What The Blues Teaches Us About Preaching
Dr. Charles Adams presented a class entitled “Preaching, Black and White.” During one of the lectures he gave some “do’s and don’ts.” Teresa Fry Brown wrote up notes from that lecture on page 164 and 165 of her book Weary Throats and New Songs.
Avoiding a Dull Sermon Read More[amazon cover 0800629973]One of the most frequently asked questions that new preachers ask is where is a book to help me learn to preach? There are actually tons of such books. I have written on this question in the past on this website as well as another one. Even though that is true, I will take it up again in this article. I think that an African American Preacher needs a few resources to help them to preach.
The Expository Thoughts Blog has a post up on Sermon Evaluation. He asked for the thoughts of his readers. I am in an evaluation class right now so it is sure to change, but here is mine now.
After listening to a sermon, I thought about what I want in the sermon. Here are a few of the primary things that I want from a sermon. I especially want these things from a black preacher preaching a black sermon.
I am not a Pastor who has the responsibility of preaching every week. But if I were, I would hope that I would be as on the ball as a few preachers are who have already made plans for a good part of the year. The editor of Brian’s preacher’s blog has placed his initial notes on a few sermon series that he will preach.
Planning out Your Sermons for the Year Read MoreOver at the Vulgar Homiletics blog, Dave Barnhart is in the middle of a series entitled Preaching Basics. It looks to be a helpful series of pointers to keep in mind when you preach. For example the first is to Keep it Simple. Barnhart suggests that we use simple language without dumbing down the message. The second is to get rid of the passive verbs. The third is to incorporate silence and pause into the message. Go on over and follow this interesting series.
Preaching Basics from the Vulgar Homiletics Blog Read More
The Homiletic Terms bliography defines Celebration as A peak moment of emotional, cognitive, and spiritual release occurring during sermons. This “peak moment” is often the final portion of the sermon.
Paul Reid asks this question in his blog. He answers integrity, faithfulness, intelligible, and humility. These are truly good qualities to ask of onesself when the preacher steps into the pulpit, but a couple of things came to my mind. Are these required however is a good question. I have heard powerful sermons by preachers who were not the least bit humble. And integrity is a powerful word. Can any of us really say that we are true to the message that we preach?
What is Good Preaching? Read More
Our Homiletic Terms bibliography defines Call and Response as “A back-and-forth verbal dialogue between preacher and congregation during the sermon.†Often this is assumed to be in the African American church with an African American preacher, but I have seen pentecostal European American pastors interacting with mixed congregations in this way.
Ken Collins gives you a list of things to do if you want to preach a terrible sermon. The whole list is helpful and can be read with profit.
How To Preach a Lousy Sermon Read MoreThe author of the Vulgar Homiletics Blog has published some sermon starters for the first few sundays of next year in the Circuit Rider. These correspond to the lectionary readings for Jan 18 – Feb 14 of 2007.
Sermon Starters from Dave Barnhart Read MoreI was talking to a fellow student the other day about the quality of sermons that we get to hear in divinity school. You see when students are graded they put forth their best effort. That is not to say that all have been good, but most have. This past week I got to hear two sermons that were particularly interesting to me in that they both gave me models of a particular aspect of preaching that I have been working on.
As some of you know, I am a MDiv student at Vanderbilt Divinity School.