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The following 37 entries are posted in the "Form and Structure" category.
July 06, 2008 17:02
This summer preaching.org is featuring an older article by Don Sunukjian of Talbot Seminary on the subject of alliteration. He writes…
“While alliteration may occasionally be useful, its too-frequent use in sermon outlines has potential dange...
March 10, 2008 18:46
One of the more interesting books I’ve read on preaching recently is Chris Erdman’s Countdown to Sunday. I’ve read a lot of books on the subject. Not always do I find myself so consistently intrigued and interested. I found myself talkin...
March 01, 2008 12:36
Last month I wrote an article for the SermonCentral.com newsletter which reaches more than 50,000 people. Apparently the article struck a chord, generating more click-through responses than similar pieces by Chuck Swindoll, H.B. London, J.P. Moreland, and Gary Sma...
February 25, 2008 12:18
Some of you may remember I commented on and linked to an article by New Zealander David Allis a few months ago. The article was titled, The Problem with Preaching. Here is a stimulating response from Allis. He makes some interesting points…
“...
February 15, 2008 14:20
You might remember that last week we were praying for one of my former students who had to preach at a difficult funeral service. The service went very well. The students writes…
“Thanks so much for your prayers – the funeral was a mean...
February 06, 2008 23:37
I received an email from a regular preaching.org reader and former student of mine. I’ve reproduced his message here, slightly edited…
“I really appreciate your website with extremely helpful articles and links (I’ll probably subs...
February 08, 2008 18:14
Here’s a quick note regarding the release of a second and revised edition of fellow Canadian Paul Scott Wilson’s excellent The Practice of Preaching. I’ll be reviewing the book for the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society and th...
December 07, 2007 21:33
I’ve just finished a series of one-on-one conversations that I have at the end of every semester with my preaching students. One of the things I’ve noticed again this year is the fact that these budding preachers tend to assume too much. Students seem ...
November 02, 2007 16:49
Preaching with Variety: How to Re-create the Dynamics of Biblical Genres. By Jeffrey D. Arthurs. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2007, 978-0-8254-2019-1, 238 pp., $15.99, paperback.
Several years ago I embarked upon a project. Having been given a shor...
October 23, 2007 19:48
I had a fantastic opportunity today to sit in on a class taught by Tony Alcantar at the Vancouver Academy of the Dramatic Arts (VADA). Tony is a veteran Christian actor and comedian out of the Second City environment who is tired of listening to preachers who unde...
October 03, 2007 13:22
This past Sunday my pastor opened up the floor for questions after preaching the sermon. It seems like such a simple and obvious thing to do, but I’ve got to say that I was a little worried for him. In all my years, I’ve only ever seen one preacher do ...
June 29, 2007 10:49
Don Sunukjian, a key figure in evangelical homiletics, has just released his magnum opus, Invitation to Biblical Preaching. Sunukjian, professor of preaching and chair of the Christian Ministry and Leadership department at Talbot School of Theology, has c...
June 18, 2007 11:04
I found the attached article by David Allis to be one of the more thoughtful critiques of preaching. My response is that much of what he says is truthful. Preaching, for instance, is expensive. Preachers often can’t be trusted. At the same time, I ...
May 22, 2007 13:19
We’ve been doing some renovations on our home recently which has meant a lot of moving things around. One of the bigger headaches in this process has been getting the stereo and television components set up in a new location. This has become an incredibly co...
May 08, 2007 11:34
I picked up a great idea recently from Jim Lucas, President of Canadian Pentecostal Seminary, and a friend and colleague of mine. Jim says that he likes to hold back some of his best stuff from the body of his sermon in order to utilize it as a kind of epilogue. W...
April 30, 2007 20:01
One evening my wife offered me a meal that didn’t look familiar to me. Something about the look on my face must have suggested something other than full appreciation. “What’s wrong,” she said. “It’s everything that you like.R...
February 23, 2007 14:26
I recently received a copy of Wayne McDill’s second edition of 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching. The book offers a detailed and practical approach to the preparation of declarative, Expository sermons. This might be the most comprehensive pre...
February 16, 2007 19:18
Sermons, like people, can take a great variety of shapes. Evangelicals may have been a little slow to realize this, given our reticence to compromise on Scripture. We have tended to err toward a more conservative approach in offering our homiletic guidance, so as ...
