The nuts and bolts of holy creativity: Two sources inspiring my creative life right now (a guest post)
“I love reading to and listening to other creatives talk about their craft and process. Their perspectives not only provide practical tools and advice for my own work, they help me feel less alone in this strange space of creation. They help me believe the invisible work I do matters. These two gems offer insight on revision, inspiration, and getting to a finished sermon/story/script/etc. that is greater than the sum of its original concepts and drafts.”
A Homiletician, a Theologian, and a Biblical Scholar Walk into a Bar.... (A Guest Post)
From Dr. Leah Schade’s guest post: “Every preacher should have a ‘circle of trust’ that they take to their ‘sermon watering hole.’ The circle should include people you know you can rely on to help you encounter the Bible in a responsible way in order to say something meaningful about who God is and what God is doing in the world. People who spark ideas for crafting a sermon that will hook your listeners, help them follow you, and give them a reason to say “amen!” Here are three suggestions for expanding your circle of trust in sermon preparation.”
Belonging: 5 Keys to Unlock Your Potential as a Disciple (A Guest Post)
The Rev. Karoline Lewis writes, “The Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus changes her life and unlocks her potential as a disciple of Jesus. In overhearing this conversation, we discover five aspects of discipleship worthy of our reflection: discomfort, wonder, trust, letting go, witness. This encounter at Jacob’s well should feel encouraging—that our own faith experiences can be trusted. That our own encounters with Jesus are worthy of reflection.“ Read this week’s guest post to better understand and preach discipleship.
Preaching for Impact: How Understanding Personality Can Help Your Sermons Connect (A Guest Post)
“Each weekend, our churches gather, bringing with them a beautiful mixture of varied experiences, insights, struggles, gifts, tensions, and reactions to the world, which we call ‘personality’… Personality is our strategy to survive and thrive in the world. It is the wise preacher who spends her time learning as much as she can about the nature of personality and learning to speak to the beautiful variety present in the pew. After all, there is no way to guide hearers into a new vision for their place in God’s Kingdom and mission without meeting them, not just where they are, but in who they are.”
X Marks the Spot: Blocking Time for Yourself (A Guest Post)
We’re tempted to believe the spirit moves by whim in un-scheduled and unpredictable ways. But Peterson models, and I’ve experienced, that the inspiration and insights of preaching are more often rooted in practices that make space for us to invite and hear the spirit.
When the Mystery is Magnified: the Gospel and the Microscope (A Guest Post)
“The main thing I remember about the microscope was the mystery of how changing the magnification could make the object I was looking at appear completely different, even though it was the same leaf or seed or bark or flower.” The same is true when we examine the biblical narratives. We can use three different lenses to understand our lives as followers of Jesus.
Adaptive Leadership for Preachers (Part 4): 10 Steps to Lead Creatively, Effectively, and Pastorally (A Guest Post)
To preach is to lead. Preachers lead by proclaiming how, where, when, and why the gospel influences and guides our hearts, decisions, and actions, individually and corporately. The need for preachers to lead their congregations through change is always difficult, but perhaps it has never been more difficult than it is now. Today’s guest post by Backstory Preaching Mentor and Leadership Coach, the Rev’d Dale Matherly, offers ten steps we can apply to lead faithfully, authentically, and skillfully.
Three Homiletical Insights Preachers Can Learn from Howard Thurman (A Guest Post)
Dr. Edgar “Trey” Clark III, Assistant Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, offers three practical preaching insights we can learn from Howard Thurman. “While the goal is not to imitate Thurman, I’m convinced he embodies wisdom that can be applied in relevant ways in diverse ministry contexts today.”
Adaptive Leadership (Part 3): Raise the Heat (A Guest Post)
Engaging in Adaptive Leadership involves managing the “thermostat” of your congregation. If it’s too cold in your system, people get stuck in work avoidance. If it’s too hot in your system, people respond with a “fight, flight, freeze, or appease” response. To make progress toward transformation, we must set the system’s temperature above a threshold of learning, and then keep the temperature below the limit of tolerance. Here’s how.
Adaptive Leadership (Part 2): Navigating the Gap to Find Solutions to Complex Challenges (A Guest Post)
Unlike technical challenges with clear, go-to solutions, adaptive challenges are about changing priorities, beliefs, habits, and loyalties for a compelling purpose. Solving these challenges requires deep learning to develop new tools, relationships, methods, and practices. “Adaptive leadership” is necessary for these challenges involving significant culture shifts or organizational changes that don’t come with a blueprint.