Why You Need a Preaching Calendar in 2021
Why You Need a Preaching Calendar in 2021

Why You Need a Preaching Calendar in 2021 Read More Of the pastors we surveyed, we found that most of them did not plan their preaching more than two weeks out. In fact, only 9% of them planned more than two months out.  We think having an entire year’s sermon calendar planned out is a…

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How to Preach About Controversial Topics
How to Preach About Controversial Topics

How to Preach on Controversial Topics Read More Many pastors and leaders avoid preaching on controversial topics like politics, church giving, culture and even certain doctrinal issues. It’s not difficult to understand why. The world, and even our churches, have become more polarized in recent decades and social media has turned civil debates into downright…

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Preaching Advent: Teaching Your Church How to Celebrate Advent at Home
Preaching Advent: Teaching Your Church How to Celebrate Advent at Home

“How do we compete with that?”  Maybe you’ve found yourself thinking this as you watch the onslaught of TV commercials and marketing that are ramping us up to Christmas. Every year the buildup to Christmas starts earlier and gets louder—at least when it comes to the commercial aspects of Christmas. As a result, many people…

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How to Create A Preaching Calendar
How to Create A Preaching Calendar

Your calling is to make disciples and one of the most influential tools you have is your weekly corporate teaching and preaching! Delivering a compelling message is one thing, but making disciples is another. The burden you feel for moving people from the non-believer to disciple is real and we believe that a preaching calendar…

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Preaching An Advent Sermon Series – Everything You Need to Know
Preaching An Advent Sermon Series – Everything You Need to Know

Christmas always feels like it is right around the corner. Churches all over the country will soon be making plans to create one of their most meaningful times of the year. With the Christmas season will come the Christian celebration of Advent. Advent in One Sentence: Advent is a season celebrated by Christians as a…

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Characteristics of the Most Powerful Sermon Illustrations
Characteristics of the Most Powerful Sermon Illustrations

Sermon illustrations. They’re powerful but can be really difficult to use effectively. Sure, you can throw a sermon illustration in here or there that has somewhat of a point and get by, but powerful sermon illustrations are tougher. A powerful sermon illustration helps a sermon get to a different place for the listener. People love…

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6 Sermon Topics You Can Preach Anytime
6 Sermon Topics You Can Preach Anytime

The sermon calendar. It’s a world of possibilities and opportunities, but it can also be a world of stress and writer’s block. Every year, a few other staff members and I sit down to fill in the calendar. We usually do 6 months at a time. We’ll sit down in October to plan January through…

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The Ultimate List of Sermon Topics
The Ultimate List of Sermon Topics

The Ultimate List of Sermon Topics is a quick snapshot of 115 different topics you can scan through and choose based upon where God has your church, what he wants to say through you, and how he wants to use your congregation now and in the future.

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3 Tips for Preaching the Book of Daniel
3 Tips for Preaching the Book of Daniel

I just wrapped up a series on the book of Daniel. You can see the sermons and resources here. Because I get asked a lot by pastors about sermon prep, putting a series together, making the Bible relevant, I thought I’d share 3 tips for preaching the book of Daniel. Why? The book of Daniel…

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Church Leader, Look for the Stories
Church Leader, Look for the Stories

A.A. Milne, the creator of the Winnie the Pooh series, wrote a short conversation between Piglet and Pooh. “I’m scared,” said Piglet. “A story will help,” said Pooh. “How?” “Don’t you know? Stories make your heart grow.” Church Leader, Look for the Stories In his simple, childlike way, Winnie the Pooh reminds us of the power…

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Do you really love your church?
Do you really love your church?

