In my thirty-five years of preaching, I’ve notice a constant occurrence: Sunday comes every seven days. It’s relentless. The sermon, therefore, can’t be delayed to Monday or another day next week. Sunday comes whether I’ve had two funerals, a wedding, twelve hospital visits, a holiday, or a sick child.
Soul: Fire in Preaching
In my experience, eighty percent of the fuel for preaching comes from sources outside the study. I do not mean scouring the countryside or the urbanside for sermon illustrations.
A View from the Pew: How Long Should the Sermon Last?
I’m a preacher’s kid with two preacher brothers. I’ve grown up around preachers and spent 10 years of my professional career working in close proximity to preachers at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
A View from the Pew: Is the Children’s Sermon for or by Children?
I miss children’s sermon. Our church hasn’t had one since March 2020.
Waiting for You – Addie Davis
Your achievements represent hard work and dedication—a milestone—but you will discover that there are no resting places, just breathers along the way, for you must get on with the tasks of missions, education, and employment. You must certainly get on with the business of living.
Formations 06.18.2017: Everybody Has a Sermon
From 1993 until 2004, CBS News ran a feature called “Everybody Has a Story.” Someone would throw a dart at a map of the US. Then correspondent Steve Hartman would go visit the place where it stuck, pick a name at random from the local phone book, and do a story on the person he found (assuming they were willing, of course).
The Walking Dead
Let me start off by just laying it out there. The title of this sermon is “The Walking Dead.” I do not like scary movies or TV shows. At all. “Well, Chris, that’s silly. Scary movies aren’t real.” I know that. I know that the odds of being chased by a chainsaw-wielding maniac are infinitesimally small.
Rejoicing in Heaven?
I had a really neat—and that’s not a term I use very often—experience a few Sundays ago. I’ve been the fill-in preacher at The Rock Baptist Church in The Rock, Georgia for a few months.
Reading through the Lens of Jesus
Jesus opens up the depth of meaning in the Scriptures so that we can find depth of meaning in our lives and in our discipleship. In relationship with Jesus we become participants in the kingdom of God.
Cry, Baby
They blamed it on me. And they were probably right. Apparently, I opened the floodgates just because I got a little emotional during my prayer for our graduates prior to their sermons.
A Meditation for Good Friday – Amy Butler
I had the strangest experience just a few weeks ago. I’d been asked to participate in the funeral of a woman I did not know well; she grew up at my church, Calvary, and I knew her family from a couple of chances we’d had to be together.