The Ten Most Inspiring Gifts for Preachers (2017 Edition)
Wondering what to give the preacher in your life? Not sure what to put on your own Christmas list? Check out BsP's round-up of the most inspiring gifts for preachers—created by preachers (so you know they're items preachers really want!).
Three Sermon Themes for Advent
How do we make the well-known story of Christ's birth new again? How do we nurture the sense of longing and anticipation the advent season suggests? Consider these three themes to help your listeners (and yourself!) connect to the store anew.
Ask a Supply Preacher: What's it Like to Preach in a Different Context Each Week
As churches increasingly struggle to maintain full-time preaching staff, Cathie Caimano of Free Range Priest sees opportunity for a new model. In this guest post, she discusses supply preaching and what it's like to preach in a different context each week.
What Not to Preach on All Saints' Day
How do we harness the example of the Saints' stories without leaving our listeners feeling washed up and hopeless? There's one key element that takes the Saints off their proverbial pedestal so they can be a healthy model for our listeners.
8 Steps to Find Your Sermon When the Good News Frustrates, Disappoints, or Makes You Nervous
Why does a Gospel text bother us?
That’s the essential question when confronted with a text we don’t like. The essential answer is this:
The text bothers us because it conflicts with our understanding of God.
Jesus doesn’t always speak or act consistently with our faith.
So how do you find the sermon message when dealing with Gospel texts where Jesus frustrates, disappoints, or makes you nervous? This 8-step process examines the backstory of your faith so you can name your theology, identify the apparent inconsistencies in the text, and then bridge the gap between them.
3 Ways Your Backstory Informs Your Preaching (whether you're aware of it or not)
Maybe you want it revealed. Maybe you don't.
Regardless, it's on display in every sermon.
What am I talking about? Your backstory.
Your backstory is the story you tell in your sermons without "telling" it. It seeps into your sermons whether or not you say the word, "I."
Your backstory is the unique mixture of your theology, childhood, DNA, education, church experience, personality, political persuasion, and so much more. It affects how you approach the Sunday's scriptures, influences your conclusions about them, and shapes your style and the purpose for which you preach.
To preach the message you intend to preach, consider these three aspects of your backstory to help you use your backstory in service to your preaching.
Four Preaching Lessons from Hurricane Harvey
Whether we're in the middle of our own crisis and feel overwhelmed about what to do next, or we want to do something, anything!, to help someone else who is, here are four responses we can offer in our sermons at the intersection of the Gospel and experience.
Preaching in the Storm
As Hurricane Harvey approaches, we consider how to preach when facing a natural disaster. What is the role of a preacher? How do we comfort and encourage when life and livelihood are threatened?
When to Change Your Sermon in Light of Current Events
It is simply a fact of the preaching life that, at times, we will be required to set aside our prepared sermons and speak to the events which surround us, testifying to how we see God in and through them.
How do we decide when to continue with our sermon as prepped versus adjusting our sermon at the last minute?
The Powerful Prep Tool Every Preacher Has But Rarely Uses (Guest Post)
We tend to consider the physical aspects of preaching only in the context of delivery:
- raising or lowering the voice to emphasize phrases
- using gestures to enhance a point
- breathing in sync with the flow of sentences
But when is the last time you used your body and voice in sermon prep?
Or before you climbed into the pulpit?
Have you ever?