they were quiet enough to where you could hear a pin drop.

Probably were amazed at what happened.

 

Excellent points.

In my defense , the incident I mention was over 20 years ago (when I was a mere lad of 17) and I did not have the luxury of going home (on a mission trip 1/3 of the way across the country).

However, I did have the good sense to stay away from the children (had absolutely no contact) and spend most of my time in another part of the building away from the VBS in order to avoid passing on the crud.

 

Good job, BaptistBeliever! I know, sometimes you DO have to go on even when sick. We werent slammin' ya!

 

In over 30 years of pastoral ministry I have had a few bad voice Sundays when I was croaking more than speaking, but I have never missed a Sunday or Wednesday service because of sickness of any kind.

However, the classic story was my wife's uncle who was an evangelist (I say was, because he is with the Lord now ). He was holding a meeting in our church. We got him some cold medicine for his sinus congestion. Somehow the cold medicine reacted with his blood pressure medicine and he passed out and went down right during the message and pulled the pulpit down with him. He was 6' 8" and went down like ton of bricks. It was an exciting evening.

 

I have preached a couple times when sick. The worst though was Bronchial Pneumonia. I tried to find someone to fill the pulpit, but was unsucessful. I preached about 15 minutes, turned the service over to one of the men to sing a few songs, went and threw up and then finished the service.

Not a pleasureable experience.