I am soon to retire, and looking back upon preaching the gospel for more than forty years, I still find the task difficult. Therefore, I've chosen to borrow heavily from other preachers' sermons.

It all began in my early days as a pastor. Preparing four messages a week (Sunday morning, Sunday evening, an adult Sunday school lesson, and a midweek service) quickly demanded more insights per month than I could generate. First, finding enough study time for four original messages is difficult even for skilled communicators, and I was inexperienced.

Second, exegesis and homiletic skills are frankly not my forte. I sweat blood and burn incredible amounts of time trying to come up with the preaching theme for a passage of Scripture.

My gifts and personality are suited for leadership, personal discipleship, and evangelism. I'm a people person, an activist, a change-agent. Knowing what our church needs to do comes easily for me. My ministry is most effective when I sit down with two or three men in ...