We are now one week away from the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference 2016. It will take place September 20-22 at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Florida, where I am privileged to serve. You still have time to join us for Cutting It Straight. If possible, I hope you will attend. And bring members of your ministry team with you. Whether or not you will be able to attend Cutting It Straight this year, I still have a request to make. Please pray for this conference. We have planned and prepared. But, of course, nothing we do will be...

Welcome to episode #40 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about choosing your sermon titles. Here are seven practical tips to help you when choosing your sermon titles… Stimulate interests. Emphasize scripture. Be user-friendly. Don't overpromise. Practice brevity. Avoid sensationalism. Use variety. Question What is your process when choosing a sermon title?  Recommended Resources On Preaching by H.B. Charles Jr. On Pastoring by H.B. Charles Jr. Preaching that Changes Lives by Mike Fabarez Announcements Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference | September 20-22, 2016 |...

The Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference is just a few weeks away. This conference will meet September 20-22, 2016, at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Florida. The primary purpose of Cutting It Straight is to train, model, and promote biblical preaching and teaching. It is a conference for pastors, preachers, and teachers. But we believe that every thing that happens in the life of the church should be a extension of the ministry of the word. For this reason, we have added several tracks to help local church ministry teams to develop and practice a biblical philosophy of ministry. For...

  Welcome to episode #39 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about selecting a text to preach. Here are five practical tips to help you when selecting a text to preach… Pray. Proclaim Christ. Choose clear texts. Practice variety. Know your limits. Question What are some things you do when selecting a text to preach?  Recommended Resources On Preaching by H.B. Charles Jr. On Pastoring by H.B. Charles Jr. Preaching that Changes Lives by Mike Fabarez Announcements Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference | September 20-22,...

The 2016 Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference if now a month away. And I am grateful for all of our guest speakers, hardworking staff, and faithful volunteers who will serve us during this year's conference. I am especially grateful for our ministry friends  who have supported and sponsored Cutting It Straight this year. We have great speakers. We will give away helpful resources. We are expecting a blessed meeting. It will be possible because of the Lord has given us wonderful partners. Praise the Lord! Pray for Cutting It Straight that will meet September 20-22, 2016 at the Shiloh...

Welcome to episode #38 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about basic keys to effective sermon outlines. Here are ten practical tips to help you be more effective in developing sermon outlines... Let the text shape the outline. Preach the text, not the outline. Support the main idea of the sermon. Practice unity in your outline. Keep it moving. The simpler the better. Maintain balance. Use sub-points carefully. Don't overdue alliteration. Put application in the outline. Question What do you...

  Our Father in heaven, We praise you that we can call you our Father in heaven, because of the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for every act of love, grace, mercy, kindness and favor you have bestowed upon us. And we thank you for watching over our children and families throughout the summer break. As a new school year begins, we pray your special blessings upon every school campus, administrator, teacher, worker, driver, and student. We pray for the school campuses where our children will attend classes. We ask you would put a...

Welcome to episode #37 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about the advice you would give a guest preacher…  Be clear about the pastor's expectations. Respect the occasion. Observe time limits. Avoid controversial subjects. Say, thank you. Ask permission. Be conservative. Participate in the worship service. Be on assignment. Questions What do you think? What do you think makes an effective sermon conclusion? What are the keys to concluding a sermon properly?  Recommended Resources On Preaching by H.B. Charles Jr. On Pastoring by H.B....

I am excited about the 2016 Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference. It will take place on the campus of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville (FL), September 20-22, 2016. Cutting It Straight is primarily a preaching conference. Our goal is to train, model, and promote text-driven teaching and preaching. Robert Smith Jr. teaches preaching at the Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL. But Smith is not one of the proverbial professors who teach it because he cannot do it. The author of Doctrine That Dances, Dr. Smith is one of the powerful and passionate preaching voices of our...

Hensworth W.C. Jonas is the Presiding Elder of the Eastern Caribbean Baptist Mission in Antigua and Barbuda. The ECBM consists of three local churches: Central Baptist Church, Tyrell's Baptist Church, and Covenant Baptist Church. Jonas is also the Principle of the Baptist Academy, a leading school on the islands that educates from kindergarten through high school. He is also the author of the book, Dancing With Idolatry. Introduced through a mutual friend, I have had the privilege of preaching for Dr. Jonas on several occasions. He has also ministered at the Shiloh Church on several occasions.Though he wears multiple hats, Hensworth Jonas...

Welcome to episode #36 of The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about seven (7) steps to concluding your sermon…  Give a true conclusion. Only conclude once. Know your destination. Review the message. Issue a call to action. Run to the cross. Leave a good impression. Questions What do you think? What do you think makes an effective sermon conclusion? What are the keys to concluding a sermon properly?  Recommended Resources On Preaching by H.B. Charles Jr. On Pastoring by H.B. Charles Jr. Announcements The...

So What is your vision for this church?  I was not asked this question at my first church. I was the son of the former pastor. I had grown up in the church. I was only seventeen-years-old. They assumed I did not have a vision plan for the church. Or that I did not have vision worth sharing. So they never asked. When I met with the pulpit committee of my present church, however, pastoral vision was a big issue. The committee had no real interest in me becoming their pastor. Yet they still wanted to know, “So what is...