Do you ever get that post-sermon, anti-climactic feeling that all of your research, all of your writing, all of your preparation just got burned up in a single half-hour shot? It would be far more ideal to leave church on Sunday believing there was still much to come of the results of your preaching, even…
When I took my first public speaking class in college, I was excited. I wanted to be a preacher. Public speaking was going to be my thing. I thought, “This class will be cake! I get to work on my skills and get an easy A.” When it came time for me to give my…
There are certain elements that must be included in every single sermon you ever preach. They are non-negotiable. To put it another way, every sermon you preach has three key components. Understanding them and helping them to play well together is half the battle of preaching effectively. The God Component The “God component” is what…
Sometimes God speaks to me in pictures. I guess a few might call them visions, but that sounds a bit too grandiose for me. When you’re teaching a child to read, you show a picture of a dog and say (very slowly) daawwwggg. D-O-G spells dog. Do you see the dog named Spot? We start…
When your church meets in a movie theater, you understand what it is to do ministry right in the middle of the marketplace. For four years, our church plant met in two different movie theaters, each surrounded by shopping districts and restaurants. And sometimes, it got a little weird. A few times, we had to…
Every pastor knows that preaching the Word regularly demands a lot of time spent in research and development. We collect and categorize ideas. We dig into our passages. We assemble supporting verses and material. We put it all in outline form. And then, we deliver it! One of the last steps in the preparation process…
How much is a half an hour of undivided attention worth? The most valuable half hour in our entire society is the half hour people spend on Sunday listening to a sermon. For those few moments, everyone in the room is (mostly) tuned in to hear a life-changing message. We live in a culture saturated with…
We who preach are called to preach everything. The “whole counsel of God.” And that means talking about human sinfulness and depravity even as we’re preaching about victory and triumph. Remember the passage in the Bible where Moses comes down off the mountain and the people have made a golden calf? God prepared him with the…
Not too long ago, I sent out a survey to my email list and asked pastors if they believe ministers should address pop culture related topics like movies, music, & TV in their messages. Over 1500 pastors responded to the survey. A whopping 74% of them said, “Yes”—ministers can and should talk about culture from…
All pastors have more work to do than time to do it. Until Jesus comes back, there will always be more ministry to do. You could always do more… sermon prep outreach phone calls emails hospital visits meetings Bible studies plus a hundred other things. You will always have more work to do than time…
Not too long ago, I was flying into Guatemala City. It was dark, late, and extremely bumpy because of a terrible storm. I had a window seat, and as I looked out, all I could see was lightning. Lots of it. I wondered, “How often does a plane gets struck by lightning?” At that instant,…
The title is the smallest part of a sermon. It usually doesn’t even get mentioned during the actual sermon. Professional copywriters often refer to the first line of a sales letter as the “eyebrow” because it literally looks like one, all alone at the top. But I believe the value and importance of sermon titles is severely…
Preaching the gospel is always, always a holy and sacred event. Within that special hour, the Creator empowers his messenger to boldly speak forth words that raise the spiritually dead to life new. When it comes to Easter Sunday, or Resurrection Sunday as many prefer, there is a sense in which little is actually different from the…
One of the great debates in preaching circles is whether to preach topical sermon series’ or expository series’ through books of the Bible. I am sure you have met some people who have passionate opinions regarding one or the other. One camp says that preaching verse-by-verse through a book is tedious and becomes unengaging after…
Every pastor knows that preaching the Word regularly demands a lot of time spent in research and development. We collect and categorize ideas. We dig into our passages. We assemble supporting verses and material. We put it all in outline form. And then, we deliver it! One of the last steps in the preparation process…
Preaching out to persuade people to move toward God and his purposes. The eternal destiny of the hearer literally hangs in the balance. W. A. Criswell, while speaking at Moody Bible Institute on The Romance of Expository Preaching, defined preaching as “seeking to move a man’s will God-ward.” He went on to say that teaching is instructing…
10. Corinthians (sermon series) This 10-week series over the book of 1 Corinthians teaches that true unity in the body of Christ only comes when believers commit their lives wholeheartedly to Jesus. 9. Church & Culture (sermon series) As God’s people, we are an integral part of this world. Instead of being scared of culture,…
Recently, a Ministry Pass member, Pastor Rob Dickerson of LifeQuest Community Church in Hilton, New York, shared a story with us about a very special service at his church. After I got off of the phone with Pastor Rob, I immediately relayed what he told me to our team—who were simultaneously ecstatic and moved.
