Mark Buchanan, in his book Hidden in Plain Sight, tells about a friend of his named Gary Nelson. Gary is an outstanding preacher, says Mark, but it wasn’t always so. As the youth pastor at a large church early in his ministry Gary wasn’t often allowed in the pulpit, but when he was, he would preach long, dull sermons filled with Greek explications of long, tedious texts.

One humid Pentecost Sunday Gary was assigned to preach on the Holy Spirit. With the solemnness that only a young pastor can feel, Gary began with the opening verses of Genesis, then he paused in the Psalms, then the Prophets, then the Gospel of John. An hour into the sermon the congregation was wilting in the heat, but he was just getting started. He strode into Acts and told the story of the first Pentecost. He told abou…