Sunday was “National Student Pastor Preaching Day” and Why That’s Great
I was preaching the week after Christmas the first time I heard someone joke about the youth pastor preaching the week after Christmas. I was the student pastor. The person was joking that it was “national student pastor preaching Sunday” because many senior pastors take the week off and hand the responsibility to the student […]
5 Reminders to Those of Us Preaching This Christmas
To say that I am excited to be preaching the Christmas services at Mariners Church this Christmas would be a massive understatement. I struggle to adequately express in words the honor and privilege I feel to be able to declare the Christmas story to people I love and to the friends they are bringing with […]
If You Preach Like Whitefield, Think Like Wesley
In his highly popular book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell contrasted the ministry of George Whitefield and John Wesley. Gladwell articulated that Whitefield was the better communicator, a more powerful preacher than Wesley. Whitefield was also known as a more capable theologian than Wesley, more likely to be compared to Luther or Calvin than Wesley would […]
“Why Do You Mainly Quote Dead People, Eric?”
Someone on my team recently asked me why, of all the people I quote when explaining a passage or a topic, I mainly quote dead people. I don’t exclusively quote dead people. And I don’t reference other’s thinking in all my sermons and definitely not in every point I am attempting to make. But it […]
“Saturday Night Specials” Versus When Pastors Really Prepare
Preachers talk smack and use slang too. For example, “sugar stick” is a sermon a preacher preaches over and over again in multiple places. If you are preaching in a new place, have a message you invested significant time and work into preparing, and it’s still fresh on your heart, it is appropriate to pull […]
A Helpful Framework for Teaching in Ministry
When you think about presenting or teaching or delivering a message, is there a helpful framework that guides how you structure the message? Preparing content is critical, but so is preparing how you will deliver the content. When I was serving as a student pastor and driving to seminary on my day off (long before […]
My 3 Goals in Preaching
In the last decade I have invested a lot of time in public speaking. With employee meetings, plenary sessions, breakouts at conferences, consulting ministry leaders, and speaking on books I have written, I have given hundreds and hundreds of leadership and ministry presentations. I have also preached weekly for the last several years as teaching […]
5 Things Pastors Dread Hearing After Preaching a Sermon
Preaching is simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting. Though I am not sure how it could be proven, some have articulated that preaching one sermon is as emotionally and psychologically taxing as an eight-hour workday. If you are like me, you know you should rest in the promise that His Word does not return void, yet you […]
Ministry Makes You More Holy or More Hypocritical
Ministry will make you more holy or more of a hypocrite. Ministering to others will drive you to the Word, to your knees in prayer, and to a holy dependence on God OR ministering to others will confront you with the opportunity to pretend to be someone you are not. Ministry will develop you or […]
Fighting Blue Monday: Be Helpful, Not Great
The following post is by Doug Hankins. Doug Hankins is the Teaching Pastor at LifePoint Church, an American church historian, and an author of Dawson Trotman: In His Own Words. Doug holds a PhD From Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He blogs at doughankins.com. This post originally appeared on the LifeWay Church Leaders blog. Blue Monday. If […]