A preacher wrote to us recently that he took a class on stand-up comedy to sharpen his delivery of stories. He points to a need: listeners are changing, and preachers must reinvent themselves to communicate effectively.
John Bisagno reinvented his preaching three times during his ministry at Houston’s First Baptist Church. An evangelist when he was called there in 1970, Bisagno made the transition to doctrinal sermons. Later he began exegeting longer passages as his congregation developed a taste for expository preaching. About five years ago, Bisagno detected another shift in his listeners, and, at age 60, adopted “principle preaching.”
Warren Wiersbe reinvented his preaching in the later years of his ministry at the Moody Memorial Church. “Be competent” would be the advice of the respected expositor. His new book, The Dynamics of Preaching (Baker, 1999), includes an annotated bibliography to help us understand how listeners, and thus preachers, are changing. Here are some of his picks.
Christ-Centered Preaching
Bryan Chapell (Baker, 1994) Chapell brings excitement to expository preaching by employing new treatments for old forms.
The Sermon as Symphony
Mike Graves (Judson, 1997) Graves pleads for “form-sensitive” sermons. He examines ten literary forms in the New Testament and illustrates with contemporary sermons how these texts can be preached.
The Company of Preachers
David L. Larsen (Kregel, 1998) The best choice for a comprehensive one-volume history. Opening with Old Testament prophets, it concludes at the death of A. W. Tozer in 1963.
Marketplace Preaching
Calvin Miller (Baker, 1996) As in his earlier Spirit, Word and Story (Word, 1989), Miller focuses on the sermon as story and the need to understand the thinking of media-influenced listeners.
Preaching Christ Today
Thomas F. Torrance (Eerdmans, 1994) The theologian shows how the preacher and the scientist have more in common than they imagine.
Wiersbe’s choices were on our list. Here are a few more books not previously reviewed in LEADERSHIP for your consideration:
Pitfalls in Preaching
Richard L. Eslinger (Eerdmans, 1996) The path from pulpit to pew is fraught with hazards. Eslinger points to faulty preaching practices that are commonly accepted, even encouraged. This is a good checkup for those who have been in the pulpit awhile.
Anointed Expository Preaching
Stephen Olford (Broadman and Holman, 1998) The skilled expositor unpacks his sermon prep method, but his greater contribution here is urging and explaining preparation of the preacher.
Preaching with Spiritual Passion
Ed Rowell (Bethany House, 1998) Part of our series on The Pastor’s Soul, this volume calls us to stay fresh in the pastorate and in the pulpit.
Power in the Pulpit
Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix (Moody, 1999) Vines’s two works on developing and delivering expository sermons have been revised, expanded, and combined in this single edition.
The Four Pages of the Sermon
Paul Scott Wilson (Abingdon, 1999) Wilson brings biblical times and the present world together with a four-phase sermon form: the problem, then and now, followed by the solution, then and now. He likens this approach to the unfolding of a movie plot.
Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
