Expository Preaching

Sermon Planning Tools

It is the time of year when I finalize sermon planning for the upcoming year. If you are a pastor, I encourage you to do the same. There is great benefit to be found in laying out your sermons for the upcoming year, or at least the next three to six months. For instance, at …

Read more

5 Tips for Beating Writer’s Block

I try to not get caught up in the “who has a harder job?” debate. Many people lament the challenges of pastoral ministry, but I try to focus on the joy of being paid to study God’s Word. Nevertheless, one of the most challenging aspects of pastoral ministry is the responsibility to have a sermon …

Read more

A Healthy Church: Putting the Pieces Together

Is your church healthy? Does it have a foundation that can lead to growth and faithfulness? Are there healthy practices and commitments within your church that interact with other practices and commitments to lead to organizational health and faithfulness? These five components are essential for a healthy church:

Accidental Partners

Mark 9:38-41

We don’t have the market cornered on ministry. We do mission and ministry in ways that are dictated by our particular theology and our preferences. Just because some choose to minister in ways that are different than ours doesn’t mean that they are wrong.

The Big Question: What is ministry?

Preach With Your Voice

The medium is the message. No one wants to hear you stand up and give a Billy Graham impression. You’re not Billy Graham. But, you can preach God’s word. He has called you and gifted you. He’s set you apart for this sacred task. You don’t have to be anyone else, just be you, the man that God has called. Trust that he knew what he was doing when he gave you this task, and go preach his word with your voice.

Why Does Sermon Prep Take So Long?

If any of you believe that God has put you on on the planet to keep me humble, just know that you have to compete with my children. Here are a few examples from the past: Yeah, but you’re not like a “real” doctor. Why is your tummy squishy? Daddy, why is your beard so …

Read more

Preaching: The Middle School Boy Syndrome

Nothing else smells like middle school boys. They begin middle school with a particular odor, forgetting deodorant as often as they remember it. They end middle school smelling just just as strongly, but no longer of body odor–they have discovered their body odor and now work to mask it in gallons of cologne and body …

Read more

Three Tiers of Worldview Preaching

As faithful preachers, our proclamation must be built around the objective truths of the gospel and our experiences of finding fulfillment in the Christian worldview and disappointment in secular worldviews. This is worldview preaching—preaching that works to supplant secular worldviews and the replace them with the Christian worldview. In our post-Christian culture, many of our …

Read more

Psalm 119 Resources

I began preaching through Psalm 119 two Sunday ago. The preparation for these messages has already been a great blessing and continues to be a blessing each week. Here are a few resources I’m using in my study, preparation, and even personal devotions. The use of commentaries is self-explanatory. The other books are centered around …

Read more

Top 12 Books on Preaching

I have read a lot of books on preaching. Since my dissertation focused on preaching, I have read many more than I ever expected to read and I still enjoy them and consume them regularly. Like books on other subjects, some books on preaching are better than others. Some are worth your time and some …

Read more