Preaching

Episode 16: Pastors and Preaching: A Conversation with Jim Shaddix

In this episode, Ronjour and Brandon discuss preaching with SEBTS Preaching Professor Dr. Jim Shaddix.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Preaching to Make Disciples

You and your family are going to take a trip…a long trip. So you pull up Google Maps on your computer just to get an idea of how long your trip is going to take and what it might look like. But what you find is not one suggested path, but four. You now have four legitimate ways to get to your final destination.

Philip Crouse Jr.

Episode 15: Pastors and Preaching Calendars

Why should pastors consider planning a preaching calendar? Should pastors plan topical sermon series during strategic days of the year (i.e. holidays). How can pastors make sure they are giving their people a balanced diet of Scripture?

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Why Preach Through Exodus?

Exodus can be an intimidating book to preach through exegetically. It contains long narrative passages (the 10 plagues in Egypt cover 5 chapters) as well as discourses on law, ceremonial rites and routines and lengthy instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle and its components. Furthermore, the story that begins in Exodus does not conclude until Joshua leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land, which, of course, is described in the book of Joshua.

Ryan Lintelman

Episode 8: Pastors and the “Big Idea”

What’s the big idea!!? Should pastors seek a connection in the details of the text, or should they be content to teach the "points" of the text instead? Is there a unity within a text's message?Join Ronjour Locke and Brandon Ward this week as they discuss the benefits (and challenges) to the big idea approach to preaching.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Episode 7: Pastors and Mentoring Future Pastors

Is it the responsibility of the pastor to mentor future pastors? What are some ways pastors can shepherd the guy(s) in their church who feel a desire towards the pastorate?Join Ronjour and Brandon this week as they discuss ways pastors can invest in the next generation of church leaders and why it’s important that they do.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Square Boards from Round Trees: The Challenge of Theological Preaching

When I was a kid my father owned a small lumber mill. As he explained it, the sawyer (i.e., the person who sawed the logs) faced a challenge. The main challenge for the sawyer was deciding the best way to produce square boards out of round logs.

Ken Keathley

Episode 6: Pastors and Preaching the Whole Counsel of God

In Acts 20:27, Paul said “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” What does he mean when he said “declaring the whole counsel of God” and should this be something pastors should pursue each Sunday?Join Ronjour Locke and Brandon Ward this week as we answer this question and discuss the benefits of preaching the whole counsel of God, as well as the challenges involved.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Preaching a Suicide Funeral

Pastoral ministry is full of first-time experiences — from the first nursing home visit to one’s first baptism. Since I entered “full-time vocational ministry” over ten years ago, seldom does a month go by where I don’t learn something new or do something for the first time.

Neal Thornton

Pastor, Remember to Apply

In Chapter 15 of Engaging Exposition, Danny Akin makes this statement, “Exposition that is faithful to Scripture will […]

Nick Decker

Preachers of the People: Spurgeon and His Men

In 1857, Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834–92) officially founded the Pastors’ College, a training center for gospel ministers that revolved largely around the preaching genius of its founder. Between 1857 and 1892, Spurgeon oversaw the training of 863 pastors, the planting of nearly 200 new churches in Britain alone

Alex DiPrima

How to Plan a Preaching Calendar

The primary task of a pastor is to preach the word. This happens in day-to-day conversations of ministry, planned meetings and classes, and the congregational sermons that will be delivered every week.

Daniel Tripp

7 Reasons You Should Plan a Preaching Calendar

Pastors are called to do many things. Lead. Feed. Know. Protect. Correct. Counsel. The list goes on and on. But, the primary task of a pastor is to preach. It is through this primary ministry of the word a pastor shepherds his people. So, should a pastor plan what he will preach ahead of time? Should he plan just a few days in advance so he can respond to his Bible in one hand and his newspaper in the other, like Karl Barth encourages us to do? Or, should he plan what he will preach a year in advance by developing a preaching calendar?

Daniel Tripp

5 Reasons to Study Ephesians in Days of Division and Tension

In 2020 I find myself, like many others, bombarded with news reports describing the division and tension ever-present in our country. Many are divided over how to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, and racial tension is rearing its ugly head. Moreover, if the American people were not already polarized enough, a presidential election is fast approaching. We are grievously divided.

Phillip Macdonald

Chapel Rewind: The Perspective of Christ-Centered Preaching

Bryan Chapell, Senior Pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, lectures on "The Perspective of Christ-Centered Preaching" for the Adams Lecture Series 2018.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

Helpful Resources for Preaching Christ from Proverbs

I was privileged to do my doctoral dissertation on the book of Proverbs, and I have also written two books on preaching Christ from Proverbs (Preaching Christ from Proverbs and Exalting Jesus in Proverbs). There has been a lot of good work done on Proverbs, but for preachers, I think there are some resources more helpful than others. So, in this post, I will try to list some that have been most helpful to me.

Jonathan Akin

Weaponizing the Spirit in Preaching

Every preacher that I have ever met has a genuine desire to preach powerful sermons. It seems that the general consensus among those who teach or write about powerful preaching is that you must diligently and “sacrificially” pray for Holy Spirit power in order to anticipate spiritual potency in the pulpit. To use a common metaphor, your spiritual gun must be loaded before you fire your sermon.

Ryan Lintelman

Chapel Rewind: The Essential and Prominent Place of Preaching in Worship

John Piper examines the biblical warrant for the prominent place preaching holds in worship both historically and today.

Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership

The New Normal: Preaching to a Camera

In a perfect world, preaching is normally a point-in-time experience in front of a live audience. However, we don’t live in a perfect world, and these certainly aren’t normal times. We’re currently living with a ‘new normal’ in just about every area of life and ministry, and that includes preaching.

Jim Shaddix

The Psalms: A Book Designed For God’s People During Times Of Crisis

William Carey is considered a hero by many Baptists. He is the Father of the modern missions movement and called churches to spread the gospel throughout the world. He even risked his own life to practice what he preached. The Lord blessed me with the ability to spend a summer in England on the Oxford study trip. In Oxford, in the basements of the Angus Library, is Carey’s personal Bible. What makes this Bible extra special is that some pages are clearly more worn than others. You can tell which sections of the Bible were Carey’s favorites.

Michael Mills