Two hundred years ago, Phillips Brooks said, "Preaching is truth through personality." If that was true then, it's even truer now, in the relational society we have at the end of the twentieth century. Personality shapes preaching; preaching shapes the personality.

Three of today's premier preachers recently teamed up to co-author a book, Mastering Contemporary Preaching (CTi/Multnomah, 1990). Leadership gathered the three to explore the personal dimensions of the preaching task.

- Stuart Briscoe is pastor of Elmbrook Church in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin, suburb of Brookfield, where he has served for more than fifteen years.

- Bill Hybels is pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, a church he founded in 1975.

- Haddon Robinson is president of Denver Seminary in Colorado. A student of communications (Ph.D. from the University of Illinois), he is the author of the widely read Biblical Preaching (Baker).

Leadership: What's the worst sermon you've ever preached?

Stuart ...