With all due respect to my mother who taught me to read when I was four or five, and with apologies to my undergraduate degree in English, I really did learn how to read in seminary.As in close reading. As in learning to observe what's going on in a piece of...

Have you ever noticed that you can see a good country music song while you are hearing it?I'm only an occasional fan of that genre, but I continue to be impressed by the word pictures most country songs make. Whether it is Carrie Underwood's vivid description of...

Yesterday's post ended with a question: what seen and unseen influences might have led me to sense that God was moving me towards pastoral ministry?I've thought about that question for the last several days.As far as I know, there were not any pastors on either side...

While in Lake Junaluska last week, I picked up and read a delightful little book by Fred Craddock called Reflections On My Call To Preach. Craddock is professor emeritus of preaching at the Candler School of Theology, the United Methodist Seminary at Emory University....

Here are my top five favorite preachers. Like ever.I limit the list to those I've heard and seen in person and those whose messages have moved and shaped me as a Christian in addition to forming me as a preacher. In almost every case, these speakers have the ability...

I've looked at message preparation on every post this week.By now in the process, I have selected a title, excavated Scripture, unearthed one main point, and then attempted to bring that point to life. To this point, it's all pen on paper (very 20th Century, I...

My last post talked about getting to that one thing in a passage of Scripture that is practically begging to be preached.Once I settle on that, it's time to bring it to life.That's what happens on the sheet of paper to the right.I get the main idea and then do a solo...

So let's say I've got a series. I've even got a title or a starting point for a particular message.Where do I go from there?The bible passage itself. In general I use one passage rather than collecting several unrelated verses and making a sermon out of them. It's...

People often ask me where ideas for messages -- and even the messages themselves -- come from.I even get asked if the Methodist Church gives its pastors the topics to address each week (the answer to that is a most definite "no.")So where do sermons come from?For some...

For years, I preached conventional three- or four- point sermons. Those of you from Good Shepherd remember me saying "you can put that in your outline" several times during a given message.Then about two years ago, thanks to Andy Stanley's book Communicating For A...