In a content analysis of the 125 incidents of Jesus’ encounters with people, Ralph L. Lewis has found that “roughly 54 percent of those encounters are initiated by His hearers. Instead of standing up and proclaiming the message He wanted the people to hear, He responded to His audience’s questions, objects, doubts. He allowed and welcomed their involvement.”30 In traditional pulpit-centric preaching, great labor is spent on writing better opening sentences. But in participatory preaching, time is spent on creating better opening (and closing) interactions.
