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A Pastor’s Biggest Nightmare: Pitching Your Tents

Orginally published on Friday, September 23, 2005 at 8:47 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Oh my goodness… I laughed until I cried. Of course it could have been that it was late and I was in deep need of some sleep. Have you ever said something while speaking that just didn’t come out right? Well, so did this pastor…

I have no idea who this pastor is or where he is from (and, I'm sure that he would like to remain anonymous); but hopefully he is laughing along with everyone else.

Here's the video link. (Note: It took awhile to load on my computer).

And a word to the faint of heart. This is not something you would normally hear from the pulpit; so please be warned.

Have a great weekend.

Todd

FOR DISCUSSION: Have you ever had a 'slip of the tongue' while preaching? Care to share, or would you rather just forget?!

This post has been viewed 4112 times so far.

TRACKBACKS: (1) There are 24 Comments:

Posted by soulpastor

Friday, September 23, 2005 at 9:13 AM

Thanks for the laugh this morning!
I have had too many slips and phrases that stick out “gasp for breath” and “Reeses Pieces” what I will not share is what really came out.

GOOD ONE!
Posted by Royal Farris

Friday, September 23, 2005 at 9:28 AM

What was hard to watch was what he did to himself afterwards. If he had ignored it and gone on, it would have stayed around a while. The way he handled I think how he handeled it makes it even more of a distraction.

A wise teacher told me, you acknowledge it, and go on and it gets everyone back on track quicker and you remain cool.
Posted by

Friday, September 23, 2005 at 3:33 PM

I had a friend who once preached that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the ass of a colt.

And I was leading worship a few years ago and realized that I had just sang the line, “Let angels prostate fall.”

Actually, I thought his reaction was fine. You’ve gotta be able to laugh at yourself.
Posted by

Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 12:38 PM

My dad was speaking about vietnam one time and made mention of their Rice Craps it was really funny and he did kind of the same thing just laughed and went on. I thought he was ok, the funniest part was the look in his eyes after he said it, it was a I know I did not just say that… that was a good laugh for a sat morning thanks!!!
Posted by

Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 3:11 PM

Thank you! Let’s us know that we are human. Still laughing!
Posted by Pastor Al

Saturday, September 24, 2005 at 9:44 PM

Poor Guy, I feel for him having done it myself. Sometimes, it is best to forget the sermon and have a good laugh!
Posted by Andy

Sunday, September 25, 2005 at 5:25 PM

I was preached...."if your ass fall in ditch pull it out”. The biggest problem was looking at a few of my friends in the church that did their best not to laugh. I on the other hand...couldn’t stop.
Posted by

Monday, September 26, 2005 at 9:48 AM

I heard a Christian college chapel speaker relate the occasion when his daughter had “her ears pissed”. I have no idea what he spoke about that day.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 7:11 AM

Anyone ever find out who this guy is and where he’s pastoring? I’d love to see some of his other work.
Posted by Stephen Modawell

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 10:21 AM

Thanks for the laugh! I love it when I am minding my own business and come across something like this that makes me stop what I am doing and just laugh out loud!

Two kinds of folks… those that tell you they laughed… and those that wish they could.... tell you that is!
Posted by Stephen Modawell

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 10:22 AM

Thanks for the laugh! I love it when I am minding my own business and come across something like this that makes me stop what I am doing and just laugh out loud!

Two kinds of folks… those that tell you they laughed… and those that wish they could.... tell you that is!

Real Living is far more enjoyable than Pretending…
Posted by

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 at 1:50 PM

Once in the middle of a very serious sermon I said something very funny , so funny that most of the congregation really laughed out loud , all I could do was look puzzled because still to this day , I don’t know what I said that was so funny… and if you think about it ... thats funny ... the moral of the story? “Dont take yourself too seriously” ....
Posted by

Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 2:30 PM

That is *the* funniest blooper I’ve *ever* heard!! My pastor hubby cracked up too!

