I remember very clearly those early days of doing church ministry as an intern. The thought of speaking in front of people terrified me. I remember the very first sermon that I have ever preached. I barely made it through. That was only because I read every wo... Read More »

Apart from our own family relationships few relationships in life are as meaningful and as potentially productive as that of the pastor/preacher and the people. It does not take long for the pastor to realize that life is about relationships and personalities ... Read More »

I’ll never forget the call I received one Wednesday afternoon. I was putting the finishing touches on the sermon I would preach to college students later that night. It was a call from North Phoenix Baptist Church asking me to pray about entering the process... Read More »

Preaching is an oral event; the preacher communicates through the use of words. Although not using the term “preaching” in the formalized definition we give it now, this is Paul’s argument in Romans 10:14, “And how are they to hear without someone prea... Read More »

To assume that our autonomy often fosters a spirit of independence is not much of a stretch, but to acknowledge that it infiltrates the preaching event probably escapes most of us. It certainly has for me often. I suggest that in the preaching event we battle ... Read More »

Prestige is defined as “reputation or influence arising from success, achievement, rank, or other favorable attributes.”[1]”Prestige” from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/prestige?s=t. Can the desire for prestige become a danger for th... Read More »

NOTE: This post is slightly revised from David L. Allen, 1-3 John: Fellowship in God’s Family, in Preaching the Word, R. Kent Hughes, ed. (Wheaton: IL, 2013), 275-77. If you are in a leadership position in someone’s church, and especially if you are a past... Read More »

NOTE: This is part of an article by Vance Havner which appeared in the journal Logos on March 1, 1978. Click here for part one. Part three is to follow. The preacher we need is authoritative: My Lord taught as one “having authority and not as the scribes,”... Read More »

NOTE: This is part of an article by Vance Havner which appeared in the journal Logos on March 1, 1978. Parts two and three are to follow. In these wild and weird and wicked times, the work of the preacher is being rethought and revamped and reexamined. He’s ... Read More »

I recently came across a post from a well-known conference preacher detailing how, during his research for sermon fodder, he noticed that there was a recurring outline that several of the sermons he was reading had in common. He then went on to decry the use o... Read More »