In Preaching Articles: "Preachers Role"

9 Points For Preaching On The Problem Of Evil

By Norman Geisler on Jan 21, 2025

Evil raises hard questions about God, suffering, and justice. This article equips preachers to answer honestly, show why evil presupposes God, and preach real hope.

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:15, 1 Timothy 3:6, Colossians 4:6

Tags: Christian, Apologetics, Evil, Satan, Hope, suffering, tragedy, Difficulties, problem of evil, Sin General, Trials  (view more)  (view less)

New Poll: What's The Average Length Of Sermon Prep?

By SermonCentral .com on Jun 15, 2021

LifeWay's Thom Rainer took a Twitter poll to see how much time most preachers give to sermon preparation. Where do you fall on the scale?

Tags: preparation, average, Prep, Time

Five Ways To Turn Off Younger Listeners

By Adam Ramsey on Nov 6, 2024

If you're still in your first 5 years as a preacher, don’t give up! God has this wonderful way of drawing straight lines with crooked sticks.

Tags: Preaching, God's Love, Laughter, Young people, good advice, young people, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

10 Ways To Half-Bake Your Sermon: Part 1

By Peter Mead on Aug 12, 2024

Many sermons feel flat because the text is only half-used. These common mistakes show how preachers drift from Scripture and how to return to full, faithful exposition.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 2:15, Nehemiah 8:8, Luke 24:27, Acts 17:2-3, 2 Timothy 4:2  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Bible, Preaching, Text, preparation, preaching, bible  (view more)  (view less)

Effective Pastors Never Do These Deadly 5 Things

By Joe Mckeever on Jan 10, 2021

Great advice from Joe McKeever: "Don’t ever resign your church in a fit of passion. In a rush of anger. That’s a huge no-no for preachers."

Tags: Preaching, preaching

Keep The Momentum In Your Preaching

By Peter Mead on Feb 23, 2025

Does your sermon keep building momentum as you progress or does it stall out in the middle or end? Peter Mead offers encouragement for preachers to avoid the common pitfalls to message momentum.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:13

Tags: Communication, Preaching, momentum, Communication Speech, communication, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

8 Starts To Avoid In Your Preaching

By Rachel Blom on Jan 3, 2023

The first moments of a sermon shape whether people will stay engaged. These eight common but ineffective sermon starts reveal what preachers should avoid to maintain attention and build trust with listeners.

Tags: Homiletics

You Are Not The Story!

By H.b. Charles, Jr. on May 2, 2022

People should not leave the sermon having learned more about the preacher than Christ. When we stand to preach the word, we should prayerfully whisper to ourselves, “You are not the story.”

Scripture: Colossians 1:28, John 12:20, 2 Corinthians 4:5, 2 Timothy 4:1-2

Tags: Pride, God's Story, self importance, Bible as a story

3 Ways I Overcome My Fear Of Preaching

By Greg Stier on Jun 15, 2020

Preachers get nervous. Paul did too! These three practices transform fear into fuel by driving you to study harder, pray deeper, and preach like it’s your last time.

Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:7-9, 1 Corinthians 2:3, Matthew 22:35-40, Ephesians 6:19, 2 Timothy 4:2  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Spiritual Dependence

If You Can't Apply What I Preach, I've Failed You

By Glenn Packiam on Aug 21, 2020

I have a hunch that if more of us preachers had to think about our sermons leading into a humble approach to the Lord's Table, we would end not with an empty challenge for people to "do better."

Tags: Preaching

15 Keys To Preaching Clarity

By Peter Mead on Jul 22, 2020

As a preacher, you're representing a God who made His book understandable, so it's important that you preach with clarity. In this article, Peter Mead offers 15 ways to do just that.

Tags: Preaching, Clarity, Communication General, preaching

You Exegete Your Text, But Do You Exegete Your People?

By Leslie Holmes on Sep 2, 2025

"Bob Easley may not have gone beyond sixth grade, but he taught this quasi-educated preacher that there's a lot more to be learned about preaching than I ever got inside a book."

Scripture: Job 1:1-10

Tags: people, Preaching, Text, exegete, preaching  (view more)  (view less)

The Reverse Altar Call

By Greg Stier on Aug 1, 2023

Sometimes the words “altar call” trigger images of sawdust trails and endless verses of “Just as I am” with preachers prodding, pushing and persuading sinners to come forward down the aisle in front of God and everyone.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:2

Tags: Evangelism, strategy, Evangelism How To, Evangelism The Lost, evangelism  (view more)  (view less)

5 Places To Find A Sermon

By John Mcclure on May 12, 2020

Preachers rarely stumble into good sermons. They must look for them. Here are five reliable places to find a sermon idea, on the text, behind it, before it, within it, and through today’s moment.

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 10:38-42, Matthew 4:19, John 3:16, James 1:21  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: Biblical Interpretation

Why Preaching Grace Feels Dangerous

By Peter Mead on Jun 26, 2020

Many pastors affirm grace while quietly qualifying it. This piece challenges preachers to proclaim God’s grace in its full, radical purity without diluting it with human safeguards or legal add-ons.

Scripture: Galatians 2:21, Galatians 5:1, Romans 6:1-4, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 2:11-14  (view more)  (view less)

Tags: law and Gospel, Law And Gospel