Preaching

Preaching helps pastors, preachers, and Bible teachers communicate God’s Word with clarity, faithfulness, and purpose. Explore practical, Scripture-shaped resources on sermon preparation, expository preaching, teaching methods, illustration and application, and leading people toward transformation. You’ll also find guidance on preaching in different seasons, teaching across age groups, handling difficult texts, and developing a healthy rhythm for study and delivery. Whether you preach weekly or teach in classes and small groups, these articles aim to strengthen your ministry of the Word.

September 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Why We Believe in Faith Promise

By Jim Bird What”s faith promise? I had never heard of faith promise and now I was expected to lead it! I became the lead minister at Fort Caroline Christian Church in Jacksonville, Florida, in summer 2009. Soon I asked how we fund our missions giving and was told we do it through faith promise giving.  It is an approach I didn”t know, but I soon decided I would preach two sermons on missions and stewardship, and then, on Faith Promise Sunday, our folks would make God-directed commitments to support our missions. With that in mind, I determined to learn

September 7, 2012

Christian Standard

STEWARDSHIP: What Have We Done to This Word?

By E.G. “Jay” Link If word abuse were a crime, many Christian leaders and teachers would be in jail for how they have abused one of our most important biblical terms””the word stewardship. If you were to poll your congregation and ask what stewardship means, I suspect the overwhelming majority would say it has something to do with money and giving. Part right and part wrong. And, as my grandmother would say, “If something is partially wrong, it is all wrong.” I spent eight years in Bible college and seminary where I majored in theology. In all those years, I

August 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Arizona Church Hosts Services at Local Prison

By Jennifer Taylor Dozens of prisoners, many of them sex offenders, are members at Chandler (AZ) Christian Church. Several times a year, volunteers from the church take a portable baptistery to a local prison and baptize 25 to 35 men each time. “We consider them part of our church and the congregation celebrates every quarter when we report back,” says Matt Meyers, pastor of changing ministries. The baptisms are the fruit of a years-long effort to minister to the inmates in a local prison. Every Friday night a team of volunteers brings worship music, Communion, and a message to more

August 27, 2012

Christian Standard

Do We Believe What We Sing?

By Tom Lawson Calvinism, largely through the influence of the Church of Scotland between 1600 and 1900, has become the dominant position of the majority of English-speaking Evangelical Protestants. The Stone-Campbell Movement, along with groups such as the Cumberland Presbyterians and Freewill Baptists, represent non-Calvinistic groups that have emerged within this broader majority. Since the hymns and songs used in Christian worship are widely shared across denominational lines, it is not surprising that many popular Christian songs come from dedicated Calvinists. In many cases the doctrinal distinctives of Calvinism do not emerge in the lyrics of a song, even if the

August 23, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with John Craycraft

By Paul Boatman John Craycraft is executive director of the Chaplaincy Endorsement Commission (CEC) for the Christian churches/churches of Christ. Prior to his 2006 appointment, he served 16 years in local church ministries, and 26 years as a Navy chaplain, retiring as a captain.   How does chaplaincy differ from ministry in the local church? In the congregational ministry you may see children born, grow up, get married . . . you live a life cycle with them. In any chaplaincy you are with people for only a limited time and then you may lose track. Ministry may be really intense, but the

August 22, 2012

Christian Standard

Mining for Diamonds

By Greg Swinney A few months ago, I found myself sitting at a roadside taco stand in Mexico. I could hardly believe where I was and what I was doing. A three and one-half hour church service had just ended and those who helped lead the service were hungry. They invited me to go “out to eat” with them. It was 10 p.m. and I was ready for some food, but I had no idea it meant sitting on white plastic stack chairs along the side of the dusty road and eating out of the back end of a brightly

August 16, 2012

Christian Standard

Deployed

By Kavan Rogness Several months ago at University Christian Church in Manhattan, Kansas, we came up with an idea to get the church involved in the community. The bulk of the inspiration came from a staff member who attended the February 2011 Preaching and Teaching Conference at Ozark Christian College. There he heard about Vince Antonucci”s book Guerilla Lovers and the “guerilla” assignments Antonucci developed to encourage Christians to get outside their comfort zones and show God”s love through acts of kindness. We decided to challenge our congregation with the idea. The result was a military-themed sermon series called “Deployed” that not

August 6, 2012

Christian Standard

10 Ways to Encourage Your Minister

By Victor M. Parachin   So this is the pastorate? Is this the ministry? To be misunderstood, unappreciated, alone, and misquoted with no hope of correction? This is a painful, lonely business. That lament was a journal entry made by pastor David Fisher shortly after he began ministry. Fortunately, Fisher, author of The 21st Century Pastor, weathered that difficult time. Other ministers, however, are not as fortunate. Recent polls reveal high-level dissatisfaction and discouragement among those in the ministry: “¢ 1,700 ministers leave ministry every month, an annual exodus of more than 20,000 “¢ 50 percent of ministers quit within five years of

August 2, 2012

Christian Standard

What Do You Say about Church Music?

