Archive for July, 2013

What Makes a Great Preacher?

What Makes a Great Preacher? By Austin B. Tucker As the story goes, on a Sunday night a young pastor was driving home, his wife beside him. It had been a busy weekend at the church. The Sunday night sermon had lasted longer than usual since the preacher felt unusual liberty and ...

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Richard Baxter: As Dying Man to Dying Men

Richard Baxter: He Preached as Never Sure to Preach Again and as a Dying Man to Dying Men. by Austin B. Tucker All his life Richard Baxter thought he was dying, and often he came close. In a time when leeches and blood letting were standard medical practice, a man with internal bleeding ...

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Sir John Knox, Bold Reformation Preacher

Sir John Knox, Bold Reformation Preacher by Austin B. Tucker The prospect of preaching terrified John Knox before his first sermon. Afterward he became one of the most fearless of preachers ever. This article will briefly sketch the life of Knox the reformer and then focus on his preaching. Knox the Reformer John Knox ...

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Seven Ways to Boost Your Storytelling Power

Seven Ways to Boost Your Storytelling Power by Austin B. Tucker Fifteen-year-old Charles Spurgeon, a few months after his conversion, began teaching a Bible class for younger boys. One day a lad interrupted his lesson. 'This is very dull, Teacher. Can't you pitch us a yarn?' Young Spurgeon could and did. Later ...

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Spurgeon: Lifelong Passion for Books

Charles Haddon Spurgeon: How a Life-long Passion for Books Molded the Prince of Preachers. by Austin B. Tucker When Charles Spurgeon was a teenager, he was a promising preacher but untrained. A friend arranged for him to meet with Dr. Angus, principal of a theological school, now Regents Park College, Oxford. The ...

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The Persuasive Power of Story

There are some who strongly object to a preacher using anything that might persuade or convince unless it is the cold logic of a syllogism. Some make exception for the quoting of the Bible as an authoritative text, but they consider a heart-moving story as manipulation. They fear the preacher ...

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Book Review: Calvin Miller, Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition

Preaching: The Art of Narrative Exposition. By Calvin Miller. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2006. 0-8010-1290-2, 285 pp. $21.99 hardback. Calvin Miller is professor of divinity and pastoral ministry at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Preaching is a basic homiletical textbook with emphasis on narrative style. It is the most recent ...

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Book Review — Alan Streett, The Effective Invitation

The Effective Invitation: A Practical Guide for the Pastor. By R. Alan Streett. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2004, 0-8254-3799-7, 280 pp., $13.95, paper, (originally published Old Tappan, N.J.: Revell, 1984). Alan Streett is professor of evangelism/pastoral ministry at Criswell College, Dallas, Texas and editor of the Criswell Theological Review. This volume began ...

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The Preacher as Storyteller

Why is there so much narrative in the Bible and so little in our sermons? This is the question of Ralph Lewis and his son Gregg Lewis, co-authors of Inductive Preaching: Helping People Listen. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1983, p. 58. Their very helpful book answers the question saying, Our sermons ...

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