Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
This morning, I was reading in Luke 4. As I read the account of Jesus’ first recorded sermon, I thought about how “successful” it was in light according to the way we often think of success (i.e., whether or not it produces some positive response). In a Nazareth synagogue, located in the community where Jesus … Read more
I recently finished reading one of the books on my list of things to read/do before ordination (see 150 Days of Preparation for Ordination and 75 Days of Preparation for Ordination). The book is John Wesley: A Preaching Life by Michael Pasquarello, who teaches at Asbury Theological Seminary. I was interested in the book because … Read more
In the 1784 edition of the Discipline (as well as a number of subsequent editions), which includes the list of Rules for Preachers, also includes a list of “smaller advices which might be of use to us.” Here’s the list (with original, archaic spellings) … Be sure never to disappoint a congregation. Begin at the … Read more
The worship song, “Change My Heart, Oh God” (by Eddie Espinosa, 1982) has been a meaningful and challenging song for me ever since I first heard it a couple decades ago. Lately, I’ve been thinking about it in regard to sermon preparation. A common pitfall for preachers is to preach to others but not to … Read more
Over the last three years, I’ve written several posts on preaching, including: StoryMapping, One-Point Preaching (two of the most popular links on the blog), It Takes 20 Years to Make a Sermon, The Role of Preaching, The Preaching Challenge, The Preaching Process, 5 Stages of Sermon Preparation, and What is Preaching?. Five years ago, I … Read more
Lately, I’ve been reminded about a fairly common idea/phrase — leading/ministering out of the overflow. This is why preparation — ongoing personal growth — is so important. Last fall, I wrote about preparation in one of my posts on “The Nines” (specifically The Nines Marathon; see also More on the Nines) and continued the reflection … Read more
Ikeep thinking I’ve written my last post in this series, but here’s yet another one. Maybe it’ll be my last (for a while). I’m posting another update mainly because the week after the last post, I made significant changes to it — more in structure/grammar than in content. I think it feels more natural this … Read more
Ihave been chewing on the question, what is preaching, for a while. Is preaching simply teaching people about the Bible or giving an inspirational message, or is it more than that? This isn’t an exhaustive discussion on the nature of preaching, of course, but I’ve been thinking about preaching as communicating, proclaiming (i.e., good news), … Read more
This is another revision of my preaching prayer guide (see Desperate Preachers 1.0 and 2.0). It undergoes revisions every week. Since the last post, I’ve gone from phrases to keywords, which gives more freedom. So, for what it’s worth here’s the latest desperate preacher’s prayer guide … Lord, prepare me to communicate your message to … Read more
Two months ago, I started an experiment (see Desperate Preachers 1.0) writing down what I prayed in the hours before preaching on Sunday morning. It’s been a valuable experience. I was surprised how much I wrote the first week and how well it came together. The other thing I noticed is how much I revised … Read more