Happy Father's Day!  My father - H.B. Charles - passed away Father's Day weekend, 1989. I still miss him deeply. Yet, there is a sense in which he is still with me. I thank God for my Dad and continue to learn from him after all these years. (READ: Lessons My Father Taught Me) Listen to my interview about my father with Family Life Today: A Father's Legacy Grateful for Steve Wagers and Adron Robinson for speaking at the Men's Conference at the Shiloh Church this weekend. Check out this week's podcast: On Preaching with Ray Pritchard. Jesse Johnson: It...

Welcome to THE ON PREACHING PODCAST, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. I was introduced to the ministry of Ray Pritchard through his book, In the Shadow of the Cross. I have followed his ministry ever since. Looking up his church website, I found links to sermons manuscripts and his blog. Ray was the first pastor who blogged that I knew. And I read him every day. In fact, blame Ray Pritchard for me being a blogger! After missing some days of checking his site, I logged on to discover that he had resigned his...

A Song of Hope (Lamentations 3:21-24)

I have just returned from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Session in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a busy but blessed week. Having preached five times Sunday (a big mistake I do not intend to repeat), I caught a flight to Phoenix through Atlanta. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful. My connection was scheduled to leave Atlanta at 9:35 PM. Because of mechanical difficulties, it did not leave until 3 AM Monday morning. As you can imagine, I spent the rest of the week trying to recover. The SBC Pastors’ Conference kicked off on Sunday evening, led by David Miller. Between...

Welcome to THE ON PREACHING PODCAST, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I have the privilege of talking preaching with Dr. Tony Evans. Dr. Evans is the founding pastor of the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, where he has served for forty-one years. He is also the President and featured speaker for The Urban Alternative. Many know Tony Evans through his wide-reaching radio and TV ministries. Likewise, Evans is a prolific author whose writings have impacted many lives - mine included. With the multiple ministries Tony Evans is engaged in,...

As a boy preacher, I had many opportunities to preach, but my father did not allow me to receive an honorarium for my preaching. But it didn’t matter to me. If I had the money, I would have paid pastors to let me preach! These early opportunities taught me not to put a price-tag on my ministry. I remember one of the first times I received an honorarium; it was a couple hundred dollars, but you would have thought it was a million bucks! Not long after, I went to the mall with several friend and I spent all the money...

Welcome to episode #048 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. Most episodes of the podcasts are solo discussions I lead about some aspect of sermon preparation or deliverer. It had been my desire to do interview episodes about preaching and preachers. With this episode, you will find conversations with pastors, preachers, and professors sprinkled with solo episode. In this episode, I interview a new friend, Daven Watkins, who is the Pastor of First Baptist Church in Pelham, Alabama, where he has served since March 2015. During his years of formal training for ministry, Watkins...

Michael Duduit is the Dean of the College of Biblical Studies at Anderson University in South Carolina. He is also the Dean of the Clamp Divinity School at Anderson University. And he is the Dean of the chapel. Yet Duduit spends his life training men to preach both within the academy and beyond. Some thirty years ago, Duduit started Preaching Magazine, a periodical for preachers about preaching. Edited and managed by Duduit, this magazine has been a longtime and trusted resource for pastors and preachers. Each year, Michael leads the National Congress on Preaching in cities around the country, featuring faithful...

I landed at LAX from preaching. My cell phone rang as soon as I turned it on. When I answered, a friend chastised me about not responding to a message from the deacon chairman of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. There were no messages on my phone. No messages at home or the office, either. Then it came to me. I rarely used the phone in my study, and didn’t even know the number. But I asked my assistant to check the phone and, sure enough, a deacon from Florida had left a message. My friend told...

Welcome to episode #47 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. I believe effective preaching involves faithfulness to the text, clarity of the message, and passion in the delivery. In this episode of the podcast, we’ll talk about protecting your voice for preaching. Main Content Here are 8 tips for protecting your voice for preaching:  Get Some Rest. Drink Plenty Of Water. Avoid Exotic Vocal Cures. Get Good Monitors. Pace Your Presentation. Guard Your Instrument. Do Your Homework. Don't Worry About it. Recommend Resources Power In The Pulpit by Jerry Vines  Moment of...

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! – Psalm 115:1   Yesterday, the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church celebrated 142 years of God’s faithfulness! Many congregations do not make a big deal about church anniversaries, others ignore them outright. A church anniversary observance is often dismissed as another annual day, steeped in church tradition, and not Christian mission. I beg to differ. Statisticians report that some 4,000 churches in America close each year. Every week, multiple congregations – for one reason or another –...

This weekend, the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church celebrates 142 years of God's faithfulness. Praise the Lord for all that He has done, is doing, and will do through and for the Shiloh Church! I love my church! Today was our church picnic. Sunday, we will celebrate together in corporate worship. I am beyond excited that Dr. Fred Luter of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, and the first African-American President of the Southern Baptist Convention, will be our guest speaker this weekend. Thank you for your prayers, notes of encouragement, and offers of support in my nomination for president...