I am haunted by long sermons. Not really, but I needed a dramatic opening sentence. I have written before about the length of an ideal sermon. A sermon should be only as long as is necessary for you to make your point in a memorable way. This means, in most cases, a sermon should rarely […]
The Three Sermons In My Head
I preached my first Sunday morning sermon at a small church in Alpine, Texas. I travelled there from Abilene with a small group of students who would go to small town churches on the weekends and lead the worship service. They needed a preacher and I volunteered. Afterward, an older man who had preached his […]
September 5, 2013 by 3 Comments
Surrender Control of the Outcomes
Here’s another lesson I learned about preaching from my brief stint as a guest speaker in multiple churches: Surrender control of the outcomes. One of the freedoms I enjoyed most as an interim preacher was that my sermons were usually not generated by a specific situation at the church where I was speaking. I found […]
December 18, 2012 by 4 Comments
Preaching To Those Who Don’t Know The Bible
Several weeks ago I preached a sermon from Acts 2. I mentioned Pentecost, but didn’t take the time to explain the background of the Pentecost Festival because I was trying keep my sermon from going too long. (From what I can tell, at the church where I preach, anything over thirty minutes starts to feel […]
November 26, 2012 by 1 Comment
How to Preach Better Sermons: The Shorter The Better
From March 2009 to September 2012, I didn’t write very many sermons from scratch. During this three year period, I did plenty of preaching, but it was almost exclusively sermons I had already written and preached before. Being a guest speaker in a church, even when doing four or five Sundays in a row, is […]
November 14, 2012 by 11 Comments
A New Chapter
It is my pleasure to announce that I have accepted the Senior Minister position at the Preston Road Church of Christ in Dallas. I was a guest speaker there back in March and that led to multiple conversations with the elders, search team, staff and other key leaders about filling the position. I tried to […]
May 21, 2012 by 32 Comments
The Top Ten Ways Preachers Justify Their Favorite Pastimes
1. Playing Words with Friends improves my vocabulary. 2. The graphics on ESPN inspire me to spend more time on my PowerPoint slides. 3. Playing Call of Duty improves my reflexes so that I can better respond to tough questions after my sermons. 4. I pray some of my best prayers in between shots on […]
April 18, 2012 by 1 Comment
Dealing With Technological Distractions In Church
When I was a kid I tried to sneak The Black Stallion into church one Sunday. I planned on reading it during the sermon. My mom caught me and made me leave it in the car. She told me I was old enough to listen to the sermon and be bored to tears just like […]
April 11, 2012 by 8 Comments
Meet The Preacher Geek
Yesterday I launched a new blog called Preacher Geek. Why? Because sometimes preachers talk about the strangest stuff and I wanted to host a dedicated blog for such discussions. It’s going to be a place where I (and others) will write about all kinds of preacher stuff that is far too geeky to inflict on […]
October 21, 2011 by 4 Comments
Before You Go: Coffee Talk
Imagine that you are a preacher. Scary thought I know. You have decided that you’ve done everything you can do at your current church and it’s time to move on to a new one. In fact, you’ve completed a weekend interview with a prospective church and they’ve offered you the job. You’re excited, but you […]
May 17, 2011 by 2 Comments
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons