Author: Administrador

Going to get the mail can be quite an experience. A collage of documents is dropped into the mailbox daily — different sizes, shapes, colors, textures. On this particular day it is no different. Printed on slick, high-quality stock paper, with pictures of pristine beaches and gorgeous waterfalls, the travel brochure is part of that … Continue reading “The Shapes of Sermons to Come”

R. C. Sproul has built an international ministry of writing and teaching through Ligonier Ministries, based in Orlando, Florida. A graduate of Westminster College, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and the Free University of Amsterdam, Sproul also serves as professor of systematic theology and apologetics at Reformed Theological Seminary’s Orlando campus. Author of many books and a … Continue reading “Theology & Preaching in the 90’s: An Interview with R. C. Sproul”

Creativity in preaching often seems an elusive dream for the one who must come up with one or more new sermons every week, year after year. Sometimes the creativity comes simply because the Spirit does something we had not planned. At times like this it is important to remember that powerful preaching does not necessarily … Continue reading “Improving Creativity in Preaching”

Jerry tried to fix the dishwasher Sunday morning, but he left it in pieces to put on his shirt and tie. Twelve-year-old Patty could not fix her hair to suit herself. Teenage son Mike refused to get out of bed. In the garage, Jerry had to move business files from his car to make room … Continue reading “Preaching to Reluctant Pilgrims”

“You persuade a man only insofar as you can talk his language by speech, gesture, tonality, order, image, attitude, idea, identifying your ways with his.” Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of MotivesA sermon is not a sermon until we preach it. Books of sermons abound. Journals like Preaching devote much space to printed sermons. But like … Continue reading “Can These Bones Live? Identification and Sermon Delivery”

As preachers, we tend to live and die by our words. But after learning how much some other speakers are making these days, I’ve decided my words are quite a bargain.According to Forbes magazine, John Madden makes about $35,000 every time he accepts a speaking engagement. (I assume that includes bus fare.) Same goes for … Continue reading “Am I in the Wrong Business or What?”

“The Spirit and the Word” was the theme of the sixth annual National Conference on Preaching, held February 22-24 at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA.Beautiful weather, warm fellowship and inspiring preaching characterized the latest installment of this annual series, which draws participants from throughout the U.S. and abroad, and includes ministers from … Continue reading “The Spirit and the Word: Highlights of 1994 National Conference on Preaching”

In my mind’s eye I can still picture the professor’s red pencil marks across my sermon manuscript and the blunt words in the margin, ‘Don’t clutter the illustration!”I was a senior in seminary, a budding pulpiteer enrolled in “Advanced Expository Preaching,” and I thought I’d handed in a sermon for the ages. Its lines, if … Continue reading “Unclutter That Illustration”

Harry Emerson Fosdick was born in 1878 at Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Colgate University in 1900, then went to Union Seminary in New York until 1904. He served as minister of the First Baptist Church in Montclair, New Jersey between 1904-1915, and at First Presbyterian Church in New York City from 1918-1925. He … Continue reading “Harry Emerson Fosdick: Preaching to Achieve Results”

With this issue, Preaching begins its tenth year. Since most publications never see their fifth birthday, we’re particularly proud to be looking at ten. Besides, I figure the more attention I pay to Preaching’s birthday, the less people will pay to mine (I turn 40 this summer, for those who wish to send sympathy cards).Since … Continue reading “And They Said It Wouldn’t Last!”