That poor guy! ROTFLMHO! Just shows we’re still human! The video of it was a nice touch...seeing his face...well, it is hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by

Tuesday, October 04, 2005 at 2:54 PM

This blooper was by Blake Bergstrom - High School Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Parker, CO.
Posted by

Monday, October 10, 2005 at 4:03 PM

I heard a very well known pastor say “brutally married” when he meant “brutally murdered.” He laughed a bit about Freudian slips and jokingly apologized to his wife. Sadly, it came out not too long after that he had been an unfaithful husband over a period of years, so his wife might have felt she’d been brutally married. It was funny and memorable at the time.
Posted by

Monday, October 10, 2005 at 4:05 PM

I heard a very well known pastor say “brutally married” when he meant “brutally murdered.” He laughed a bit about Freudian slips and jokingly apologized to his wife. Sadly, it came out not too long after that he had been an unfaithful husband over a period of years, so his wife might have felt she’d been brutally married. It was funny and memorable at the time.
Posted by

Monday, October 24, 2005 at 11:33 AM

I can’t help but believe this was intentional since I had heard this years ago while I was in seminary. The problem is that when I read that passage now I recall what happened before - I speak very slowly and distinctly or - it is easy to make the same mistake again.
Posted by

Sunday, October 30, 2005 at 11:05 PM

I take care of videos, sound and lighting for youth events at a large church in Australia. Recently we took a small team to lead a service at a country church (mainly older people in the cogregation) where we decided to use Keith Green’s “O Lord You’re Beautiful” in the service. During the rehearsal, our worship leader somehow managed to sing “Your book of lies” instead of “Your book of books lies undisturbed.” It was hilarious and took about 5 minutes to get the rehearsal back on track!
Thankfully the book of lies didn’t make an appearance at the service the following morning, but there would have been no problem as none of the locals would have had their hearing aids turned up enough
Posted by Jamie

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 12:16 PM

Blake used to work in the same town I am serving in now. We worked together on several projects. To know him is to appreciate his humor and personality. Such a nice guy. That makes this video that much funnier.
I used to only worry if my fly was open. Now I watch every word I say!
Posted by

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 at 1:45 AM

I heard a pastor preaching one Sunday and he warned us guys that having sex with a lot of different women leads to “sexual immortality.”

Oops.
Posted by

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 at 9:17 PM

I have seen this before, but whenever I watch this it CRACKS ME UP. I think his eyes are what really get me; when he realizes what he just said. My dad’s a preacher & he says that sometimes, you just have to say “let’s pray & be dismissed”, because by then you’ve lost everyone & sometimes you just can’t get them back, no matter how hard you try. It brightens my day everytime.
Posted by

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 4:10 PM

I can relate to this guy bigtime! I’m a pastor now, but used to teach jr. high science. One day I was teaching and had the bright idea of using an example---"you wouldn’t want to pitch a tent on a sand dune”, but it didn’t come out that way. If you think this church was laughing, you should have heard a class of 9th graders hooping and hollering. I think they nominated me for teacher of the year following that episode!
Posted by RevJeff

Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 5:25 PM

I personally owon a “Ken Davis on becoming a better public speaker” (or whatever it was called) video series with this blooper…

I was doing a funeral for the father/grandfather of some church members on an on again/off again deluge type - rainy day. The funeral director and I had agreed that during the final prayer I would look out the windows of the church and that if it was raining we would share words of commital there in the sanctuary, proceed downstairs for some lunch and postpone the graveside service until later for the family....

Finding it very much raining, I quickly opened my service manual to the graveside portion of the text (WHILE CONTINUING the prayer)… I said “Amen,” explained the circumstance and then began to read the words of commital… Now if you are a pastor you know that those changes of venue afford you the chance to shift gears… I didn’t, and being a little off, I read exactly what was printed… it went something like…

“Our loving and gracious God, You have chosen to take (Bob) into your eternal presence, and so we commit his/her body to this ground.... ashes to ashes.... “

I knew I had said it as soon as I started to say “his/her"… no one else noticed (or admited to) except for our associate pastor who began to giggle and had to leave the sanctuary to compose himself…

The family, who always receives a copy of the service, now fully appreciates the humor of it… and they are very gracious.
Posted by

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 1:45 PM

I recently preached on Jonah - apparently referred to him as Noah a few times. Worst was when I referred to a “whale of a belly”. Didn’t even know until someone told me later.

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.