A Tale of Two Preachers

1 Corinthians 13:11 states, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” The other day, I reflected on two preachers. Both were considered great preachers during their college years. One preacher used to put together pieces of the “shouting portions” of other preachers and parlayed that into many speaking engagements. However, over the years, his preaching has gotten much more sophisticated. He continued to work on his preaching.

A Tale of Two Preachers Read More

Should I Write a Draft of my Sermon?

Preachers who preach from a full manuscript have no choice but to answer yes to the question. However what about those of us who preach from an outline or from even fewer notes? Must we prepare a full manuscript? This is a good question. I think that the benefits of preparing a full manuscript whether you use it or not far outweigh the liabilities. I want to describe a few of the benefits.

You Spend More Time on Rhetoric

Should I Write a Draft of my Sermon? Read More

Engaging the Society

Ben Bacon asks an interesting question in the comment section of the post “What’s Missing from Your Preaching.” He writes:

Great observations, Sherman. Our social structures and customs are not the same as when the biblical writers first penned the Bible. In a way, all preaching engages the culture because of the unique nature of the scriptures themselves. What principles would you encourage for engaging/critiquing your own culture in a sermon? What place does it hold in the sermon itself?

Engaging the Society Read More