How to Craft an Easter Sermon that Speaks to the Truth of Our Current Circumstances
This short video demonstrates in real time a brainstorming process—utilizing story structure—to craft an Easter sermon that will resonate with our present reality. Blessings as you preach this holiest of weeks, Dear Preachers.
The Simple but Misunderstood Key to Keeping Listeners Engaged: How to "Show" Rather than "Tell"
It’s often hard work for adults to get literal when it comes to using the five senses. We tend to leap from image to meaning so fast we don’t recognize what we did. But that leap fails to draw our listeners in, to make them feel something. And the more your audience feels, the greater the impact of the story and your sermon.
How to Improve Your Preaching: Learning from the Masters
One of the best ways to improve a craft is to study and learn from the masters in the field. This week, we introduce you to three respected preaching teachers and invite you to join us in learning from them over the next few months.
How Your Sermon Language Shapes Your Community (A Guest Post)
There may be more than one way you and your community relate to one another depending on circumstances. It’s likely that sometimes you preach as an authoritative teacher, and sometimes you speak from your position as a fellow Chirstian. But then ask yourself: how does the way I talk about myself and my community in my sermon signal those relationships?
Want to Preach Better? Write Better. (A Guest Post With a Giveaway & a Request)
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.
Offer What You Know & Make Your Listeners Work: Lessons from Yo-Yo Ma & 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?
Holy Week Sermons: Choose Your Words Wisely (A Guest Post)
There is a temptation, I feel, during seasons like Lent, Holy Week, or Advent, to lose our own way of communicating God's truths, in favor of covering all of our theological bases. We sometimes wish to be right more than we wish to be ourselves in the pulpit. One can do both. But it all depends on the words we choose.
Conversational Preaching: You have more sermon partners than you realize (a guest post)
Conversational preaching can mean many things for preachers. But, scholars of language have studied this topic and identified several necessary features that distinguish conversation from other kinds of speech. One obvious quality of conversation is that there is more than one participant. And while this may sound outlandish in a sermon, the the truth is, you already have more preaching partners than you realize.
Bridging the Language Gap in Sermons: Four Ways to Ensure “Church Words” are Meaningful to Your Listeners
There is a risk of misunderstanding when we use certain “church words.” We say a word, intending one meaning, but our listeners hear or interpret something else. How do we ensure our listeners actually understand what we mean? Consider these four approaches to bridge the divide.
How Our Failure to Preach on the "M" Word Damages More than Parish Budgets
The “M” word consistently makes preachers squirm, perhaps because it’s so wrapped up in our livelihood and the sustainability of the church. But money impacts so much more than our salaries and budgets. It’s a critical influence in nearly every aspect of a parishioner’s life. So our silence on matters of finance may be hurting the very ones we wish not to discomfort.