Steven Smith

Preaching the Psalms

Have you ever sat next to someone in church who has a terrible singing voice and just doesn’t care? They just sing it like they really mean it. I envy this person. Without the slightest bit of self-awareness, they simply rear back and let the song fly. They ... Read More »

Preaching Old Testament Narratives

Isn’t she someone else’s wife? David ignores the question of his servant and sleeps with her anyway. She’s pregnant. David ignores the opportunity to come clean and orders her husband to be killed. The stealth of deception is absolutely shocking. Cold, s... Read More »

Preaching the Law

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to that prophet... Read More »

Why Genre Matters in Preaching

Riding on the City of New Orleans, Illinois Central Monday morning rail Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders, Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail. All along the southbound odyssey The train pulls out at Kankakee Rolls along past houses, farms an... Read More »

Preaching Interview: A Theology of Text-Driven Preaching

Dr. Steven Smith, Vice President for Student Services and Professor of Communication at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, sits down with Dr. Barry McCarty for an interview to discuss a Theology of Text-Driven Preaching. Read More »

Explaining the Text: Functions of a Text-Driven Sermon

Is there meaning in the text? Has God actually spoken in Scripture? These questions float around the academy, but they are more than academic. These questions frame a larger conversation in the culture about the nature of truth.  While people have these quest... Read More »

The Essential Elements of Text-Driven Preaching

What is expository, text-driven preaching? Exposition is the translation and communication of a biblical text. This definition shows the two parts of preaching. Many will read this definition and wonder if I am really implying that preachers should actually tr... Read More »

Reverse Engineering the First Christian Sermon

I rarely saw my father get angry. However, I distinctly remember two occasions, and they both had to do with a lawnmower. The first one was when my 5-year-old brother looked at the lawnmower, unscrewed the gas cap, and began filling the gas tank with grass cli... Read More »

Centrifuge

Pride is the mother of all sins. The taproot of all these sins is the sin of pride.  But perhaps a better metaphor would be a centrifuge; an instrument used in laboratories.  The centrifuge is a machine that spins at a very high rate of speed.  Denser parti... Read More »

Ground Zero

When we say the words “Ground Zero” we immediately think of one place: the financial district of New York City.  This is the place where terrorists murdered 5,000 people.  Yet, before 911, the word meant something different.  The words “ground zero”... Read More »