Introducing PreachingToday.com

It's on most everyone's mind, yet the subject of sex often gets little press in the church. No big surprise why. It takes courage and skill to preach well on that oh-so-delicate subject.

Leadership Resources editor David Goetz asked M. Craig Barnes, pastor of National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., how he blends biblical conviction with biblical compassion.

This interview (and the five pages of sermon illustrations that follow) are a sampling of the preaching resources available on LEADERSHIP's new Web site, PreachingToday.com.

When you preach about sex, what assumptions do you make?

I assume my hearers are confused about sexuality. People think if you're not sexually active you are less than whole. That's part of the whole homosexual debate—because I've got a sexual yearning, it must come from God. And if it comes from God, he wants me to use it.

But people are more than sexual beings. Much of the debate about sex has reduced ...