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Lately, I’ve been paying more attention to setting up the reading of the Scripture I’m about to preach. In some traditions, preachers will read the entire sermon text before giving any kind of introduction or explanation. But I wonder if our listeners listen better when we have prepared them for the reading?

Our sister site, FaithVisuals, has posted a list of what it feels represents the top media of 2007. You'll surely find some helpful videos, worship loops, and video curriculum to enhance your preaching and teaching.

I’ve devoted the month of January to preaching four sermons on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. Four . . . seven . . . how does the math work for this? I got this idea from Dr. Grant Osborne, a professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Many of you probably know that Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas campaigning to become the Republican candidate for the 2008 United States presidential election, is an ordained Southern Baptist minister. What many of you may not know is that PreachingToday.com has one of his past sermons available on our site. It's entitled "Practice of Patience."

If you're a member of PT.com, you can read Huckabee's sermon by clicking here. If you are not a member of PreachingToday.com, you can purchase the sermon in an mp3 format or as a Word document on PreachingTodaySermons.com.

When you preach, is it better to preach with or without notes? Andy Stanley discusses this issue in chapter 14 of Communicating For A Change.

PreachingToday.com is pleased to announce our 2007 Book of the Year for Preaching Skills. Our two judges and Brian Larson, editor of PreachingToday.com, selected Donald Sunukjian's Invitation to Biblical Preaching. Sidney Greidanus's Preaching Christ from Genesis and Jeffrey Arthurs' Preaching with Variety have received honorable mention.

If you'd like to know more about Invitation to Biblical Preaching and the works by Greidanus and Arthurs, please take a moment to read this article.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Invitation to Biblical Preaching, please click here.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Preaching Christ from Genesis, please click here.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Preaching with Variety, please click here.

Andy Stanley encourages preachers to “slow down in the curves.” In terms of sermon structure, this is one of the most critical practices for keeping listeners engaged.

Leadership journal recently ran an interesting article about ministering in the age of Zoloft. In a study conducted in 2006, researchers found that over 190 million prescriptions were given for antidepressants. Another worldwide study found that America ranks at the top of a list of countries that suffer from immense depression. That means we preachers are preaching to a congregation whose faces are stained with tears.

Please take a moment to read through the Leadership article. Take a moment to think through your own pastoral situation and your congregational context. How does the current state of things affect our preaching?

If you've recently visited PreachingToday.com, you know that we have announced the first of two 2007 Book of the Year Awards. Our two judges and Brian Larson, editor of PreachingToday.com, selected Greg Heisler's Spirit-led Preaching as the recipient of the 2007 Book of the Year for the Preacher's Soul. John Koessler's Stranger in the House of God was the runner-up.

If you'd like to know more about Spirit-led Preaching and Stranger in the House of God, please take a moment to read this article.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Spirit-led Preaching, please click here.

If you'd like to purchase a copy of Stranger in the House of God, please click here.

Next week we will announce the 2007 Book of the Year for Preaching Skills…

Have you ever had a great idea for a sermon, only to discover from further exegetical study that your sermon text actually undermines your idea? It happens! But this will not leave you stranded on the island of misfit sermons. According to Andy Stanley, this creates potential for your sermon to be even stronger than you initially thought it would be.

Andy Stanley refuses to stand up and preach until he knows the answer to two questions. He reveals these questions in his newest book, Communicating For a Change, which is co-authored with Lane Jones. The questions are (drum roll, please!) . . .

Out of Ur recently posted an entry about addressing the issue of politics from the pulpit. Check it out and head back here for some conversation on the matter...

Now that you've read the article, a question begs to be answered: regardless of what the preacher is allowed legally to do, should he/she address politics from the pulpit? Why or why not? If you feel preachers should, to what extent should they address it - should he/she offer something along the lines of a more general, theological overview or something much more specific, like a personal endorsement?

For the next three weeks or so, I’d like to interact with Andy Stanley’s approach to preaching. He presents his model with the help of co-author, Lane Jones, in Communicating For a Change (Multnomah, 2006). The book is engaging, and it’s on target. I could not put it once I started reading it last Thursday! For starters, Andy challenges preachers to “pick a point.”

Our sister site, Out of Ur, recently initiated a conversation about the potential dangers of pursuing excellence in ministry. The conversation is built upon an article that was written by Daniel Schantz for Christian Standard magazine. You can find the full article by Schantz here.

The conversation on Ur mostly focuses on big picture issues (i.e. excellence in overall programming). I'd like to hear from you all about something specific: excellence in preaching. What do you perceive are the dangers in pursuing excellence in preaching?

Ajith Fernando makes a probing comment about preaching in his recent book, Jesus-Driven Ministry. He begins by observing that the most common response he hears to sermons he preaches in the West is: “I enjoyed that sermon.” Then, he offers this assessment:

My son, Ben, and I are planning to spend the next couple months reading the book of Romans together. This morning’s reading in chapter 1 reminded me why I am eager to preach the Scriptures in 2008.