Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. I plan out an annual preaching plan each year, this year included. According to the plan, I should be preaching through the Gospel of Mark right now. Then COVID-19 happened. I do not think the pulpit should be reactionary. But there are times circumstances call on up to abandon our preaching plan. This is one of those times! What should guide your preaching and teaching through the Coronavirus pandemic? Here are ten preaching themes for preaching during a pandemic: Preach big God...

In this video, I discuss the importance of having a system of sermon preparation. Likewise, I share three essential elements every sermon preparation system should include. Enjoy!

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preaching you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this first 2020 episode of the podcast, I interview Bryan Samms, Pastor of the River City Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, where he has served since 2016. A former youth pastor and professor of preaching, Samms is a faithful and clear preacher of the gospel. During our conversation, he shares parts of his ministry journey, his philosophy of ministry, and his process of sermon preparation. Enjoy! Did you find this conversation helpful? Join the conversation in the comments section.  Recommended...

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  Preachers learn to preach three ways: (1) Preachers learn to preach by studying preaching. (2) Preachers learn to preach by preaching. (3) Preachers learn to preach from other preachers. Every preacher needs homiletical heroes to learn from. In this episode, we will discuss the learning to preach by listening to and learning from other preachers. What should you look for in selecting a preaching hero? Real Preaching Heroes Personal Preaching Heroes Multiple Preaching Heroes Sound Preaching Heroes Dead Preaching Heroes Diverse Preaching Heroes Godly...

I am often asked about African-American preaching voices you should know. I often refer questioners to Karry D. Wesley, founding pastor of the Antioch Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas. As a young pastor, I wanted to preach through the book of Jonah for the first time. I asked my pastor to recommend resources. He told me I needed Karry Wesley’s book on Jonah. He loaned it to me. But demanded it back as soon as I was done. I found Wesley’s book helpful, and commended it to others. But I did not investigate his ministry further. Later, I was...

  Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  So, how did it go this Sunday?  This is the instinctive question preachers ask one another on the other side of Sunday. Answers may address church attendance, the offering, and service elements. But it eventually gets down to the sermon. How did the sermon go? We are prone to get this self-evaluation of our sermons wrong. We think it went better than it actually did. Or we think it went worse than it actually did. Here are five objective but spiritual principles for evaluating your...

During the 2019 Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference, pastor and author, Brian Croft spoke to the pastors about staying put and remaining faithful in a difficult situation. It was arguably the most important message delivered at the conference. Contrary to popular believe, most pastors do not lead so-called "megachurches." The typical pastor leads a small congregation, which is often plateaued or in decline. Many are tempted to quit, looking for greener pastures, or serving with discouragement. Brian Croft, Pastor of the Auburndale Baptist Church and Founder of Practical Shepherding, challenged the pastors to stay put for the long haul...

Each year, during the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference, we pay tribute to a preacher that should be known and remembered. This year, we paused to remember the life and ministry of Warren W. Wiersbe. Warren W. Wiersbe was a preacher's preacher. He was also a laymen's preacher, who made the word of God plain and clear for any person to understand. Above all, Warren Wiersbe was the Lord's preacher, a man of God who served the Lord in his generation and moved upstairs to his final reward on May 2, 2019. Wiersbe was a pastor, serving several churches...

  Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better.  In this episode, I interview Brian Croft. Croft is Senior Pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church and Founder of Practical Shepherding. He is also the Senior Fellow of the Mathena Center for Church Revitalization at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and has written or contributed to over twenty books on pastoral ministry. He is married to Cara, and they have four children. I am most encouraged these days by men who have a high view of the church. I am especially encouraged by...

  Day 2 of Cutting It Straight is the longest, fullest day of the conference. It was a long but blessed day! The day started with a message by Daniel Henderson on gospel-driven prayer for gospel-driven work (Acts 4:23-31). Henderson leads the 6:4 Fellowship, a ministry that encourages pastors to base their leadership of the church on prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). In his message, he reminded us why it happens after prayer! During our first breakouts of the day, I led a class on the principles of interpretation. To cut it straight, you must know the...

  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15   This week (September 17-19, 2019), the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference will take place at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Florida, while I serve as pastor. The purpose of Cutting It Straight is to train, model, and promote faithful and clear Bible exposition in the preaching and teaching of God’s word. It also seeks to help ministry leaders develop a biblical philosophy of ministry as they do...

Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. In this episode, I want to talk to you about preaching narrative sermons. The vast majority of the Bible is narrative. The drama of redemption is told through the story of people whose lives were invaded by God. If we do not preach narrative texts, we rob our hearers of a key element of the whole counsel of God. How can you preach narrative sermons effectively?  Do your homework. Feel the tension of the text. Teach the story. Build the message around one...