This past weekend I listened and looked on the internet to a preacher who was preaching without notes. The preacher simply stated everything that came to his mind on the subject or not on the subject. He had highs and lows, but there was no rhyme or reason to the sermon. Then the preacher ended with a whimper and sat down.

At the end of the sermon it was difficult to remember any points from the sermon. There were a few “flashes of brilliance” but largely it was a long “stream of consciousness” without purpose. What went wrong?

OK, I admit this is tangentially related to the point of this blog, but a few of you wanted me to put this up for discussion. Setting aside the obvious discussion about Bishop Eddie Long …

The sermon is not a Biblical lecture designed merely to inform the hearer of some interesting fact. No, the sermon is a vehicle for an encounter with the Most High God. This encounter does “inform,” …

H. Beecher Hicks in the second chapter of his book Preaching Through a Storm has a sermon entitled How to Silence a Preacher; or, Shut Your Mouth!. Rev. Hicks preached this sermon at the ordination …

Lowell Erdahl, in the book Best Advice for Preaching, quotes someone who said: “There are two kinds of preachers–those who have to say something and those who have something to say!” A preacher gains …

The Black Preaching Tradition is a great gift to the larger Christian world. Many acknoweldge the vibrancy and the power of great Black Preaching. I also marvel at the improvisational genious of the great preachers in that tradition. While we accept this great gift of the African American church, we also must acknowledge that there are some who are today abusing this gift by taking it and preaching a Gospel that does not take into account the full counsel of God.

Among our most popular posts are the ones on Sermon Titles. There is just not that much information in book form or on the web on the issue. However, one might be able …

Is your preaching substantive? Does your preaching foster transformation? In an old post on the Preaching Today Blog that is no longer available. The TheoCentric Preaching Blog quotes an old Preaching Today …

Charles Kohler, in his book how to preach without notes, has written on the importance of using the Scripture as an resource for sermon illustrations. On page 45, he he writes, “one authority recommends only …

A few posts ago, I argued that we cannot trust “shouting” or other outward manifestations of congregational interaction as a valid means of determining if the message was an effective one. It is simply …