By Randy Gariss Within the American church, few topics have brought out more absurdity, immaturity, and blind passion than the discussion of “what shall the music in our worship services be like?” Of course, there are exceptions, but if one listens to the discussion in blogs, small groups, church hallways, and around Christian family dinner tables, let”s just say our finest behavior is seldom on display when we are discussing worship music. Why has the style of music in a worship service been such a lightning rod for disagreement? What has caused this issue to tower over the landscape of

July 30, 2012

Christian Standard

He Looked Beyond My Fault and Saw My Need

By Joe Bliffen Your initial reaction to hearing about a terrible sin someone has committed indicates immediately whether you are developing the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16*). “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). What was Jesus” attitude toward sinners as he walked among us? In Zacchaeus, Jesus saw a man who had really messed up his life and needed a friend. On the cross, Jesus saw two criminals and the Roman soldiers, people who mocked him and blasphemed God. Yet Jesus looked beyond their faults and saw their need; he died for

July 29, 2012

Christian Standard

The Wisdom in Meat Loaf

By Daniel Schantz Hunger is a great teacher. The lessons I learned as a lad in Sunday school were immediately reinforced by the potluck dinner that followed services. It was at the potluck dinner that I learned just how hard it is to master the virtues of patience, self-control, and acceptance.   Patience Church dinners always started late, and the bowl of corn flakes I had at sunrise would not sustain me till noon. During the morning sermon, the fragrance of coffee and hot rolls would drift up from the church basement, and my stomach would begin to ache. I

July 19, 2012

Christian Standard

Preaching, Prevailing, and Seeking

By LeRoy Lawson The Collected Sermons of Fred B. Craddock Fred B. Craddock Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011 When You Come Home: The True Love Story of a Soldier”s Heroism and His Wife”s Sacrifice Nancy Cavin Pitts Kingsport: Christian Devotions Ministry, 2011 The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West . . . AGAIN (10th Anniversary Edition) George C. Hunter III Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010 I”ve known of Fred Craddock almost as long as I”ve been preaching, but I”ve never met him. When I was a guest preacher at the Christian Church in Newport, Tennessee, his ghost filled the church. He wasn”t dead,

July 10, 2012

Christian Standard

Externally Focused AND Evangelistic?

By Staff Most churches have heard about the “externally focused” emphasis that has prompted Christians everywhere to get out of their church buildings and into their communities to serve. Meanwhile, the attractional/missional debate has also prodded the push to be about going out instead of inviting people into the church. We talked about this trend at the annual CHRISTIAN STANDARD contributing editors retreat to explore the effect of this service emphasis on the church”s vision and mission. Can we effectively help and heal bodies AND save souls? CHRISTIAN STANDARD editors gathered the following leaders for this discussion: Ben Cachiaras, senior pastor

June 17, 2012

Christian Standard

First Voice

By Daniel Schantz I paused by the open door of a Bible college preaching class. A nervous young man was delivering his first sermon. The video camera glared at him like an electric dragon, and the students were busy filling out evaluation forms on his performance. Thanks to accreditation, Bible college is now all about evaluation””meticulous, relentless evaluation. It may be a boon to bureaucrats, but it can be brutal to a tender young spirit. As I watched the boy, my mind drifted back to my own first sermon, when I was just a 15-year-old preacher”s son, attending the Sabina

June 3, 2012

Christian Standard

How Long Should a Sermon Be?

By Mark A. Taylor The question came to me when I discovered Peggy Noonan”s On Speaking Well at a $5 book table. The very first piece of advice from the most famous of President Ronald Reagan”s spreechwriters? “No speech should last more than 20 minutes.” I remember all the sermons I”ve heard””and delivered””that have been way longer than that. And I wonder if Noonan”s advice should apply to sermons too. Her rationale:   Reagan . . . knew twenty minutes is more than enough time to say the biggest, most important thing in the world. The Gettysburg Address went three

May 6, 2012

Christian Standard

The Priority of Preaching

By Eddy Sanders I heard a familiar theme at lunch this past Sunday. I was sitting with a couple new to our church, and one of them said, “We”re here because of the preaching.” The couple are new enough to our church and Christian discipleship that they don”t know all of the “right” answers. They only know their honest and heartfelt answers. They”re attempting to figure out what it means to follow Jesus. Preaching has proven instrumental in their journey so far. Our conversation got me thinking about preaching, and I came to the following conclusion: Preaching should remain the

March 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Delivering the Message

By Gary L. Johnson The United States Postal Service is struggling””and so is the church. Can we see any similarities in their problems? The United States Postal Service is losing billions of dollars and faces possible bankruptcy. Losses for the last two years alone exceed $13 billion. To survive, the USPS will lay off postal workers, close post offices, and increase postal rates. Next-day delivery will become a thing of the past, and it may take as long as nine days for your favorite magazine to be delivered. Without a doubt, the USPS has been one of our nation”s most

November 29, 2011

Christian Standard

Get Out of the Way!

By David L. Clark I”ve been preaching 35 years and still remember my first “official” sermon. I was consumed with preparation during the week leading up to it. I spent hours at a local college library. I chose a text, searched the meanings of words, read multiple commentaries, and scoured mind and memories for timely illustrations. By Friday, the sermon was ready, and I was full of anticipation. Sunday morning arrived after a fitful night of sleep. I preached! The sermon was delivered to those who would listen and””if I say so myself””it went well. Then reality set in. What

November 14, 2011

Christian Standard

Talking Church

By Dennis Bratton During a discussion about mentoring, talk turned toward the idea of a coaching cohort. The term coaching struck a cord of familiarity. I”d taken part in peer coaching for years. We didn”t call it that. It was just a group of preachers who got together once a year to talk church, play some golf, and talk church some more. The benefits of those connections were far-reaching in my ministry. I was in a growing church and regularly facing issues and challenges for which I often felt ill equipped. My best source of counsel came consistently from those

November 3, 2011

Christian Standard

Interview with Mark Atteberry

By Brad Dupray Mark Atteberry”s enthusiasm for reading has shaped his life and improved his preaching. He has been in the preaching ministry for 37 years, beginning while he was a student at St. Louis Christian College. For the past 22 years Mark has served as senior minister with Poinciana Christian Church in Kissimmee, Florida. He has written eight published books, including Free Refill, Let It Go, and So Much More Than Sexy, all available from Standard Publishing. Two more in the works include his first novel, a romantic thriller. Read more about Mark and his books at www.MarkAtteberry.net.  

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