Articles for tag: Sermon Preparation

October 29, 2013

Mark A. Taylor

Self-Fed

By Mark A. Taylor Usually my wife and I grab something at a restaurant after church on Sunday morning, but a few weeks ago the church fed me lunch. It was an information meeting for small group leaders at our church, and the menu was box lunches from one of my favorite local cafes. I tried the chicken salad sandwich. Never had it before””it was great! There were extra meals on hand after the meeting, so each of us could take a couple home with us. My wife and I enjoyed ours the next day. So that means the church

October 20, 2012

Christian Standard

Google Is My Best Friend: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 5)

By Chuck Sackett “What”s in a name?” “What does the Bible say about God”s honor?” “Taking God”s name in vain.” Those recent searches resulted in an abundance of usable illustrative materials. Which is my way of saying, I don”t use the web for the substance of the sermon, I use it for developing creative means of communicating what the text has revealed through the hard work of Bible study. Google is not the only search engine, but it represents a category of tools every preacher must become adept at using. The fact that the web abounds with material is both bane

October 19, 2012

Christian Standard

My Two-Pronged Strategy: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 2)

By Bert Crabbe It”s a widely held maxim among students of church growth that churches tend to rise and fall on their preaching. While it”s not the only important thing, it seems evident a church can get a lot of things wrong and still thrive if the preaching is good. Conversely, a church can do everything else right and still fail if the preaching is bad. So how do preachers keep coming up with great ideas? Assuming the preacher is already spending regular time in God”s Word, I think a two-pronged strategy works best. First, read WIDELY. Begin with periodicals.

October 19, 2012

Christian Standard

The Web World I Travel: Resources for Bible Teaching (Part 1)

By Greg Lee I preach . . . so the Internet has become a great friend of mine. Yes, it”s fraught with potential pitfalls. You should avoid wasting time there viewing bad content or downloading a full sermon as a “Saturday Night Special.” But the web at its best is a place I use for the following:   Living in the Present Throw away your shoebox of news clippings set aside as illustrations you might use someday. Isn”t it almost always better to have an example from last Tuesday instead of 1998? No shockers here: cnn.com,news.google.com, people.com, espn.com, and the website for a local

July 13, 2012

Christian Standard

How Shall We Face the Future?

By Mark A. Taylor “Refreshed in the Future” was Bob Russell’s sermon topic at the closing session of the North American Christian Convention in Orlando, Florida, Friday morning, July 13. And even though he’s a little skeptical about predicting the future, he observed that “one sure way to get attention” is to try. But in spite of future predictions that have not come true (By the 21st century we will will have colonies on the moon) and those that have (Automobiles will be guided by satellite systems), he reminded us of one thing we do know: American culture is growing

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

May 17, 2012

Christian Standard

How to Follow a Great Act

By Kent E. Fillinger Succeeding a well-known, well-loved, successful, retiring senior minister is a daunting task for virtually anyone. But Aaron Brockett also faced stepping into the ministry of a church with minimal growth for five years prior to a major relocation and building project. Granted, several factors contributed to the lengthy attendance stall at Traders Point Christian Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. “¢ A prolonged relocation process kept the church idling in an undersized facility. “¢ A daughter church grew out of Traders Point”s young adult ministry””a good development that nevertheless cleared the bench of younger, upcoming leaders for a time. “¢

October 7, 2011

Christian Standard

Getting the Job Done

By Mark A. Taylor On the day after Steve Jobs died, his name was at the head of every newscast, the subject line on scores of e-newsletters and blogs, the stuff of conversation among his fans around the world. “I think I”m the only one who has NOT posted something about Steve Jobs today,” wrote a friend on his Facebook page. One of those posts linked to technology columnist Walter Mossberg”s memories at WSJ.com. “He was a genius, a giant influence on multiple industries and billions of lives,” Mossberg wrote. The coverage that day and since said nothing about Jobs”s

June 2, 2010

Christian Standard

Interview with Mike Claypool

By Brad Dupray Mike Claypool was 30 years old when he and his wife, Cindy, attended “Summer in the Son” at Kentucky Christian College as youth sponsors. The preaching there convicted them to make the life-changing decision for Mike to leave the printing industry and attend Lincoln Christian College to pursue his passion to preach. Mike loved the teaching he received from mentors like Chuck Sackett at Lincoln, and has served as preaching minister at First Christian Church in Newburgh, Indiana, for 18 years. Mike and Cindy have celebrated 35 years of marriage and have two grown children, C.J. and

October 14, 2009

Christian Standard

No Laughing Matter

By Mark A. Taylor Have you caught The Jay Leno Show, NBC”s new weeknight offering? It premiered September 14, a few days after this issue went to the printer, so this is no review of its content. But I couldn”t help thinking about the work the church does as I read about the work Leno did this summer to get ready for his new show. An August 21 Wall Street Journal piece pointed out that Leno”s move to 10 pm from 11:30 was a big risk for him as well as the network. Leno is trying something largely abandoned years

November 30, 2005

Christian Standard

STOLEN SERMONS: Readers Offer Insights

In the October 2 issue, Editor Mark A. Taylor asked readers to share their thoughts about original sermons, Sunday-evening worship, and any other topic you wished to expound upon. We have received more than a dozen letters/e-mails related to original sermons and Sunday night sermons, and we are sharing them with you here. (To send us your comments, just click here.) Before we get going, here are some links that might be helpful: “The Problems With Original Preaching” by Mark A. Taylor “Integrity in the Pulpit” by Dean M. Christensen “How to Preach Like an Amateur” by Eddie Lowen Letters

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