It has long been my contention that those who push ONE style of preaching (exegetical, expositional, dialogic,  need-driven, etc.) are wrong in the very nature of their argument.   The sermons we find in scripture do not follow one model.  It was with delight, then, that I found ...

It’s not about preaching, but this clip brought tears to my eyes. Jesus in his people didn’t just talk…Jesus in is people did....

Michael Diduit points to A Sermon Listener’s Guide written by Eric Smith from Curve Baptist church in west Tennessee (as one who has lived in upper-east TN, believe me, those designations, east Tennessee, middle Tennessee and west Tennessee have significant cultural meaning). Eric’s list begins ...

Yesterday, I talked about the difficulty that arose in my sermon on John 21 last night.  I was speaking to a group of churches in Brownsville, OR and had been asked to speak on “Trustâ€� within a healthy church.  I chose to use John 21 as the text and Peter’s restoration to relationshi...

Over at Expository Thoughts, Matt Waymeyer has a great quote from Jay Adams on the use/misuse of commentaries in preaching: Speaking of exegesis, how do you do it? Do you cobble together bits and pieces from various commentaries into some explanation of the preaching portion? Or do you do the hard w...

I was teaching the Biblical Hermeneutics class in Hillsboro that I am currently teaching for Genesis Training Center and this week was discussing something that is pretty basic in sermon outlining, but still helpful:  There are basically two ways of outlining the progress of thought in a passag...

“I deeply believe in humor; not in jokes.  Humor is spectacular!â€� --Tom Peters One of the signs of a neophyte preacher is the misuse of humor.  For people to stay interested in what you are saying and to identify with you a person, a sense of humor is essential to effective preaching.&...

Lucado, Max. For the Tough Times: Reaching Toward Heaven for Hope . Thomas Nelson (2008 reissue of 2006 For These Tough Times). When I was asked to review Max Lucado’s book For the Tough Times it seemed providential. I had asked to review Karen James’ new book, Holding Fast: The Untold Story of ...

In the current issue of Christian Century, M. Craig Barnes (the senior pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church and formerly professor of ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary ) writes about an important aspect of pastoral/preaching ministry that is often neglected.  There are many good pi...

So, today I preached my last sermon at TCC.  After 26 years of preaching ministry and 30 total years of “professionalâ€� ministry experience (sorry John Piper), I preached my last sermon at TCC today.  I have preached a final sermon three times before…when I left as Associate Minister ...