4 Ways Preaching Can Boost Worship Attendance
Popular preacher and author Charley Reeb shares four preaching strategies to grow your church, all based on the notion that we have to connect with…
Browsing: Preaching
Articles
How to Keep Preaching Fresh: An In-Depth Interview with Teresa Fry Brown
How can preachers keep their preaching fresh? Doug Powe of the Lewis Center staff interviews Professor of Preaching Teresa Fry Brown about preaching familiar texts…
“How to Keep Preaching Fresh” featuring Teresa Fry Brown
Podcast Episode 123 How can preachers keep their preaching fresh? Teresa Fry Brown, professor of preaching at Candler School of Theology, shares strategies for preaching…
5 Ways Pastors Make Ministry Harder than It Needs to Be
How do church leaders make ministry harder than it needs to be? Carey Nieuwhof identifies five ways that many pressures faced in ministry are more…
10 Things Great Preachers Do Differently
What separates good preachers from great preachers? Charley Reeb, a Georgia pastor known as a gifted preacher, says talent is less important than approaching the…
Getting Comfortable Preaching about Money and Generosity
Preaching on the topic of money is spiritually challenging. And it can also be personally challenging to leaders plagued by their own economic insecurity or…
7 Practical Strategies for Nurturing a Culture of Generosity
Ann A. Michel and Lovett H. Weems Jr., authors of Generosity, Stewardship, and Abundance, say creating a culture of generosity requires creativity and consistency. They…
The Power of Storytelling in Ministry: An In-Depth Interview with Jee Hae Song
How can storytelling impact your ministry? And how can you inspire others to share their stories? Jessica Anschutz of the Lewis Center staff interviews Jee…
“The Power of Storytelling in Ministry” featuring Jee Hae Song
How can storytelling impact your ministry? How can you inspire others to share their stories? Jee Hae Song believes we all have gifts for storytelling and shares part of her story to inspire others to share how God works in their lives.
Simple Guidance for Preachers on Christmas Eve
As pastors and congregations prepare to receive guests on Christmas Eve, Bishop Kenneth H. Carter offers simple, heartfelt advice. Keep the sermon brief but grace…
5 Ways to Preach about Money More Effectively
Alex Joyner says tending to our attitudes about money is a way of tending our souls. He shares tips for preaching in ways that can…
Preaching Strategies for a Post-Pandemic Church
New preaching strategies are needed to engage emerging generations in the digital age. Michael Beck and Rosario Picardo say sermons in the post-pandemic church will…
Episode 68: “Finding Solutions to the Young Clergy Crisis” featuring Bishop Janice Huie
What strategies support and encourage young people entering ministry? In this episode Bishop Janice Huie shares the importance of listening deeply to young people, embracing a holistic approach, and sustaining our commitment to younger clergy in face of new challenges.
How to Ask People to Give (Even in a Pandemic)
Margaret Marcuson shares ideas for asking people to support the church even in these most uncertain times. She says leaders should set an example through…
Episode 66: “Leading with the Sermon” featuring Bishop William Willimon
Bishop William Willimon says truth telling is critical to faithful leadership. In this episode he speaks about a pastor’s call to preach unabashedly the truth of Jesus Christ without losing sight of the importance of managing congregational life in this disruptive, revealing time.
Episode 59: “Bringing the New Testament to Life” featuring Shively Smith
How can you teach the New Testament in ways that make it come alive to modern people? In this episode we speak with New Testament Professor Shively Smith about innovative approaches to teaching the gospel that disrupt our staid and familiar notions of the biblical text.
Leading between Faith and Patriotism
Lovett H. Weems Jr. writes that preaching at the time of a national holiday offers opportunities and dangers. He says it is important to approach…
Preaching to an Empty Room
How can preachers maintain a sense of presence and engage their audience when COVID-19 has their congregants viewing worship via livestream? Read these tips on…
Preach Like TED
Charley Reeb says preachers should take a lesson from TED Talks — the 18-minute internet videos that have reached over a billion people worldwide. The…
Preaching Truth in the Age of Alternative Facts
New Testament professor Bill Brosend says that preaching in the age of fake news and alternative facts can be like walking a tightrope. But it’s…
5 Lessons for Better Preaching
Charley Reeb, author of two books on preaching, says that preachers better connect with people in the pews when they realize they are in the…
4 Tips for Preaching on Politically Charged Topics
Ginger Gaines-Cirelli, author of Sacred Resistance, says it’s up to preachers to address the pain, injustice, confusion, and chaos in our days even when it…
The One-Point Sermon
Charley Reeb, a Florida pastor known as a gifted preacher, says that it’s often easiest for listeners to stay focused when a sermon is organized…
3 Ways to Extend the Impact of a Sermon
Mike Schreiner and Ken Willard describe ways to get more traction from each week’s sermon by layering its message into other materials that reinforce the…
Episode 6: “That’ll Preach” featuring Charley Reeb
How can you connect with more people and engage current parishioners better through preaching? In this Leading Ideas Talks, Lewis Center Director Douglas Powe speaks with Pastor Charley Reeb, author of That’ll Preach!: 5 Simple Steps to Your Best Sermon Ever (available at Cokesbury and Amazon).
6 Tips for Effective Preaching on Stewardship
Preaching is a critical component within a broader strategy for stewardship ministry, says church consultant Margaret Marcuson. She provides six tips for more effective preaching…
5 Things I Need from a Sermon
What do those in the pews need from a sermon? Larry Buxton says it’s more than platitudes and common sense. An effective sermon needs to…
The Secret to Great Preaching
The secret of great preaching, according to Charley Reeb, is to engage your listeners. Stop thinking about what would impress your seminary professors, he says,…
9 Things Preachers Should Never Say
Many preachers shoot themselves in the foot when they start off with hackneyed or formulaic phrases that fail to capture the fleeting attention of those…
Speak More Effectively by Asking Three Questions
Perhaps the most important component to giving an effective speech is asking the right questions. There are three very simple questions your talk, speech, or…