Is Celebration Entertainment
on Nov 16, 2009 in Headline Preaching One question that comes up over and over again is whether celebration is merely entertainment. I have addressed it before on this blog, but I think it deserves mentioning again. The argument goes as follows: ... [[ This is a content summary only. V...

Become the Message of Your Sermons
on Nov 2, 2009 in Headline Preaching How does one grab the moment and preach effective sermons? Many of us who teach preachers spend a lot of time talking about sermonic preparation. We discuss how to effectively exegete a scripture ...

Agreement or Conversion? To What End is Our Preaching?
on Oct 31, 2009 in General Headline Preaching Are we attempting to bring agreement between the Gospel and those to whom we are preaching? Are we seeking to have people understand and state that what we are saying is valuable and even true? Or are we seeking for something more substantial? Or...

Curiosity And the Preacher
on Oct 28, 2009 in Headline Preaching Methods blog The truly great preachers have a curiosity to life. They want to see how things work. They want to look beneath the surface. They are concerned about more than just skimming the ...

How One Sermon Was Remembered
on Oct 28, 2009 in Feature Articles General Preaching I was talking to a laymember the other day who was very excited about a sermon he had heard. The member gave me all four of the points of the sermon and was excited ...

Will The Preacher Shut Up?
on Oct 27, 2009 in blog Planning PreachingHowTo Text H. Beecher Hicks, in Preaching Through the Storm, writes about three things that attempt to force the preacher into being quiet when they need to speak. Are you being silenced? The first of these is the "socio-political and economic climate of Amer...

Stories in Sermons Don’t Always Work
on Oct 25, 2009 in Feature Articles Preaching blog A few weeks ago, I heard a sermon by a preacher who obviously had heard of the benefits of stories in effective sermons. However, a particular illustration had great difficulties for the sermon. It actually ...

Making Room for Celebration
on Oct 25, 2009 in Preaching blog The other day a preacher contacted me about a critique of his sermon. The sermon’s biggest drawback was the lack of a celebration, and yet the preacher was very animated and was at a high ...

Stories in Sermons Don’t Always Work
on Oct 25, 2009 in Feature Articles Preaching blog A few weeks ago, I heard a sermon by a preacher who obviously had heard of the benefits of stories in effective sermons. However, a particular illustration had great difficulties for the sermon. It actually ...

Selling Sermons – Or Give Them Away Free?
on Oct 25, 2009 in General blog If you sell your audio sermons that were recorded by your church or non-profit ministry, you might want to read this article. The article talks about the common practice of preaching your sermon at church, ...