The Biblical Preaching blog has a post up on Preaching an epistle as a story. I think this is a very effective way to help the people understand these components of the Bible story.
When one does adequate exegesis of the text for preaching, one should have a good idea of the story behind the text. Why not look at that story as a possibility to preach?
Ron Allen in his book Patterns of Preaching next discusses the pattern of Preaching Verse by Verse. Here the preacher goes step by step through a text or series of text and explains each part. In some traditions this is one of the most prominent ways of preaching a text of scripture.
The next pattern in Ronald Allen’s book, Preaching Patterns is what has been called “3 Points and a Poem.” This is an old deductive form where you begin by stating the major claim of the sermon. You then identify some key points that you will discuss. Then you end by helping the people reflect on the points in their daily living. Many times you close with a poem.
Peter Mead over at the Biblical Preaching blog presents another very helpful thought on how to Make Your Sermon Sizzle.
How do you do it? Simply use vivid and concrete descriptions.
Mead notes:
When you describe a Biblical scene, or an applicational situation, or an illustration, be as specific as possible. When you are specific, then listeners will be able to see, feel and experience. Do it well and your sermon will sizzle.
I am a Preacher’s kid and have often been in church leadership myself. Let’s face it. Church work can be stressful for ministry leaders and their families. Someone is writing a book on this phenomenon and is calling it “Mad Church Disease.” I would encourage ministers to go on over there and take the survey to help the development of this book
Lamey answers “Yes” and I agree with him. He also hastens to add that we must be careful not to have applications in our sermons that are “contrived, forced or ‘moralistic.'”
The next pattern in the book Preaching Patterns by Ronald Allen is the Sermon as Journey to Celebration.
The first style of preaching talked about in the Patterns of Preaching book is the Puritan Plain Style. Allen notes: “As the term ‘plain’ implies, this approach is simple to the point.”
There are six sections in the structure of this style of sermon
Thanks to the Jazz Theologian for finding this. Pastor Wintley Phipps teaches the origins of the song Amazing Grace in the Negro Spirituals even though it was written by a white slave ship captain. Then Pastor Phipps sings the song.
In the coming weeks, I will discuss some of the patterns that Ron Allen has defined in his book Patterns of Preaching: A Sermon Sampler. That book has 34 patterns and a sermonic example of each one.
What can a preacher learn from a novelist? What specifically can we learn from Earnest Hemmingway? The Preaching Today Blog picks up this interesting question.
There are two primary things that the author notes that he learns from Hemmingway. First is Hemmingway’s question for love and deep healing. The second is his effectiveness in communication.
Peter Mead over at Biblical Preaching has a series going on Preaching without notes that I referred to in this post. In his first post he described why preaching without notes is a valuable method.
In the second post which can be found here, Mead emphasizes the HOW. Mead’s method can be summed up in one word, “internalization.”
The Unashamed Workman blog has a post up on Reading Your Audience when preaching. The author suggests that preachers must change their presentation based on the congregation that is actually there. He then notes five types of audiences and how we should change our presentation to address each one.