For the Gospel’s Sake

The highest service of man on earth is sharing the gospel. The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Rev. Joseph Samuel Exell (1849-1909) says, "The services of men on earth embrace a large variety. There is the service of the agriculturalist, the mechanic, the mariner, the merchant, the scientist, the legislator, the kingMen esteem these services as differing widely in respectability and honor; but the service referred to in the text stands infinitely above all."

Why Churches Decline

Tony Morgan-author, church strategist, and pastor of ministries at West Ridge Church in Atlanta-recently remembered a conversation he had with a denominational leader about the attributes of a declining church.

You Might Need a Preaching Calendar If

You Might Need a Preaching Calendar If " You find yourself desperately scrambling to put some thoughts together Friday or Saturday night so you will have something to say on Sunday. " You are downloading other preachers' sermons and trying to pass them off as your own. " Your schedule does not allow you to do proper biblical exegesis. " Your sermons suffer from a lack of creativity and diversity and have become boring and predictable. " You have learned that leading a church in a new direction will require more than just one sermon. " You want to make sure your preaching is providing a well-balanced and nourishing menu to help your people grow spiritually.

Check Your Worship Time

In his book Making a Good Church Great (Regal), Steve Sjogren warns about letting worship music run too long: "We were, at one time, a 'high worship' church. That is, we would sing worship choruses for up to 45 minutes. However, the long worship time made our church 'seeker hostile.' Our attitude was, 'If those new people can't handle the presence of God in large doses, well, that's their problem!' The long worship worked fine for us, but for those who hadn't developed a taste for worship, it was far too long.

Preaching Points: Redundancy and Precision

Redundancy is a tricky fellow. An antonym is precision. Most all pastors are guilty of redundancy and short on precision from time to time. All of us have a desire to get it out of our sermons; but before we can eliminate it, we must be able to hear it, which requires trained and dedicated ears. There are two very large dangers with redundancy. The first is the boredom that results from all things twice or thrice said. As has been well said, there is no such thing as a bad short sermon or a long good one.

Preaching in an Amoral Age

In a recent article for PreachingTodaySermons.com, Tim Keller writes: "The contemporary preacher of orthodox Christianity faces an unprecedented dilemma. Despite what you would think from a casual perusal of any video store, bookstore or magazine rack, we do not live in an immoral society-one in which right and wrong are clearly understood and wrong behavior is chosen. We live in an amoral society-one in which 'right' and 'wrong' are categories with no universal meaning, and everyone 'does what is right in his or her own eyes.'

What Makes a Preacher Good?

So, what makes for a faithful preacher? Because God has not called preachers to be successful but faithful, how can we be sure we are staying true to the call? Here are a few biblical criteria to keep us on track:

Preaching on Mission: An Interview with Bryant Wright

Bryant Wright is the pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Northwest Atlanta, a church he began and which now has nearly 8,000 members. At this summer's Southern Baptist Convention, he was elected to be the new president of the SBC. He is author of a new book Seeds of Turmoil: The Biblical Roots of the Inevitable Crisis in the Middle East published by Thomas Nelson. He recently visited with Michael about the SBC, the book and about preaching.

Preach Simply

In a recent issue of his "Ministry Toolbox" newsletter, Rick Warren offers this: "Jesus taught profound truths in simple ways. Today, we do the opposite. We teach simple truths in profound ways.