Text-Driven Blog
The One Revolutionary Practice That’s Missing from your Preaching
I had the privilege of visiting Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, a few years ago while my wife, Kandi, and I were in London. Standing in the church where the prince of preachers faithfully expounded God’s Word was truly moving... Read More »
The State of Preaching in the Southern Baptist Convention
I think I can say that I travel back and forth across our Convention as much, or more, than just about anyone else within the Southern Baptist Convention. This allows me great opportunity to visit every size church, as well as associations and state convention... Read More »
Preaching for a Response: The Preacher as a Soul-Winner
Pastor Phillips Brooks once said, “Do not stoop to be a king when God has called you to be a preacher.” What greater honor could God bestow upon a mortal man than to be a herald of the life saving, grace gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The ... Read More »
Practical Preaching: Communicating Effectively to Your Church
“…and the common man heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37 KJV). Oh, how the people loved to hear Jesus preach. And there was good reason for that. They could understand Him. Without a class on topical preaching, textual preaching, or expository prea... Read More »
Preaching as Shepherding the Flock
What a joy it is as a pastor of 40 years; 30 years at First Baptist Church Woodstock to talk about preaching as shepherding the flock. One thing I have realized as a pastor is that I have the opportunity to connect with our people through the proclamation of G... Read More »
Pathos and Preaching
Phillips Brooks’ legendary description of preaching as “truth through personality” is cited by mainstream and evangelical ministers alike as an incarnational approach to preaching akin to transparency and genuineness. Heralding the description as the g... Read More »
The History of Expository Preaching: Part 3 | Broadus to Present Day
There are two primary reasons why a comprehensive history of expository preaching in the English language has not been written. First, the terminology of “expository preaching” does not specify an exact homiletical method. Instead, it asserts a principle w... Read More »
The History of Expository Preaching: Part 2 | Claude to Broadus
The first to recognize and place great significance on the work of Jean Claude was an English Baptist by the name of Robert Robinson. He discovered Claude’s Essay on the Composition of a Sermon nearly one hundred years after it was published and was the firs... Read More »
The History of Expository Preaching: Part 1 | Claude to Broadus
A study of the history of preaching is essential for the preacher who desires to be an effective communicator. As Alfred Ernest Garvie wrote nearly one hundred years ago, the best way to be better equipped to preach is through a study of the past. He said, T... Read More »
Giving an Evangelistic Invitation
It is not uncommon to find preachers that have abandoned the traditional “come forward” invitation at the end of their sermons. There are various reasons they have jettisoned this kind of invitation in favor of something different or, in some cases, in fav... Read More »
Preaching and Teaching: Are They The Same?
The first time that I participated in a dive was in a swimming pool with a depth of ten feet. Then came the moment off the coast of Hawaii when, as an advanced diver working at a depth of fifty feet, I checked my daughter Carmen’s air gage and discovered t... Read More »
Five Resources Every Preacher Should Own
For those of us who have been sovereignly called to the preaching ministry it is not a vocation but a consuming passion. The work of study never ends and the building of a preacher’s library is never complete. As I type these words I am finding that ... Read More »