Written by Keith Brenton has a great blog post on preaching Jesus over at his blog. It made me take an honest look at what I’m preaching week after week.
Read his post HERE and let me know what you think.
Posts in category Preaching
Passing The Torch, Part 1
John Dobbs has encouraged us to blog about ministers who have influenced us. Looking back, I can think of two who have had a profound influence on my faith and ministry.
During my sophomore year at Harding University, the College Church of Christ hired a new minister named Mike Cope. He was a young man — only a few years older than me. It didn’t take long to realize that the College Church had made a good choice. I had never heard preaching like this before (and I had grown up “going to church”). He dug deeply into the Word, using humor, stories, cultural references, and practical applications.
He was able to connect with teens, college students, young families, empty-nesters, and the elderly. But he seemed to connect especially well with the college students. He was the preacher for a very large church, yet he was very personable. While talking with him my junior year, I learned that I was living in the same dorm room he had lived in when he was a student. He started a Wednesday night “Peak of the Week” class on Harding’s campus that had to keep switching to larger venues because of it’s growth. Everyone I knew looked forward to that class each week. His teaching had a profound influence on my faith — helping me to see things in a whole new way. He seemed to be asking the same questions that I was asking. I think I learned more about preaching from listening to Mike than from any class I took at Harding — and I had some very good classes and professors while I was a student. But Mike was able to “show me” how it’s done. I will always be thankful for Mike’s influence.
Tired of Your Preacher?
Trey Morgan has a great post over on his Blog that I would encourage you to read. It is called “The Top Ten Ways Tot Get Your Preacher To Quit.”
To read it, Click Here.
Worthy of Honor?
Since October is Pastor Appreciation Month, let me share an article my wife wrote for Wineskins Magazine a few years ago. It deals with the work of a Minister. My wife is certainly qualified to talk about this, being both a Minster’s wife AND a Minister’s daughter.
Read the article Here.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month
For those of you who are not aware, October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Don’t know what to do for your Pastor or Minister? Here are some suggestions from the Pastors Retreat Network:
12 Ways to Appreciate Your Minister
When we look at our minister what do we see? A spiritual giant? Someone who can go it alone? Someone who works a day and a half a week? A servant of the congregation? Someone who does it all?
The truth is that ministers are real people with real families, dreams, needs, desires and gifts. And like all of us, they shine best in situations where they are appreciated and supported. Here are a dozen ways you can bring out the best in your minister:
- Write a note of appreciation.
- Pray for your minister regularly.
- Stop the rumor mill.
- Invite him out to lunch, golfing, or some other shared interest, without an agenda.
- Offer to babysit the kids so your minister and his spouse can have an evening together, even better, offer them a gift certificate to a restaurant they enjoy.
- Honor his day off – allow time for rest, personal renewal and family time.
- In times of loss, offer sympathy, care and practical help.
- Consider holidays and other family days – if the minister is far from their family of origin, invite them to your celebration – no strings attached.
- Ask him how you can help and then follow through.
- Tell him what you’ve learned from their sermon.
- Go to http://parsonage.org/cam/index.cfm for ideas on how to celebrate your minister during Pastor Appreciation Month.
- Consider a sabbatical time for your minister and find a way to provide one as needed.
Attention Preachers!
I just finished reading Communicating For a Change by Andy Stanley — an excellent book on preaching/speaking and sermon prep. I’ve been preaching full-time for almost 13 years, and this book has changed the way I prepare and deliver my sermons (well, I should say that I am beginning to put the principles into practice — it won’t happen overnight). This old dog is trying to learn some new tricks.
The basic premise is that we preachers put too many points in our sermons and try to cover too much ground. Stanley suggests that you focus your entire sermon on one point, and hammer that over and over again. The people listening to you are much more likely to remember what you said if you focus on one point than if you gave them 5 points (alliterated, of course). There is much more to it, but that’s a quick overview.
The first half of the book is just a story illustrating how one preacher learned the system. I found this section to be little more than filler — and you won’t miss anything if you skip it. But the second half of the book explains the process, and is very practical. I wish this book had been available when I was in college, or at least when I began preaching.
If you want to be more effective in your preaching and speaking, get this book. I give it my highest recommendation.
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