I’m a verse by verse type of teacher. We do some topical series throughout the year, but I mainly preach through books of the Bible. I think it’s a great way for people to learn, but also it’s how I teach best. (Rule #1 for communicators: know thyself) Yet here’s one of the strengths that preaching expositionally has, you hit topics you might not normally hit on a strictly topical diet. Last Sunday as I am preaching through Mark, I taught on the beheading on John the Baptist (besides that John the baptist is my favorite Bible character – of … Read More

I was teaching at a friend’s church this weekend and I taught a message I shared at CF a couple of weeks ago that was still stirring in me. But it got me thinking about the idea of preaching re-runs… (which, by the way, I never write new messages when I guest speak) I have never been able to pull a message out of the files from 2 years previous and teach it as is. I know some guys can do that. I can’t. I work hard to continue growing as a communicator, so I’d like to think that a … Read More

A news reporter asked me a few weeks ago, “Do you think there’s too much entertainment in church?” I said, “The definition of entertainment is to hold people’s attention for an extended period of time. So no, there isn’t too much.” If you ever want to be in an environment where entertainment isn’t a consideration, attend a High School graduation. This is a huge occasion in a person’s life where just about every speaker, singer, and point on the program is deathly boring. My nephew’s graduation taught me more about the importance of communication than at just about any preaching … Read More

After today’s services, this was 16 Sundays in a row for me. (Kids, don’t try this at home)Needles to say, my brain is fried. Besides teaching, this has been an amazing season for us. New baby, great growth in our church, and plenty of weird stuff to keep things interesting. But now I’m ready to go on vacation. I’ve got only 1 office day this week. I didn’t want to miss our monthly all-staff meeting. It lets me tie up loose ends and then I’m out…

I get questions now and then about what books I’m reading in preparation for my messages. So I’ve started a list of books that I’m reading called, “Study Resources”. I’m teaching the Gospel of Mark, so that’s what I’m studying and the bottom right-hand column of my blog’s front page you’ll find the books that I’m reading during the series of teachings. Enjoy…

I’m still at how much good stuff gets left on the editing room floor of a Pastor’s office as he’s preparing a weekend message. Sometimes there’s just more content than there is time, so you’ve got to boil it down (like a stew). There are days I wish we go old school and preach like the Puritans: 30 point messages, lasting 5-6 hours. I know it’s not realistic, but a preacher can dream…

One of the things that I think is important is to vary your preaching throughout the year. I like to mix topical/ textual teaching and expositional teaching into the life of our church. Last year, I taught Daniel, Numbers, and Colossians. But I also taught a series on the church, marriage, and stewardship. There are some subjects that are best tackled with a topical/ textual approach. But I believe it’s important to teach books of the Bible to not only ground believers in the faith, but also to give people a love for the Scriptures. As I looked at 2007, … Read More

We continued our marriage series “Illusions” as we dealt with one of the big 3 issues couples get divorced over: money. Many churches do a decent job talking about tithing (insert joke here) , but very few ever help people with what God has to say about the other 90%. This, to me is a tragedy. So I shared a very autobiographical message and talked about how as a college student, I got myself into major debt. Then through some study of the Scriptures and some very helpful Christian books I was able to gain some wisdom and develop a … Read More

I felt good about my Sunday message this week. I felt as though people connected. The Illusions series we’re doing is one where we are debunking a lot of the relational myths that mess up our marriages. We’ve been looking at different couples in Scripture and learning from their successes and failures. This week is was the illusion of a Soul Mate. I don’t if there’s a concept that makes people jump ship on their relationships more than this one. Having taught on Jacob and his relational issues, I’m still gnawing on this one truth from Scripture: Jacob wanted to … Read More