Preaching from Inside the Story is a book that seeks to carve out an understanding of narrative preaching in an age where there is little agreement about its nature and practice. Capitalizing on the works of Craddock and Lowry, it seeks to find an expanded palette upon which the preacher may engage the larger canvas of narrative preaching. This book will engage the mind by introducing neuroscientific understandings of creativity; build upon the foundations of the philosophy of stories by engaging Aristotle’s foundational understanding of narrative; and renew the Lowry Loop by expanding this seminal work and how it should be understood in our current culture. Preaching from Inside the Story breaks new ground by encouraging preachers to move inside stories and tell them from the inside out providing a positive effect, thereby affording non-narrative preachers to connect with storytelling principles. Ultimately, it is filled with examples of how to do narrative in a very practical way. However, in showing these practical examples, the reader is involved in a deep analysis of those narrative sermons and how they fit into an overall narrative understanding of preaching. In the final analysis, it invites the reader to take a fresh journey into narrative preaching.

Where have all the prophets gone? And why do preachers seem to shy away from prophetic witness? Astute preacher Leonora Tisdale considers these vexing questions while providing guidance and encouragement to pastors who want to recommit themselves to the task of prophetic witness. With a keen sensitivity to pastoral contexts, Tisdale's work is full of helpful suggestions and examples to help pastors structure and preach prophetic sermons, considered by many to be one of the most difficult tasks pastors are called to undertake.

Preaching the Story explains why the attentiveness of your congregation rises when you become a sacred storyteller. It explores why communication is more effective when your sermons are no longer lectures but stories. In fact, it explains how to deliver your entire sermon in story form.

Like Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, Taylor emphasizes the holy dimensions of ordinary life and describes the essentials of faith with insight and humor, touching on the vocations, imagination, worship, sacraments, ministry and the Bible as they relate to the life of faith.

How can preachers ensure that their sermons continue to engage listeners in a world defined by visual media and the short, segmented delivery of information? Alyce McKenzie harnesses the element of drama and the human fascination with scenes to offer ministers a modern means of sermon development and delivery. McKenzie's core strategy is to invite listeners into scenes—whether from Scripture or contemporary life—and, once they are there, to point them toward the larger story of God's relationship with humankind. Creating such scenes unifies the whole process of preaching, she says, from the preacher's daily life observations to interpretation of scenes from Scripture, to sermon shaping, sequencing, and delivery. The process culminates in a specific understanding of the purpose of the sermon: to send listeners out into the scenes they'll play in their lives for the next week, equipped to act out their parts in ways that are kinder, more just, and more courageous than last week.

We live in angry times. No matter where we go, what we watch, or how we communicate, our culture is rife with division and polarization. Unfortunately, Christians appear to be caught up in the same animosity as the culture at large. While our faith calls us to Christian unity, the hard fact remains: our churches are tragically divided across class, ethnic, gender, and political lines. As these social chasms grow--both inside and outside the church--the role of the preacher becomes paramount. This book issues a prophetic call to pastors to use the influence of their pulpits to promote reconciliation and unity in their churches and communities. Two scholar-practitioners who are experts in homiletics and reconciliation present a practical, 7-step model that empowers faithful leaders to bring healing and peace to their fractured churches and world. The book includes questions for reflection, salient illustrations, and an accountability covenant. It also includes useful appendixes on preaching themes, preaching texts, and sample sermons from three leading preachers: Ralph Douglas West, Rich Villodas, and Sandra Maria Van Opstal.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Relationship Goals . . . Will you be remembered as a person who claimed to follow God but liked to play it safe? Or as a person who lived your life out on the limb and trusted God enough to live in crazy faith? Noah looked crazy when he started building the ark . . . until it started raining. It was crazy for Moses to lead a nation of people into the desert away from Egypt . . . until the Red Sea parted. It was crazy to believe that a fourteen-year-old virgin would give birth to the Son of God . . . until Mary held Jesus in her arms. There are many things that seem normal or average today that at one point in time seemed absolutely crazy. Smartphones, Wi-Fi, and even the electric light bulb were all groundbreaking, history-making inventions that started out as crazy ideas. Our see-it-to-believe-it generation tends to have a hard time exercising true faith—one that steps out, takes action, and sees mountain-moving results. Many of us would rather play it safe and stand on the sidelines, but it’s crazy faith that helps us see God move and reveals His promises. In Crazy Faith, Pastor Michael Todd shows us how to step out in faith and dive into the purposeful life of trusting God for the impossible. Even if you have to start with baby faith or maybe faith, you can become empowered to let go of your lazy faith, trust God through your hazy faith, and learn to live a lifestyle of crazy faith. With powerful stories of modern-day faith warriors who take their cues from biblical heroes, Michael Todd equips you to • believe for the impossible • choose hope over fear • be alert to the voice of God • cope with loss and doubt • develop a deeper level of trust in God • speak faith-filled declarations • inspire crazy faith in others God’s not looking for somebody to give Him all the reasons why His plans can’t happen. He’s looking for somebody to believe they will happen. In fact, He has so much He wants to do through you. The question is, Are you crazy enough to believe it?

Pastors are continually looking for resources to make their preaching more powerful and culturally relevant. Old-school models based on three-point outlines do not resonate with today's churchgoers, who are accustomed to media-driven modes of expression. It's All in How You Tell It provides the tools and insights necessary to help both veteran and novice preachers move from ineffective habits into adrenaline-pumping, dramatic sermon delivery. They will learn to preach by retelling a scriptural account from the vantage point of a biblical character-combining the power of drama with God's Word. Nationally known preaching expert Haddon W. Robinson and his son, Torrey, examine issues such as exegeting a text for a first-person approach, structuring a narrative sermon, determining how to portray biblical characters, and staging and delivering the sermon itself. With this book seminary and Bible college students have the opportunity to build foundations for engaging, story-filled preaching ministries. The end result will be more preachers who "love to tell the story" and more church members who are hungry to hear it.

While strong, gospel-centered preaching abounds, many Christian pastors and lay preachers find it difficult to preach meaningfully from the Old Testament. This practical handbook offers help. Graeme Goldsworthy teaches the basics of preaching the whole Bible in a consistently Christ-centered way. Goldsworthy first examines the Bible, biblical theology, and preaching and shows how they relate in the preparation of Christ-centered sermons. He then applies the biblical-theological method to the various types of literature found in the Bible, drawing out their contributions to expository preaching focused on the person and work of Christ. Clear, complete, and immediately applicable, this volume will become a fundamental text for teachers, pastors, and students preparing for ministry.

Forty years ago the one thing that could be said about sermons was they were biblical. Unfortunately, they were sometimes tedious too. Narrative preaching aimed to fix that, advocating for a dynamic experience of the text over against a static lecture. Preaching could be like the parables of Jesus, intriguing and compelling. The Story of Narrative Preaching is the story of seven students who are enrolled in Professor Freeman's preaching course. Once a new trend, narrative preaching is now older than most of them. As Professor Freeman notes, two things went wrong with narrative styles: over time the church became biblically and theologically illiterate, and the promised stress on experience didn't always measure up to the weight of the gospel. Readers are invited to sit in on the class, to reflect on the expositional nature of preaching and to experience the stories of some modern storytellers--Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker, and others--to see what they might teach us about narratives of depth. In the end we discover what may be the most important word in preaching.