Do you remember where you were the first time you saw an “I love my church” t-shirt? I can’t remember the first place I saw it, but I know I loved the idea. What a great way to market the church, and express our love. We called up our t-shirt company right away and got…

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What Preachers Can Learn from the Royal Wedding Sermon
What Preachers Can Learn from the Royal Wedding Sermon

Over the last few days, it seems the whole world has been talking about a 14-minute sermon. This should encourage those of us who are called to preach. The next time you think sermons can’t make an impact in this world remember this week and how a passionate message about God’s love touched the hearts of…

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The 5 Best Sermon Illustration Packs Every Preacher Needs
The 5 Best Sermon Illustration Packs Every Preacher Needs

No preacher will ever say, I don’t want another sermon illustration to add to my toolbox. Why? Because sermon illustrations show and tell. They bring flavor and color to a point of truth. Lane Sebring of PreachingDonkey.com says that you need to teach, illustrate, and apply every point you make. Most preachers have no trouble with teaching and…

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Leader: Here’s How to Level-Up Your Communication
Leader: Here’s How to Level-Up Your Communication

By Scott Magdalein, founder of TrainedUp If the fuel of leadership is vision then the engine is communication. A compelling vision without great communication is like a bus full of fuel with a busted engine. It’s not going far. Humor me on this engine metaphor for a moment. If you’ve ever popped the hood of…

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What Type of Pastor Are You?
What Type of Pastor Are You?

Have you ever asked yourself that question? It’s obvious that not all pastors are the same. We all have different gifts and different experiences that have shaped us into who we are. Sure, each one of us has similarities but we’re also unique in our own way. I think that’s one of the things that…

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20 of the Best Sources for Sermon Illustrations
20 of the Best Sources for Sermon Illustrations

Much of Jesus’ preaching and teaching was showing his listeners his points rather than just saying them. He used sermon illustrations all the time. And we should too. Often times, though, it can be a struggle to come up with good sermon illustrations. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Prerequisite for Finding…

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Clarity Trumps Cleverness
Clarity Trumps Cleverness

We’ve all done it. We’ve all spent time on it. We’ve all made the mistake. As a preacher, you spend time in preparation. If you plan ahead, the weeks coming into a message are filled with preparation and reading scripture and commentaries. The week of the message you’re fine-tuning each word and relearning the text….

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4 Evernote Notebooks for Preachers
4 Evernote Notebooks for Preachers

Evernote is a go-to tool for a lot of preachers. While it isn’t without fault, the app is a great way to capture bits of information and store them until we need them. On top of that, it’s a great place to write, brainstorm, and even preach directly from. Different preachers use Evernote differently. From…

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8 Signs Your Sermons Are Making an Impact
8 Signs Your Sermons Are Making an Impact

How do you know if you are preaching effectively? We need a little more than the pleasantries of worshippers as they shake hands with us after worship. Anyone can say, “Nice sermon.” Here are 8 signs your sermons are making an impact. Your listeners remember the message One way to know if your sermons are…

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Money Preaching: 5 Keys to Improving
Money Preaching: 5 Keys to Improving

Jesus talked about it. He talked about it a lot. In fact, he talked about it more than he talked about heaven and hell combined. What is the “it” that Jesus always seemed to be talking about? Money. A lot of preachers want to take the exact opposite approach, though. While Jesus talked about money…

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Why the Sermon Isn’t the Most Important Part of Preaching
Why the Sermon Isn’t the Most Important Part of Preaching

As pastors and communicators, we’ve all heard the “Good job” and the “I needed that,” after a message. In fact, when we don’t hear it, it kind of makes us wonder if we just got on the stage and repeated the words, “Blah, blah, blah” over and over again. We’ve all received those rather generic…

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3 Unexpected Sources Preachers Should Be Learning From
3 Unexpected Sources Preachers Should Be Learning From

Every preacher should always be growing, learning, and working on their craft. That’s the conviction I operate from. It’s why I’m always reading a book on preaching. It’s why I’m always deconstructing my own processes, methods, and routines. It’s why I listen to great communicators proclaim the good news of Jesus. But beyond the typical…

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3 Most Popular Google Questions That Preachers Should Answer
3 Most Popular Google Questions That Preachers Should Answer

What if Google took you behind the scenes and showed you the world’s most pressing questions? Would you pay attention? Of course, you would. Lucky for us, they have done just that. Google regularly allows us to pull back the curtain to see what questions the world is asking and what topics the world is…

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A Guaranteed Way to Improve Your Preaching This Coming Year
A Guaranteed Way to Improve Your Preaching This Coming Year

Want to improve your preaching in 2018? Here’s one way to make it happen: preach your failures. Wait, what? To be a more successful preacher, I need to preach my failures? It sounds a little off, but it is absolutely true. When you preach your failures, people will open up to your messages in ways…

