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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Some things go together – a boy and his bicycle, a little girl and her doll, and a bride and her groom. Preaching and evangelism are like these – they logically go together. Jesus was a preacher. We read in Mark 1:14, “Jesus came…preaching.” Jesus Hi... Read More »

John Wooden, the winningest coach in college basketball history, knew that small, basic details count. Each year, at his first meeting with his players, Coach Wooden would begin by teaching them how to put on their socks. That seems like a small detail until y... Read More »

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 »

What can you expect if you preach the Bible? What will God do in your church and in the hearts of your people if you do anointed Bible teaching? There is a vast difference between well prepared and delivered Bible study and anointed Bible teaching. Excellent p... Read More »

There is no such thing as a preacher who has learned fully how to preach. I have taught preaching on and off for 20 years, and I learn something new about preaching all the time. The first step in learning how to preach is recognizing that you have not arrived... Read More »

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 »

John Stott, in his classic work Between Two Worlds, insightfully commented that the essential secret of preaching is not “mastering certain techniques, but being mastered by certain convictions.” The key theological principle underlying text-driven... Read More »

One of the first things that people who teach Sunday school or are in ministry ask me when they find out I am a preaching professor is “Where can I find good illustrations?” This is the question of origination. But before giving good places to find... Read More »