In the New Testament, Christ’s presence is compelling partly because of his curiosity. With his disciples, strangers, Pharisees, and dinner companions alike, Jesus’s first tools in conversation seems to be questions. In showing us what it means to be fully alive, Jesus shows us the importance of remaining generous with our curiosity and our questions. […]
Wesley’s Advice to Preachers John Wesley was a trainer of preachers in many ways. His mobilization of new preachers, and his ongoing guidance of them through books and tracts, helped to cement the spirit of the early methodist movement. These preachers when they were just beginning their ministries were called “helpers” and at one point […]
Title: “The Jonah in Us” Link: https://youtu.be/6dm8RuUoouU Preacher: Rev. Phill Tague is the Senior Pastor of The Ransom Church, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Here are a few things that stood out from Tague’s sermon we think every preacher can learn from: Artistic Archaeology—“Jonah’s name means ‘Peaceful son of truth,’ which works well until you […]
Title: “Time to Yield” Link to Sermon Video: https://subspla.sh/hg4829c Preacher: Rev. Charlie Alcock is Assistant Professor of Youth Ministry at Indiana Wesleyan University, and is also on staff at Cypress Wesleyan Church, where this message was preached. Below are a few things we believe made Alcock’s message a helpful one for preachers to learn from: […]
Title: “The Day that Changed Everything” Link to Sermon Video: https://vimeo.com/407251803 Preacher: Rev. Mick Veach is the senior pastor of Kentwood Community Church in Kentwood, Michigan. Below are a few things we believe made Pastor Mick’s message a helpful one for preachers to learn from: Purposeful body movement—“Because of the resurrection, gone are the chains […]
“What was that all about?” That is the question we hope one spouse does not ask another on the way home from church. Unfortunately, it is more common than we might think. Sometimes entire discipleship programs are built around helping people try to discern together what the sermon was all about. I listen to a […]
Whenever we create something, we are faced with the need to overcome resistance. Preachers face two kinds of creative resistance. Sometimes that resistance is from outside (like emails from parishioners who have mixed feelings about the sermon); but sometimes that resistance is from inside (like procrastination, fear of rejection, avoiding confronting our own sin that […]
Better understanding young adults requires us to listen to them–and to those who serve, pray with, and listen for God’s voice with them. The Wesleyan Church has consistently demonstrated an emphasis on the importance of young adult clergy and laity. Every member of this roundtable is a young adult who also leads others (including […]
Karl Barth, the famous 20th century theologian, preached two very different sermons during times of crisis. When he was young, inexperienced, and his theology was not yet fully formed he preached a sermon on the sinking of the Titanic the Sunday after it occurred. You can imagine what a shock to the Western world the […]
In just a few weeks we moved from “many pastors” trying to find a way to extend their sermons life through video to “almost all pastors” trying to learn how to preach better by video. Unfortunately, not all were anywhere close to prepared for this necessary shift to technological delivery. Some churches are so woefully […]