Categories
Articles

Preaching as Listening – Part 3 – Listening to Imagination

Part III: Listening to Imagination The Spirit’s work in preaching is always rooted in Scripture; and yet every sermon is an imaginative act. At their best, sermons help the congregation experience God’s presence through a fresh encounter with Christ who is the Word of God. That requires engaging the Scripture as a treasure trove of […]

Categories
Sermons

SERMON: “Broken Halos” | Rev. Andrea Summers

Preacher: Rev. Andrea Summers Context: ALIVE Wesleyan Church Title: “Broken Halos: Week 1” External link: https://youtu.be/XwnJ965mkng The best preachers utilize their sermons to help the congregation engage their life with God in fresh ways. Part of this involves identifying, deconstructing, and reimagining familiar practices in a way that helps our churches and communities find root […]

Categories
Articles

Preaching as Listening – Part 2 – Listening to Scripture

Interpretation–of our newspapers, our friends’ words, and our Bible–is (by its essence) a cultural act. We read any text through the lenses of our upbringing, life experiences, and the tradition we’ve been taught. When we sit down to write a sermon, we bring all of these lenses into our view of Scripture, along with the […]

Categories
Articles

Preaching as Listening – Part 1 – Listening for our Congregation

Part I: Listening for our Congregation Preachers often think of preparation in terms of preparing what to say. Yet what we say every Sunday emerges from how we listen to the Scripture, to our people, and to the Holy Spirit’s voice. Most sermons are exercises in attentiveness: helping a congregation stop, look, and listen to […]

Categories
Resources

BOOK REVIEW: “Practicing the Preaching Life” by David Ward

David B. Ward. Practicing the Preaching Life. Nashville: Abingdon Press, March 19 2019. 212 pages ISBN-10: 1501854941 At some point over the week of preparation a frantic breath of prayer springs forth, “God, let this be a good sermon.” The sun goes down, Sunday comes, the sermon is spoken, and the preacher quickly finds that […]

Categories
Sermons

SERMON: Loving the Broken | Dan Walker

Preacher: Dan Walker Title: “Loving the Broken” – https://vimeo.com/101135542 Dan Walker worked at Love, INC in Brevard County, Florida for years, before moving to Marion, Indiana. Dan is now a Community Pastor in Marion, and a D.Min student at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Below are several practices Dan exhibits in this sermon that […]

Categories
Resources

Book Review: Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner

Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale by Frederick Buechner Books on preaching can often focus on the mechanics of delivering an excellent sermon; and while learning the mechanics of delivery is a crucial task for preaching proficiency, part of what makes a sermon truly good is the perspective with which […]

Categories
Sermons

The Church, The Truth, and Women in Ministry | Dr. Dave Ward

Categories
Articles Resources

Recommended New Ministry Books

Categories
Articles Questions

Which Questions Matter?

Which Question Matter? One pastor I have recently come to know and love has been trying to strengthen his biblical study process for preaching. In preparing sermons, he has most often simply followed his hunches and intuitions. Often these instincts include bringing a dozen other small passages into the sermon to support what he says […]