The life of the preacher matters, and in this searching message Dr Alan Stoddard calls Bible teachers back to integrity, honesty, holiness, and the fear of God.
Originally delivered at an Expositors Collective training event in St Petersburg, Florida in 2025, this episode addresses one of the most urgent questions facing pastors and ministry leaders today: what kind of person should stand before God’s people and handle God’s Word?
Alan speaks candidly about a church culture that has been painfully shaken by moral failure, abuse scandals, celebrity pastor collapses, plagiarism, hidden compromise, and failures of accountability. But this is not a message of cynicism or despair. It is a call to recover the fear of God, to live above reproach, and to remember that effective expository teaching flows from a life, not merely a process.
Drawing from 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and the values of the Expositors Collective, Alan argues that preaching happens through the personality of the preacher, and that personality must be shaped by a real relationship with God. The preacher must not only explain Scripture accurately, but be formed by Scripture deeply.
In this message, Alan highlights eight traits that should mark those who handle the Word of God: grace-filled, honest, secure, hard-working, bold, zealous, teachable, and sympathetic. He speaks directly about sermon plagiarism, the temptation to rely on artificial shortcuts, the need to write our own sermons, the courage to preach difficult texts, and the importance of proclaiming the gospel boldly without chasing celebrity, eloquence, or applause.
For pastors, Bible teachers, small group leaders, and anyone entrusted with the ministry of the Word, this episode is a timely reminder: preach grace, but live as someone changed by grace; teach holiness, but do not become harsh or judgmental; proclaim the Word, but stand under it first.
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