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2 Simple, Yet Compelling Traits of Memorable Preaching
2 Simple, Yet Compelling Traits of Memorable Preaching

The preacher gets on the path to memorable preaching before and during the occasion of preaching. It happens in the preparation time and in the delivery time. But this isn’t about triple-checking your word studies or strenuously stressing over the wording of your main point. This is about something far deeper. What makes for preaching that is…

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The 2018 Effective Preacher’s Reading List
The 2018 Effective Preacher’s Reading List

Leaders are readers. The same goes for preachers. The effective preachers I know are constantly trying to improve their craft by reading the best books on preaching and communication. If you’re a preacher, get these preaching books on your shelf and read them in 2018. The 2018 Effective Preacher’s Reading List Resonate: Present Visual Stories…

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Seminary Didn’t Teach You These 5 Important Things About Preaching
Seminary Didn’t Teach You These 5 Important Things About Preaching

In a recent podcast interview, I was asked, “Why aren’t there more effective preachers in the mainline church?” My response was that one reason is lack of training. Most mainline seminaries only require one introductory preaching class to graduate with an M.Div. What’s worse is the typical preaching intro class is not very practical for…

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4 Powerful Benefits of Preaching in a Series
4 Powerful Benefits of Preaching in a Series

I love preaching in a series. Like a new pair of socks, it just feels right. For nearly twelve years I have preached in a series (with an occasional “stand-alone” sprinkled in for fun!) and I cannot overstate the benefits. Here are four of many worth considering: 1. Preaching in a series reduces stress. Imagine…

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7 Characteristics of Effective Preaching
7 Characteristics of Effective Preaching

For many years I have obsessed over studying great preaching and preachers. They are all different. All have their own unique style and approach to delivering a message. However, there are 7 characteristics that they all have in common. 1. Preach with Borrowed Authority The best preachers do not preach from their own authority, but…

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Preaching Tip: Celebrate the Results of Preaching, Publicly
Preaching Tip: Celebrate the Results of Preaching, Publicly

Preaching works! If you didn’t believe that, you probably wouldn’t be reading this article. It’s effective. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to convict of sin, convince of truth and convert the heart. When I was growing up, people would make a “public profession of faith” before being baptized. While we don’t…

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4 Factors to Balance in Your Preaching Calendar
4 Factors to Balance in Your Preaching Calendar

Hopefully, you’re already thinking through your preaching calendar for next year. Part of shepherding a congregation toward long term health is offering a balanced diet from the pulpit. Your preaching over a twelve-month period should be pre-planned with certain factors built in. Before a new year begins, I try to identify eight to twelve series’…

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Preaching Tips: Make Eye Contact with Everyone in the Room
Preaching Tips: Make Eye Contact with Everyone in the Room

Eye contact. It’s the most uncomfortable aspect of public speaking. Why? Because when we make eye contact with people, two things happen… We know a little bit more about what someone is thinking about what we’re saying. Our listeners know a little bit more about how we’re feeling about what we’re saying. And both can…

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5 Questions for Pastors Preaching in the Middle of a Cultural Crisis
5 Questions for Pastors Preaching in the Middle of a Cultural Crisis

When big news happens, pastors usually start an internal dialogue about the coming Sunday’s message. Do I preach the message I’d planned on preaching? The one I had announced and slotted perfectly into our current series? The one I’ve already spent a couple of early mornings and late nights working on? Or do I preach…

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How to Lead and Preach Through Your Weaknesses
How to Lead and Preach Through Your Weaknesses

Jesus was definitely an iconoclast, continually challenging the conventional thinking of His day. Twenty different times Jesus said, “You’ve heard it said… but I say to you…” And even today, his thoughts on leadership go against the grain. Most modern books on leadership, whether Christian or secular, give the same advice – be confident, never admit fear,…

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7 Safeguards for Using Humor in Preaching
7 Safeguards for Using Humor in Preaching

Laughter is good for the soul. Think back to a time when you and your friends or family burst into uncontrollable laughter. Aren’t these some of the best moments of your life? Laughter unites us. It reminds us that we are all imperfect. Plus it just feels good. There are some who argue that there…

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