Sunday. The day of rest. The Lord’s day… Gameday. At least, that’s how it can feel amidst the hustle and bustle of a dedicated church staff working day-in-and-day-out to bring the Gospel to your congregation. That’s how it feels when you’ve gone over your sermon for the 100th time, wording and re-wording each sentence in…
A church service is one of the few environments that’s expected to engage people of all ages. If you think about it, most places don’t have to consider quite as drastic of an age span…
When I was a youth pastor, one of my least favorite things to do each week was find a game for service. For a good while, I delegated the task to a youth leader or student. But they had trouble, too. Everyone in our group loved games—for some, it was their favorite part of the…
If you’ve been in ministry for any length of time, you’ve probably had an embarrassing preaching moment or two. Or seven. I know I have. I was thinking about this the other day, and thought it might be fun to send out an email and ask our list of pastors about their most embarrassing preaching stories….
Today marks the two year anniversary of Ministry Pass! We wanted to share some of the backstory of how our company started so we filmed an interview with our founder, Justin Trapp. When we set out to launch it, we wanted to create resources that helped church leaders at churches under 300. Sure, larger…
The demands on a local pastor are diverse and never ending. Think about the job description! Incredible Leader Powerful Preacher Caring Shepherd Organized Administrator Property Manager The cognitive and leadership skills needed to be a local pastor are taxing to anyone. Rarely do you find a pastor who does just one thing. Multiple hats are…
Editors Note: This is the second blog in a series written by local church leaders for local church leaders. Today’s post comes from Andy McMillan. Andy is a passionate leader, pastor, speaker and coach. He has been in ministry over six years. He has a B.A. in Christian Leadership and a M.A. in Ministerial Leadership. Currently, Andy…
If you’ve been involved in a teaching or preaching ministry for any period of time, you’ve probably had to throw a sermon or lesson together at the last minute. If so, you’ve also realized that, even though God is able to work through our weakness (even weakness of preparation), sermons are far more effective when we…
Mark Batterson just released his newest book, Chase the Lion. It’s the sequel to his very first book as an author, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. If you have ever read a Mark Batterson book you know it is full of tweetable quotes you can underline, highlight and save for…
Welcome to video number six in our six-part series with pastor and New York Times best selling author, Mark Batterson. Missed the previous videos? Check out the links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. In this video, Mark talks about what his weekly preaching schedule looks like. Do you have a sermon prep schedule? This video…
Welcome to video number five in our series with pastor and New York Times best selling author, Mark Batterson. Missed the previous videos? Check out the links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. In this video, Mark drops my favorite line from this entire video series… “If your sermons are boring, it’s probably because your life…
Welcome to video number four in our series with pastor and New York Times best selling author, Mark Batterson. In this video, Mark talks about some of the strategies he and his team at National Community Church use when planning their sermon series. Missed the previous videos? Check out the links to Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3….
Welcome to video number three in our series with pastor and New York Times best selling author, Mark Batterson. In this video, Mark talks about some of the things we need to avoid as preachers in order to present the full Gospel. Missed the previous videos? Check out the links to Part 1 and Part 2. Mark Batterson…
Welcome to video number two in our series with pastor and New York Times best selling author, Mark Batterson. Missed the previous video? Check out the link to Part 1. In this video, Mark talks about some of his greatest preaching challenges and how he overcame them. Mark Batterson serves as lead pastor of National Community Church in…
I recently heard author Shauna Niequist say on a podcast, “Social media lets everyone project a perfect story even though perfection doesn’t exist.” She went on to say the illusion of perfectionism is seductive for leaders. We like to only play our highlight reel. What I appreciate about Mark Batterson is how he showcases his failures as…
How far ahead do you plan your sermons? If you said a few weeks or less, you are in the majority. Based on a recent survey we sent out to ministers, 79% of pastors plan their sermons two weeks or less before preaching them. Did you know there is a powerful parallel affecting a majority of…
This past May, I took a month long sabbatical. It was a huge blessing for me and my family. I wrote about some of the biggest benefits a few days ago here. Before I went on my sabbatical, I connected with other leaders who had already been on one to get their tips and advice…
I just returned from a sabbatical recently, and wanted to share some insights I gained from the experience. I will admit, a sabbatical has been something I daydreamed about, but never believed it would actually happen. Somewhere inside, I thought sabbaticals were only for super successful leaders. But the more I learn about successful leaders, the more…
Fresh Ideas to Connect Christmas with Life
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Powerful and Relevant Illustrations Connect Christmas with Life
Inspiration to Breathe New Life to the Traditions of Christmas