February 06, 2007 12:03
Last week I was talking to my students about the challenge of helping listeners overcome their objections to the sermon’s big idea. I likened the challenge to fishing. I’m not much of a fisherman, but I know that once you’ve got the fish on the h...
January 23, 2007 11:38
Last night my wife and I attended a play at the Vancouver Playhouse. We are subscribers and as such, attend about five plays each year. Some of them, like last night’s production of Vigil by Morris Panych are outstanding. Sometimes, not so much.
...January 05, 2007 13:50
Some excerpts from N.T. Wright’s The New Testament and the People of God (Fortress Press, 1992).
“This runs contrary to the popular belief that a story is there to ‘illustrate’ some point or orther which can in principle be stated without ...
December 19, 2006 11:52
One of the things my students struggle with is learning to use the listeners voice in their preaching. One of the most effective things that we can do is to quit being the preacher at least for a little while in the sermon in order to let the listener have her or ...
December 11, 2006 14:08
So much of what we do in preaching is about the shaping of language so as to showcase certain ideas or elements. I was talking to a student this morning about the conclusion to one of his sermons. I mentioned that he could have done more to sharpen the invitation ...
November 24, 2006 09:58
I’ve found it interesting this week to contrast two of my students whose preaching (and personal) style is very different. One of the guys is energetic, passionate – the kind of guy who makes his presence felt wherever he is. Everybody likes him. The o...
November 16, 2006 11:49
I got an email recently from a friend asking for a copy of my book. He’s a pretty good friend and so I’ll probably give him a copy – but I would not likely have done so if he hadn’t asked. It got me thinking how so often we don’t have...
November 01, 2006 12:58
A few days ago, while visiting a town fair, I saw a woman reading poetry to a solitary listener in the middle of a crowd. The sight was striking given that large numbers of people, myself included, were finding their way past and around these two who were taking t...
September 06, 2006 18:24
It’s been a while since I have preached at a funeral. My seminary role doesn’t always afford me the opportunity to serve such pastoral functions like I used to. Tomorrow morning, however, I have the privilege of preaching at the memorial service for my...
August 14, 2006 11:48
A D.Min. student of mine, Robert Campbell from Corona, California (neoathanasius.blogspot.com), recently asked me about doing the integrative preaching/teaching thing in small groups. Here was my response…
With respect...
August 10, 2006 15:26
Have you ever tried to hold down a warped board? As soon as you get one side hammered down the other side pops up. Put your attention to that side and the first side pops back up. It can be maddening.
The same can be true of integrative preaching. You pu...
August 10, 2006 15:17
Years ago, I had a regular opportunity to preach on a local Sunday morning radio program. One day the producer and I had a conversation about the nature of radio communication. The secret to effective radio, she told me, was to forget about the fact that there are...
August 10, 2006 15:10
Every now and then my youngest daughter will come downstairs and complain that there is “nothing to do.” I say, “Come on, Katey, there are plenty of things to do. There are years of Christmas and birthday presents and toys of all descriptions in ...
August 10, 2006 14:56
Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. A very simple example is the ‘30 days hath September’ rhyme. The basic principle of mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions of your brain as possib...
August 10, 2006 14:56
Growing up in church, I was accustomed to hearing the terms “sermon” and “message” used interchangeably. “The pastor will now come and bring the message” was used just as often as “The pastor will now come and bring the se...
August 10, 2006 14:53
Traditionally, sermon illustration has been understood as adding raisins to one’s oatmeal. The theory is that the oatmeal is the nutritious part of the meal, but it isn’t all that tasty. If we want people to be able to choke it down we need to add some...
August 10, 2006 14:52
The manner of preparing one’s notes for preaching (if notes are used at all) is about as varied and personal as preachers are themselves. Within a range of options, preachers ought to feel free to adopt any method that helps them to be as comfortable (or unc...
August 10, 2006 14:51
Granted, the title of a sermon is not it’s most important element. I would be much more concerned about the big idea. You understand, of course, that the title is different than the sermon’s theme statement, right? Theme statements offer the message of...
August 10, 2006 14:49
Traditional homiletics has understood a variety of categories for the sermon. While a universal definition might be elusive, the following general categorizations could be helpful:
Topical Preaching: Where the sermon is driven by an exploration of a pre-...