Preaching Holy Saturday: Proclaiming Good News from the Depths of Grief & Suffering (A Guest Post)
When preachers suffer grief, loss, illness, disability, or despair, still they preach. What does it mean to preach from these depths? What are the unique gifts of preaching from Holy Saturday, that liminal space when all seems lost and yet God continues to work?
Preaching on Stewardship: Discern Three Meaningful Sermon Themes in Less than an Hour
Stewardship preaching can be full of angst because it seems so much is at stake. However, the focus on outcome moves our sermons away from the true needs of our congregations. This stewardship guide will help you reframe your stewardship preaching with a process you can complete in an hour, dozens of scriptures verses, and an example of how the process can be applied. May it encourage you in this stewardship season.
Stewardship of Time: Preaching on the One Thing We're Embarrassed to Have More Of
Most resources we guard and amass as precious stones: money, skill, assets. But there’s one resource we give away as though its scarcity were a badge of honor…
The Uncomfortable Relationship Between Preacher, Stewardship, & Congregation: 4 Revealing Conversations
During stewardship season we preach to our parishioners about the need to offer their time, talent, and treasure.
But we preachers need a different conversation.
We need a frank, "backstory" conversation about our personal dependence on parishioners' donations, and the ways money affects our relationships with parishioners and colleagues and our capacity to preach with our whole selves.
3 questions to guide sermon prep for special occasions or crisis circumstances (A Guest Post)
“As people of faith, we believe God is present and active and has a word to offer to us in all times and seasons of our individual and corporate lives.” In their book, For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions, Donna Givers-Johnston and Beverly Zink-Sawyer address specific preaching occasions that arise from calendars, celebrations, or circumstances—leading preachers through a process of preparing sermons that seek and then speak God’s word for the occasion. They introduce us to their approach in this guest post.
The Ten Biggest Mistakes Preachers Make in Stewardship Sermons
Our sermons about stewardship can feel heavy with the burden of making ends meet.
Given these stakes, it’s tempting to preach from scarcity rather than abundance, to exert pressure rather than issue an invitation, to emphasize monetary bottom lines rather than spiritual transformation.
There's another way to preach, however. Learn to recognize these ten mistakes preachers make in their stewardship sermons so you can craft sermons that invite your congregation to participate in God's abundance instead.
Preachers: "Rest from Your Labors" (A Free, At-Home Retreat)
You work hard: ministry, family, chores, errands…the list never ends. Take a rest from your labors with this free, at-home guided retreat. You’ll step back to appreciate your hard work so you’re connected with God in every busy day that lies ahead.
Asking for the preaching support you need (free download)
When parishioners gain some general knowledge about sermon crafting and understand a bit about our preaching training and bios, their appreciation for preaching can shift. They will realize that just because we make it look easy doesn’t mean it is easy. They’ll know, in fact, it takes a lot of effort.
To make it easier to initiate a conversation about what you need to preach well so you get the support you need, we’ve created this conversation starter to be shared with your parishioners or leadership team. Download your free copy for distribution today.
What the comical can do for your preaching (a guest post)
The humorous signifies discourse that aims to make us laugh. Period. The humorous links with the human body and its many foibles. By the comical, I refer to a use of humor that seeks something more than laughter; it aims a metanoia. Such, I believe, is what makes the comical worthy of the serious calling to which we have been called.
Four MISSED opportunities to take your sermon from good to great
This is the third of three posts in our blog series about getting unstuck during sermon prep. Today focuses on the opportunities we miss to take our sermons from good to great so that the message we so carefully discerned can truly land in the hearts of our listeners where the Spirit can do her best work.
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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.
I just have to say WOW. I'm so grateful that I made the investment and joined The Collective. These Thursday [workshops] are a game-changer for me.
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