How to enrich your understanding of biblical characters for more compelling sermons
In the same way that seeing Batman with an ice cream cone colors your perspective of him, so too can a few well-placed details in your sermon open up the humanity—the common fears, hopes, regrets, quirks, and dreams—of the biblical characters so your listeners connect to the Good News more deeply.
The Preacher's Trust: A Practice for Becoming a Better Preacher
To become a better golfer, there are clear skills one can practice to improve. But what if you want to become a better preacher? The Preacher’s Trust offers ten areas to which preachers can dedicate consistent effort in order to see growth in their life, spirituality, and craft.
Free, At-Home Christmas Retreat, 2023
This retreat will not completely fill your tank, assuage your exhaustion, or provide a clear path of hope for the future. But it will, I pray, provide a theological and spiritual framework for what you have endured, witnessed, and felt this past year.
(Free) Epiphany Quotes on Faith for Preaching and Reflection
The Season of Epiphany is the eight-week journey of coming to put our faith in the belief that God not only exists but is embodied in Jesus of Nazareth. For this reason, this set of quotations for Epiphany focuses on faith. I hope you find them helpful in your preaching and personal reflections.
Christmas Gift List for Preachers (2023)
Each year I create a gift list for preachers with suggestions that are hint-worthy to drop with Santa, loved ones, or parishioners. This year’s suggestions are sure to delight and inspire you in 2024, and most will even help save the environment beyond that.
I suggest them because they put a smile on my face, and if you are lucky enough to receive any of these, I hope they will bring a smile to yours, too. Enjoy!
Advent Quote Collection: Inspiration for the Season
Organized under the themes of encountering, noticing, preparing, waiting, and magnifying, this collection can be used in your Advent sermons, liturgical prayers, or personal or household devotions for the season. They help us remember the only thing that matters: Christ and Christ alone.
Preaching through Advent? Prepare Now with a Stop-Doing List for More Rest, Connection, and Joy
Whether you feel happy, sad, angry, or a mix of those this season, one thing is almost certain: your to-do list abounds. To make your Advent season and Christmastide more joyful, here are ten “Stop Doing” suggestions you can begin to implement now.
Apply as needed.
Advent (&dvent) Devotional (A Guest Post)
Like all deliciously wonderful things in life, Advent takes time to simmer and to develop flavor, texture, and richness. We have created a multi-media devotional based on the assigned texts from the Revised Common Lectionary, Yr B. Inside you’ll find corresponding word clouds, photographs, and resources, as well as questions for reflection. May this devotion offer you a sense of ease and comfort, a place for the Spirit to simmer inside you and inspire you to pull up a chair alongside nature—to see and hear her Advent beauty.
"I will offer the sermon I am capable of offering. I will forgive myself."
It is good to offer the sermon we are capable of crafting—loaves and fishes style—within the limits of our skills, available time, competing demands, and lack of feedback. We can trust God to multiply our efforts so that listeners receive the nourishment they need.
Your call is to offer the sermon you are able to offer. And forgive yourself for not meeting your expectations.
10 Rules for Preachers to Stay Healthy, Wealthy in Spirit, and Wise
Whether we preach weekly or less often, there’s always another Sunday, another funeral, another wedding, another Holy Week circling back around that needs a sermon.
If we’re not careful, the things that bring us joy—our loved ones, our fascination with Scripture, and our connection to God—are in constant danger of being taken for granted.
Left untended, they wither.
How do we want to feel when we look back on our preaching careers? How do we want our loved ones to feel looking back on them?
Here are ten rules to keep us healthy, wealthy in spirit, and wise—for the long haul.