The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many things in the church. While some of them were good, a lot of them were terrible. The pandemic has shut down many churches from meeting together, which has then caused a decrease in ministries, which then led to a decrease... Read More »

One of the questions that often arises when interpreting a text concerns theology. As Steven W. Smith has emphasized: we don’t preach sermons; we preach texts. As such, the meaning of the pericope—the preaching text—should be our greatest concern. We mus... Read More »

From the realm of real estate, you may have heard the repeated refrain that identifies the most important consideration in a transaction as “location, location, location.” Over the years, this perspective has come to mind when I think about expository prea... Read More »

“What exactly do you do during the week?” On several occasions over 17 years of pastoring I have heard this question. Sometimes it is genuine, other times it is a veiled insult, but the answer is always the same: among other tasks, I give priority of time ... Read More »

In 1986 Madonna released her single “Papa Don’t Preach.” There was little doubt it would become the number one hit at the time. The only question was, when and how long would it be number one? Within eight weeks of its release, the song hit number one on... Read More »

I was asked to write on the proposed topic: Preparing Yourself to Preach. I will write from my own subjective experience in the preaching ministry. I will begin with my theology of preaching, then discuss my philosophy of preaching, and finally, write about... Read More »

In the early days of movies on DVD, I was living the high life when I scored an RCA 5-disc DVD player with my RadioShack employee discount. Soon after, a friend loaned me his copy of the hit action movie S.W.A.T., which had been burned on two discs. I microwav... Read More »

Preacher, you stand before the congregation to preach. Now, what is it that you intend to do? You quickly respond. Preach! So, what does that mean? There are some biblical objectives that must be considered if you are going to preach. Shooting an arrow at a ta... Read More »

I read a story about a bank employee who was fixing an ATM machine. The door accidentally shut while he was inside its tiny maintenance room. When someone approached the machine to receive some money, they instead received a note that said, “Please help.... Read More »

In recent years, the phrase, “text-driven preaching” has appeared on the landscape of homiletical studies. One might wonder why such a designation is necessary. After all, he might muse, isn’t the term ”expository” simply a synonym for “text-driven... Read More »