You have been called to preach, but it seems that your opportunities to preach are slim to none. You see your other associate colleagues who have more invitations than they can even…
Category: Preaching
When Are You Finished Preparing Your Sermon?
This is another one of the most popular questions. Whenever I have a seminar or receive questions through the mail, someone asks, “How do I know my sermon is ready for preaching.”…
Is Black Preaching Just For Black People?
One of the most persistent misunderstandings that people have with SoulPreaching.Com is the idea that Soul Preaching is teaching Black people to only preach to Black people. One white preacher asked me…
Are You Feeding The Sheep or Bleeding On The Sheep?
One of our readers, C. Johnson, wrote a perceptive comment which reads in part:
To a large degree, what is said, heard and done (in the pulpit) is all prepackaged. Even the words that are used, are for the most part scripted long before a text is exegeted and expounded.
and further
Too many who populate pulpits reduce the Bible to the script of the people we serve and as a result, lead them into both mediocrity and blindness.
Using the Pulpit to Beat our Enemies
Telling the Story and Making Your Points while Preaching
In the African American Preaching Tradition the ability to “tell the story” is highly prized. It is also helpful when preaching to any ethnic group. There is something about stories that captures the imagination of the hearer in ways that no other method can. Stories grab the people and place them in the Bible story as they recognize parts of the story playing out in their own lives. Stories are powerful especially Bible stories.
Is The Preacher A Prophet or Priest
A few years ago, the Biblical Preaching blog asked the question, “Are you a Prophet or Priest?
Denzel to Preachers – Just “Let It Rip”
The Talking the Walk Blog has an interesting post that seeks to derive help for preachers from an interview with Denzel Washington.
Denzel answers why he did a particular hand movement in a movie by saying:
Everyone Doesn’t Respond the Same Way
Always remember that we are seeking to help the congregation digest the information presented in the sermon. There are times when this discomfort is due due to the powerful truth presented. We…
How Long Should I Preach?
So many folks continue to ask this question that I thought I would revisit this idea. There are a few questions that come up repeatedly and this is the most common one….
Is Your Mouth Open? Preachers and Proclamation
H. Beecher Hicks in the second chapter of his book Preaching Through a Storm has a sermon entitled How to Silence a Preacher; or, Shut Your Mouth!. Rev. Hicks preached this sermon…
Something to Say or Say Anything
Lowell Erdahl, in the book Best Advice for Preaching, quotes someone who said: “There are two kinds of preachers–those who have to say something and those who have something to say!” A…
Overcoming Nervousness in the Pulpit
I asked our readers what was the most important question that they face in their pulpit work. The question asked most was “how do I overcome nervousness.” This was an interesting question….
Prostitution of the Black Preaching Tradition – Style but no Substance
The Black Preaching Tradition is a great gift to the larger Christian world. Many acknoweldge the vibrancy and the power of great Black Preaching. I also marvel at the improvisational genious of the great preachers in that tradition. While we accept this great gift of the African American church, we also must acknowledge that there are some who are today abusing this gift by taking it and preaching a Gospel that does not take into account the full counsel of God.
Preaching A “But If Not Faith”
A while ago I wrote a popular article entitled The Easy Sermon Resolution. In it I talked about the tendency of many of us preachers to “jump to the gravy” of the…