The Value of a Team

Jenny Thompson is the most decorated American woman when it comes to Olympic competition. Her ten Olympic medals in swimming (in the last three Olympics) also mean she has won more medals in swimming than any other Olympic athlete of any nation. Eight of those ten medals were gold. However, she didn't win any of the gold's in individual events; rather, she won them in a team event with three other swimmers.

Ready to Act

What do you do while you wait? Some people talk on the phone while sitting at the stop light. Others have a magazine for that moment when they are stopped at a rail road crossing. Many of us simply wait - gazing into space, wondering just how long this is all going to take.

Moving Tips for Pastors

For many pastors, moving and transition can become a way of life. Beyond the ministerial issues of church transition, there are many practical issues to consider when uprooting to a new place. Here are some helpful hints as you make your next move: Get a Move on It

To Illustrate

AGE There is a birthday card making the rounds that says, "You know what they say about age - it's all in your mind." Inside the card it adds, "and your legs, your arms, your neck, your arches, your back, your shoulders, etc." Well, the body may grow old, but the mind and the spirit can be ever young.

Did He Really Say What I Said? The Challenge of Preaching Through an Interpreter

More and more churches are responding to the call of short-term missions. Traditional missionaries invested their lives in one mission field, learning the language, absorbing the culture, and eventually becoming part of their surroundings. Short-term missionaries may visit a number of different mission fields for periods ranging from a few weeks to, at most, a few months. Almost inevitably, this brings with it the challenge of preaching through an interpreter.

In Preaching

This issue of Preaching will be published just prior to the 19th annual edition of the National Conference on Preaching, which will be held April 7-9 in suburban Washington, DC. (In fact, conference participants will be receiving a copy of this issue when they register.) The theme of this year's conference is "Preaching and the Public Square: Where Do Pulpit and Culture Meet?"

The Annual Preaching Survey of the Year’s Best Books

Are we witnessing the end of the book? That is the question being asked by educators, publishers, and booksellers as a recent report indicated American adolescents currently enrolled in high school and college programs are reading less. While educators debated the causes for this deficit in reading, some noted the competition now represented by digital technologies.

Preaching in a Multicultural World

Do you approach preaching as a missionary approaches interaction with people from another culture? Like a missionary, are you sensitive to the cultural context? Do you intentionally attempt to connect with people who are different than yourself in your preaching? Even if our congregation members look similar, there are varieties of culture residing in the church. People visit our churches with marked visible differences and foreign accents. We also see the reality of our multicultural world as we keep current with the news and when we travel across an international border. From the example of missionaries, we learn how to understand people among whom we minister, be culturally self-reflective, and to preach in the cultural context.