Author: Administrador

There’s nothing that’ll humble you faster than looking over your old sermons.Like lots of preachers I know, my life in the pulpit began while I was still in high school. First came preaching for Youth Week — that’s the Sunday when young people substitute in all the roles normally occupied by adult church members (although … Continue reading “If You Can’t Be Right, At Least Be In a Crowd”

The Thompsons made a promise to their kids. “If the weather is good this weekend, we’ll take you to the zoo after church.” Saturday evening they turn on the news in hopes of a Sunday outing. The veteran weatherman stands before a map of the United States covered with temperatures and frontal patterns. Someone reaches … Continue reading “The Problem with Jet Stream Preaching”

During the 1990 National Conference on Preaching in Atlanta, well over half the attendees indicated they are currently using a personal computer (or PC) in their churches.While most computers entered the church for use in handling administrative duties — maintaining membership records, handling financial data, and so on — preachers are rapidly discovering the remarkable … Continue reading “Using Your Computer in Sermon Preparation”

“A really fine job,” my mother said. It was October, 1952, and this was my very first homiletical experience. I was grateful for her warm post-service greeting. Then she added, “although it sounded a little bit like a debate.”A debate? Little wonder. I was a sophomore in college and had just been appointed as a … Continue reading “The Narrative Quality of Experience as a Bridge to Preaching”

Clarence E. Macartney was born at Northwood, Ohio in 1879. He studied at Pomona College, the University of Wisconsin and Princeton Seminary. He was pastor of these downtown churches: the First Presbyterian Church in Paterson, N.J., from 1905 to 1914; Arch Street Church in Philadelphia, from 1914 to 1927, and First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, from … Continue reading “Clarence E. Macartney: Evangelize or Perish”

Out of one thousand books written each year, six hundred and fifty are forgotten by the end of a year. At the end of three years, one hundred fifty more have slipped from memory. Only fifty books survive as many as seven years. The fleeting popularity of the written word makes even more remarkable the … Continue reading “Preaching from Acts”

Thanksgiving Day provides the occasion for a happy union of Christ and culture. Even those of us who are most diligent to guard against all forms of cultural captivity of the gospel are willing to call a one-day truce to permit Christ and culture to sit together at the festive table.To be sure, there are … Continue reading “Preaching About Giving Thanks — Giving God Thanks and Praise”

It’s not often I stay up late enough to watch David Letterman on television, since he comes on at 12:30 a.m. and I’m usually dead-to-the-world long before.Sometimes, however, I stay up later than usual (normally when I’m editing copy for Preaching), and I have a chance to catch the first few minutes of Letterman. That’s … Continue reading “Top Ten Gifts for Preachers”

This year we celebrate the centenary of John Henry Newman’s death. The new ecumenical interest in Newman has centered largely in his parochial preaching in sermons he first gave as an Anglican and reissued as a Roman Catholic with no substantial changes. It was through Newman’s preaching that he gained and exercised a position of … Continue reading “John Henry Newman: Pursuit of truth in preaching”

New Providence, New Jersey is a long way from Irvine, California — and not just in terms of geography. Ben Patterson recently made that move and shifted the focus of his preaching ministry from Southern California to the New York City metroplex. A popular preacher and author, Patterson was the founding pastor of Irvine Presbyterian … Continue reading “Interview: Ben Patterson”