Christmas Quotes for Reflection and Preaching
The Advent season is filled with preparation, talk, and often the stress of gift-giving for Christmas, so this year’s collection of Christmas quotes focuses on gifts, and THE gift of Emmanuel that puts all other gifts into perspective.
2022 Annual Christmas Gift List for Preachers
This year’s suggested gift list is an eclectic mix your loved ones will be delighted to give you to help you relax, grow, and tend to your spirit in the coming year.
Advent quotes and inspiration for your Advent sermons
Download your copy of this year's Advent Quotes to inspire you and your sermons: "Advent: The Season of Longing."
Sermon Themes for Advent & Christmas
This guide to potential Advent and Christmas sermon themes will jump-start your sermon prep inspiration for the Advent season.
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.
A Preacher's Twelve Favorite Questions
A Nobel-winning physicist told a student that the secret to his genius was keeping a list of his twelve favorite problems top of mind as he carried on about his days. As he encountered new ideas, people, or tools, he applied them to his problems, and occasionally, an unanticipated connection solved a problem. Voila. Genius! I think preachers could benefit from a similar practice, and I share how inside.
Every Second Counts: The Power of the Pause in Preaching & Life (A Guest Post)
12-step recovery communities value the practice of pausing because they acknowledge sometimes our first thoughts aren’t necessarily our healthiest thoughts. That’s true for anyone, including preachers. Read on to see how the power of the pause can help preachers in sermon preparation and life.
Grounded Confidence, Meaningful Connections, and Preachers
The practice of grounded confidence helps us face our insecurities and develop meaningful connections to build the body of Christ. And we preachers need a sacred space to practice grounded confidence so we can proclaim the good news we’ve been called to preach as only we can preach it.
How do you avoid the pitfalls of assumptions in a new call? Good questions.
We've probably all stepped on a congregational preaching "no-no" without realizing it. We thought we were just doing our jobs and didn't realize we didn't know what we didn't know until we fielded angry reactions to our sermon. A little knowledge can go a long way, and today's blog offers questions every preacher can ask to unearth the unspoken expectations of a congregation, particularly when discerning a new call.
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.”
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I participated in the Lectio study today with a complicated and double-speak Gospel (John 17:6-19) and WOW! I received so much great insight and am headed in a direction I feel really good about. Thank you to all my colleagues! If you are wondering if this is worth it, wonder no more. It is.
—Donna G.
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The Gospel People Don't Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages was written to aid preacher’s in understanding what’s at stake for their listeners so they can craft sermons their audience can receive, even if they challenge cherished beliefs.
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