My father was a good preacher. People who heard my dad will tell you Junior cannot touch Senior when it comes to preaching. There are many preachers who have influenced my preaching. But my dad is at the top of the list. My dad would often tell me, “Son, I don’t want you to be a jackleg preacher.” I didn’t know what a “jackleg preacher” was. Still don’t. But I heard the term enough to know it was something I did not want to be. I hope I am or am becoming the kind of preacher my dad would be...

Why do you wear black suits ALL the time? I get this question often. But it’s not true. I don’t wear black suits all the time. I have and wear different colors occasionally. Yet I wear the same thing so often that my wife and kids are shocked when I emerge from the closet with something other than a black suit, white shirt, and black tie. My father was a connoisseur of fine clothes. He is remembered for his preaching, generosity, and clothes. My dad was not a flashy dresser. But he was always clean. That gene skipped me. I...

My father let me preach his early worship service one Sunday. I don’t remember what I preached. But I am sure it was nothing special. I can only hope it was a boy preacher’s best effort to preach faithfully. After the service, I was passing through the church lobby, when I received an unlikely compliment. A brother stopped me and said, “Good job this morning, Junior. You are turning into a great preacher. You are going to be better than the old man in a minute.” I was just a boy. But I wasn’t crazy. I knew what this brother...

Easter Sunday 2014, before I gave the benediction at the end of the worship service at the Shiloh Church, I took a few minutes to point out that I was preaching for a new pulpit desk. Many in the congregation did not notice anything different. But to say I was excited  is an understatement. More than that, I was moved by the gravity of the implications. Simply trying to make note of the new desk before we dismissed, I started rambling on about the ministry of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. Our Media Team captured the moment and thought...

So how did it go this Sunday? This question is asked many times each week. Some pastor talks to another pastor. And whatever the agenda of the discussion, it is likely one will ask the other about the previous Lord’s Day service. Did you have a good day? What did you preach? How did it go? The answer typically includes comments about Sunday’s attendance, offering, and steps of faith taken. Then we describe how we think the sermon went. We may feel we were not quite ready. We may feel the sermon could have been shorter. We may feel the...

The first preacher to influence me was my father. He was more of an orator than a whooper. His preaching had a rhythm and cadence. But he, and most of his preaching colleagues, were not real whoopers. Then it happened. I heard whooping. Real whooping. At the conclusion of the sermon, the preacher turned his words into music. In a real sense, he started singing his sermon. I immediately determined that was the way I wanted to preach. So I began to practice. And I started listening to good whoopers. Being able to sing a bit, I was able to...

I studied what scripture teaches about spiritual leadership. And my eyes were opened about how the Lord governs his church. But I hit a sticking point. I had not seen what I was learning done in any church that I knew. I needed some advice. So I made an appointed with a pastor I respected. I told him what I learned and asked how he viewed the issue. He agreed with me, clarified my thoughts on some points, and affirmed that I was headed in the right direction. In fact, I discovered his congregation was operating according to the principles...

There was a pastor I listened to during the early days of my ministry. I really enjoyed his preaching. And I would commend him to other preachers. This pastor was not well-known to many of the preachers I talked to. And they would ask me what his preaching was like. "He can say it," I would respond, "if you catch him right." A friend gave me a lot of tapes of this pastor over the years. Some of the messages were stellar examples of Bible exposition. Others, not so much. He sometimes used the text to make a point the...

One of my pulpit heroes preached at my church. We didn't really know one another. Yet he agreed to come. I was beyond excited. I have absolutely no recollection of the service or sermon that night. But I will never forget the conversation afterward in my study. Food had been prepared. And a few preachers hung around to eat and chat, including several denomination leaders that had come to hear our special guest. The denominational leaders began to encourage me to get more involved in the work. It felt more like pressure. They dropped the hook with tempting bait. If  I...

I am a proponent of planning your preaching. I plan out my preaching a year in advance.  And I urge other preachers to do the same. But any plan is better than no plan. It may be a plan for the coming quarter or month. Or maybe for the next two weeks. Anything beats the pressure of looking for something to preach each week. There are multiple benefits to developing a preaching plan. It saves time. It relieves stress. It allows you to work ahead. It enables you to be intentional about the diet you feed your congregation. And it...

In my pulpit I preach from the Bible for two reasons. First, I am not smart enough to preach anything else. If I were to preach on social issues, there are sociologists in my congregation who would know far more about them than I. If I were to preach on political issues, there are politicians who would know more than I do in that field. Second, I am too smart to preach anything else because I know that God blesses his Word and it will not return void. - O.S. Hawkins, Jonah: Meeting the God of the Second Chance, p....

My pastor rebuked me yesterday. We spent most of the phone conversation catching up. And we exchanged prayer requests for upcoming speaking engagements. Then Pas brought up an event I preached not too long ago. He told me he was proud of me. He also asked me about my observations of the event. I answered the same way I answer anyone who asks me about it. "That's not my crowd," I said. Pas interrupted me. He firmly told me that he did not ever want to hear me say that again. He knew what I meant by the statement. And...