One of the preacher’s worst nightmares–besides working with a church that actually expects him to practice what he preaches–is to plan a six week series of teachings that turns out to be only five-and-a-half weeks long. By that, I mean that the preacher runs out of material before he gets to the end of the […]
Preaching Romans (Part 1 of the Preacher Geek Series)
One of the challenges for preachers is to come up with fresh ideas for teaching series. While I’m a fan of expository preaching over topical, I favor framing expository series in a topical way, rather than just saying, “We’re going to spend the next year in Romans and see where it takes us.” Over next […]
January 3, 2011 by 1 Comment
Advice to Young Preachers
Since I used to be one, I thought I would offer some unsolicited advice to young preachers. Stop writing sermons for people who aren’t in the room. For the first few years after seminary, preachers write sermons to please their former professors. The more successful they are in doing this, the less effective they are […]
August 31, 2010 by 12 Comments
I was a Preacher Once, and I was Young
I was a preacher once, and I was young. I’m still a preacher, but a couple of years ago I ceased to be a young one. If I had to pick an age, I would say it happened at 35. I preached my first full-length sermon when I was 18. I started preaching regularly for […]
August 26, 2010 by 7 Comments
Believing the Worst About God
Last week I did a teaching on the parable of the talents from Matthew 25:14-30. On the surface, it’s a fairly simple story. The master leaves large amounts of money with three servants. The master comes back expecting his servants to have made good use of the money and ready to show a profit. He […]
May 4, 2010 by 4 Comments
I Used to be a Preacher
I used to be a preacher. My week was dominated by the sermon. I’d study for it on Tuesday. Make notes about on Wednesday. Write it out on Thursday. Revise it on Friday. Get nervous about it on Saturday. Preach it Sunday. Question it on Monday. Then start it all over again. I followed that […]
July 15, 2009 by 14 Comments
Top 10 Ways You Know You Just Heard a Wade Hodges Sermon
On Sunday, we had a farewell luncheon at Garnett. The food was great. It was roasted pork loin. The entertainment was even better. It was roasted Wade. The Garnett leadership team really knows my love language. To me, nothing says “I love you” like good-natured kidding. Why hug someone when you can insult them? That’s […]
March 4, 2009 by 3 Comments
Better Stories
“Whoever can give his people better stories than the ones they live is like the priest in whose hands common bread and wine become capable of feeding the very soul.” Hugh Kenner
March 3, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Boring Words
Here’s the transcript of an actual conversation that occurred between the three Hodges men in the bathroom of our local movie theater as we stood staring at the wall doing our business. Elijah (age 6): Dad, where did you learn to do that preaching stuff you do? Caleb (age 7): I know. Wade: Where? Caleb: […]
February 10, 2009 by 8 Comments
The Beatitudes are Good News
I’ve been preaching the through the beatitudes one at a time. In each message, I insist that we resist reading the beatitudes as ethical prescriptions. They’re not the be-happy attitudes and they’re not good advice. They are declarations of good news to the broken people who have gathered around Jesus to hear him teach about […]
October 21, 2008 by 3 Comments
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons