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This one change can help you preach an original sermon—even on a text you’ve preached a hundred times.
This one change can help you preach an original sermon—even on a text you’ve preached a hundred times.

We’re so excited about Sermon Camp, we want to share one of the lessons at the core of our process. Preachers find the shift discussed in this lesson (video + chapter) transforms their sermon prep and their sermons—and addresses a crucial mistake most didn’t realize they were making.

Three Preaching Hacks I Learned from Writing My New Book
Three Preaching Hacks I Learned from Writing My New Book

A few weeks ago I turned in the manuscript for my next book: The Gospel People Don’t Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages (Working Preacher Books, anticipated Spring 2020). While I’m pleased with this first draft, it was much harder to write than I anticipated. What I learned from writing it are at least three hacks that apply to preaching.

Want to Preach Better? Write Better. (A Guest Post With a Giveaway & a Request)
Craft
writing, guest post
Want to Preach Better? Write Better. (A Guest Post With a Giveaway & a Request)
Craft
writing, guest post

As a writing instructor, I’ve discovered that preachers struggle with the things all writers struggle with. Purpose and audience, clarity and specificity, development of ideas, organization and structure. Planning their writing process. Generating ideas. Re-visioning their drafts. Polishing their sentences. And out of my experience teaching writers, I’ve created a free guide for preachers to help you generate more ideas and write more effectively.

Craft
writing, guest post
Two Essential Ingredients to Effective Preaching
Spirituality
spiritual formation, Mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship
Two Essential Ingredients to Effective Preaching
Spirituality
spiritual formation, Mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship

Information will help us preach knowledgeably. But to preach authentically—to preach transformationally—we need more than information.

Spirituality
spiritual formation, Mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship
Offer What You Know & Make Your Listeners Work: Lessons from Yo-Yo Ma & Bach
Craft
preach what you know, lessons from Yo-Yo Ma and Bach
Offer What You Know & Make Your Listeners Work: Lessons from Yo-Yo Ma & Bach
Craft
preach what you know, lessons from Yo-Yo Ma and Bach

How can we, as preachers, approach our craft with the wisdom of Yo-Yo Ma and the genius of Bach in order to better engage our listeners?

Craft
preach what you know, lessons from Yo-Yo Ma and Bach
The Surprising Key to Writing Your Sermon Faster
Process, Inspiration & Growth
creativity challenge, efficiency through play
The Surprising Key to Writing Your Sermon Faster
Process, Inspiration & Growth
creativity challenge, efficiency through play

There are times when muscling a sermon from the blank page through gritted teeth is actually counter-productive. When more is actually less. And when effort is not proportional to results. When we find ourselves dreading the blinking cursor at the top of our empty document, we may want to try a different tool than pure effort.

Process, Inspiration & Growth
creativity challenge, efficiency through play
Becoming a Better Preacher: A Case Study with Pastor Andrea Myers
Process
become a better preacher, mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship
Becoming a Better Preacher: A Case Study with Pastor Andrea Myers
Process
become a better preacher, mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship

I'm building a more robust toolkit, or artist’s palette, so that I can deliberately choose the right tool or style to communicate a given message. While I'm still writing on Saturdays (for now!), I'm never starting from a blank page, which has helped me to fall in love with preaching again.

Process
become a better preacher, mentorship, Backstory Preaching Mentorship
Eight Strategies to Keep Sermon Prep Out of Your Summer Plans
Process
summer preaching, sermon planning
Eight Strategies to Keep Sermon Prep Out of Your Summer Plans
Process
summer preaching, sermon planning

Don't want to do sermon prep on your vacation? You don't have to! Here are eight strategies to protect your time off.

Process
summer preaching, sermon planning
Risking Your Job to Preach The Gospel: Two Questions to Ask First
Spirituality
preach come what may, preaching politics
Risking Your Job to Preach The Gospel: Two Questions to Ask First
Spirituality
preach come what may, preaching politics

We often preach a message people already agree with, a message that reinforces what people already believe. When we preach to the choir, we probably don’t feel vulnerable about the anticipated reaction: we expect more kudos than pushback. But what happens when we preach against the choir?

Spirituality
preach come what may, preaching politics