Because they are speaking to a younger society more attuned to lively dialogue and visual images, pastors need a fresh wineskin for a timeless message of redemption. Calvin Miller, who has preached and equipped preachers for decades, offers a volume of helpful insights for pastors to deliver the heart of the gospel via the Jesus-endorsed vessel of compelling storytelling. For the working pastor, Miller's crash course on preaching is a welcomed study. Now available in trade paper.
The sermon is under attack. This comprehensive biblical theology of preaching examines what it is, how to do it, and why it's so important, exploring the concept's canonical development and relevance for key doctrines.
Becoming a Living Sermon Beyond spoken words, what is it that really helps preachers get their message across? Seasoned pastor and preaching professor David Day explores the ways in which preachers may embody their messages in their own person; in the words they use; through the use of objects, pictures, literature, and drama; and in the response of their audience. An eloquent and compelling volume suitable for communicators from a broad range of Christian denominations, it offers a practical workbook of ideas that preachers can begin using in their very next sermon. FEATURES Contains many helpful examples, case studies, excerpts from real addresses and two or three exercises in each chapter Great as a classroom supplementary textbook Books on preaching are full of good advice (writes Day). This book is bursting with good ideas and inspiration, but I would not call it "advice." It is far too refreshing and amusing to be called advice. With a practical array of shalts and shalt nots, both the experienced preacher and the learner will be spurred to hone their art: not just that of delivering communication but of enabling transformation. When it comes to preaching, Day is keen to communicate propositions through pictures and theory through experience. "Embodying the Word" does not simply describe how to do it, it embodies the technique itself through countless examples and illustrations. The Revd Dr Jo Bailey Wells, Associate Professor of the Practice of Ministry and Bible, Director of Anglican Studies, Duke Divinity School"
While growing churches dot our urban centers and country landscapes, church-goers and students today are actually less likely to maintain a Christian worldview than in the past. In fact, the majority of society does not even believe in objective truth. A minister out of touch with this culture is like an uninformed missionary trying to teach in a foreign country. To communicate God's Word effectively in the twenty-first century, teachers need to know how to connect with and confront an audience of postmodern listeners. In Preaching to a Postmodern World, Johnston shows pastors, seminary students, professors, lay teachers, and church leaders can reach the present age without selling out to it. The book discusses how to: • distinguish between modernism and postmodernism • understand postmodern worldviews • change the style of preaching without compromising the substance • take advantage of new opportunities provided by the cultural shift • show an inattentive society the relevance of God's truth The author's keen insights into contemporary pop and media culture also help equip speakers to address today's listeners with clarity and relevance.
Zack Eswine starts this unique pastoral resource with a captivating question: Could I now reach who I once was? Challenging the idea that today's preachers must do away with biblical or expository preaching if they are to reach non-Christian people, Eswine offers a way of preaching that embraces biblical exposition in missional terms. Recognizing all of the different cultural situations in which the gospel must be preached, he gives preachers practical advice on preaching in a global context while remaining faithful to the Bible. Pastors, seminarians, and church and ministry leaders who speak in various contexts will welcome this fresh, thoughtful examination of bringing the Word to today's multi-everything, post-everything world.
Every workday millions of Christians enter the marketplace. Whether as sales associates or engineers, auto mechanics or executives, Christians are called to serve God in the workplace. But most need help integrating faith and work. How can you be salt and light on the job? Where can you turn for help in developing a biblical and satisfying view ...
Jesus announced to the first disciples that they had not chosen him, but he had chosen them and was appointing them to go and produce lasting fruit (John 15:16). Follow the lives of those disciples throughout the book of Acts and you will see a passionate devotion to fruit-bearing. Sadly, that original call to fruitfulness is often lost in today's business as usual routine of doing Church. So how do we recapture the design and passion that made the early gatherings of believers so effective for the Kingdom? By Becoming an Orchard - a place and people devoted to the cultivation of fruit for Christ's Kingdom. Becoming and Orchard identifies strategies for fruit-bearing that any community of faith of any size can use. These strategies, anchored in biblical practices, are intended to help any congregation fulfill Jesus' call by helping them become an Orchard not in name but in practice! (from the back cover).
The foundation of a good biblical sermon is the biblical text. Take Up and Preach is a helpful guide for the preacher in how to approach a biblical text with the intention of preaching its life-giving message. Blayne Banting uses memorable images and careful instructions to aid the preacher through the process of understanding a theology of preaching, selecting and interpreting a preaching text right up to the point of producing the sermon outline. Take Up and Preach both grounds and guides the preacher in a sound method for biblical preaching, and does so with a number of practical helps to aid in the process.
Shape UP: Strategies for Health Awareness Through Preaching and Empowerment by Dr. Michael Thomas Scott, Sr. is a must read for Pastors, Preachers, Health Educators and Community Leaders of all churches and denominations. There is a tremendous need for health awareness through preaching within the African-American community because many African- Americans continue to make bad choices that often lead to disease and infirmity. Preaching has always been and always will be the catalyst to motivate people and the source of inspiration to inspire people to continue to move forward when their progress has been impeded or stopped because of some opposing opposition. Health Awareness Ministry is an application of the hands on approach. This insightful book is a practical resource tool for the implementation of an effective Health Awareness Ministry for the local church.
Seasoned pastor and educator James L. Shaddix presents a philosophical and theological argument for the practice of biblical exposition as the pastor’s primary approach to preaching ministry in the local church. Shaddix emphasizes listening for God’s voice in the sermon, God-centered vs. man-centered preaching, and/or preaching for real life-change.
