We preachers spend a lot of time and energy trying to bring life to our sermons through what have historically been called illustrations. Donald Grey Barnhouse, longtime pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, compiled the most famous collection of such...
At the 2015 New Room Conference, hosted by Seedbed Ministries, I led a seminar called Series That Pop And Sermons That Stick. So the Seedbed folks recently asked me if I'd do a podcast on the same topic. The result is below, with my friend and Methodist pastor...
Churches are usually as quiet as, well, church mice in the days surrounding the 4th of July. But not here, and not this week. Instead, the people of this church are in the midst of a wide array of ministries this week, and I suspect that most of you don't even know...
Where do I start? This sermon had so much I was excited about even before delivering: A literary reference to John Irving that I don't think came across as highbrow but instead helped people understand the book of Judges; A couple of shout-outs to United Methodism . ....
You’ve seen them, haven’t you? They ride in the front seats of expensive cars and drive headlong into a brick wall. And then they do it again And again. They’re crash test dummies. Why do they keep doing the same dumb thing over and over again? Why do we?...
As a lot of you know, I write a sermon manuscript virtually every week. I am able to work several weeks ahead, so while I write one almost every week, it’s not the one I’ll deliver that coming Sunday. That one, of course, has been written several weeks earlier. But...
In the picture below, you will see our India ministry partners alongside six young people with whom they were able to celebrate baptism. The young people who were baptized live a region of known for worship of a particularly "powerful" native goddess. Locals...
If you are a Methodist preacher, Annual Conference is a vital part of your clergy year. Part family reunion, part revival, and part bureaucratic nightmare, the Western North Carolina Conference meeting has been a summer mainstay in my life since 1988. Here are the Top...
Yesterday's message was one of moderating and not moderating. For example, I originally had a bottom line that contrasted "diapers" and "Disney." But over the last week, Disney became known for the alligator who snatched the two year old boy, and so it just didn't...
As Preventology nears its conclusion -- it winds up on Sunday with How To Prevent Daddy Issues -- I thought it appropriate to reflect on some wisdom found beyond the book of Proverbs. Here's a sampling: You should always buy an umbrella when it's NOT raining. Ditto...