When Packer expresses his views on the ministerial calling, there is never any doubt that he believes that preaching is the minister’s primary task. In a 2009 interview for Christianity Today, Packer was asked to respond to a prevalent contemporary view that making preaching central—to the point of placing the pulpit front and center in the church sanctuary and making the sermon the centerpiece of the church service—is part of the problem with the church today. Packer rejected the suggestion,