Many pastors are just too busy to fellow the latest theories on preaching and sermon form. In The Shape of Preaching, Dennis M. Cahill seeks both to educate the working pastor on the current issues of sermon design and enable them to use this design in a way that can change their preaching. After first laying the theoretical groundwork with discussions of the theological, cultural, and literary roots of the new approaches to sermon design, Cahill expertly guides the preacher through a practical process for designing sermons that speak to people in the world today.

Christianity is turning brown and moving south. The Christianity the West has known is in recession and has all but dwindled out of recognition in the opening years of the twenty-first century. Well over half of the world’s Christians now live in the Global South—Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They are, according to Aberdeen missiologist Andrew Walls, the new Representative Christians. What they think about Christianity will matter more and more and what North America thinks about Christianity will matter less and less. This massive shift in geography and theological point of departure will have a major impact on Christian preaching now and into the future. The Future Shape of Christian Proclamation seeks to begin the conversation about how preaching in the Global South will inform the whole of Christian preaching in the coming years.

In our world, stories matter. Methods and systems are beneficial because they provide structure and help keep us on the right road; but the motivation and courage to keep walking the road, come from the stories we hear and see and experience-stories that inspire hope and bring us face-to-face with God.For ministers, the call to preach is a call into a story that forms and shapes us. It's about stumbling into revelation as life unwinds and scripture unfolds. It's about listening to God's voice and then sharing it with others. It's about recognizing that when people gather to hear a sermon, God speaks. And it's about understanding that when He speaks, He speaks through you.Preaching the Story That Shapes Us is more than a textbook on preaching. It's an empowering call for preachers to present a picture of the kingdom of God already at work among us, recognizing that the work of preaching is not just about arranging words--it's about people. With elegant prose and crafted reason, Dan Boone weaves together scripture, personal narrative, structure, and theological reflection to provide a satisfying, efficient guide to narrative preaching. From exploring the importance of biography to walking readers through creative processes that shape the sermon, Boone shows preachers how to awaken lives and share the stories of God that reveal who we are and lead us to who we will be.

John Chrysostom remains, along with Augustine, one of the most prolific witnesses to the world of late antiquity. As priest of Antioch and bishop of Constantinople, he earned his reputation as an extraordinary preacher. In this first unified study of emotions in Chrysostom’s writings, Blake Leyerle examines the fourth-century preacher’s understanding of anger, grief, and fear. These difficult emotions, she argues, were central to Chrysostom’s program of ethical formation and were taught primarily through narrative means. In recounting the tales of scripture, Chrysostom consistently draws attention to the emotional tenor of these stories, highlighting biblical characters’ moods, discussing their rational underpinnings, and tracing the outcomes of their reactions. By showing how assiduously Chrysostom aimed not only to allay but also to arouse strong feelings in his audiences to combat humanity’s indifference and to inculcate zeal, Leyerle provides a fascinating portrait of late antiquity’s foremost preacher.

Offering an important corrective to a pain-averse culture that celebrates individualism and success, veteran preacher and teacher Matthew Kim encourages pastors to preach on the painful issues their congregations face. Through vulnerability and self-disclosure, pastors can help their congregants share their suffering in community for the purpose of healing and transformation. The book includes stories, shares relevant Scripture texts imparting biblical wisdom, and offers best practices for preaching on specific topics. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and a sample sermon.

They are there after an urgent need, a moment of desperation. Like Ellen Cardwell?s telling of a highway angel who helped Ellen and her husband resume their trip after car trouble on California?s desolate Highway 1. Or Delores Topliff?s memory from her childhood, when on the brink of starvation, an angel on a bicycle dropped off bags of groceries. These stories will challenge and reward your faith in God?a God Who tells us to entertain strangers and, possibly, Heavenly Company. Contained within this book is an exclusive collection of real-life encounters with God?s angels and mysterious helpful strangers. Best-selling author Cecil Murphey (coauthor of 90 Minutes in Heaven and more than one hundred other books) and his cowriter Twila Belk masterfully bring together brand-new reports from all over the world that share one thing in common: the way in which God uses messengers to touch our lives. Filled with hundreds of pages of stories that will excite your spirit and touch your heart, you?ll travel from Africa to Texas to Russia and back again. Curl up with this powerful book and read amazing true accounts of individuals who have encountered angels, both seen and unseen.

This book will bring you joy. Preaching week in and week out can be a burden. This book invites you into a way of experiencing preaching that brings life back into your pulpit. Contemporary metaphor theory provides new methods for engaging the biblical text and shaping sermons that matter. With humor and insight, Justin Rossow harnesses the most relevant advances in metaphor theory to empower your preaching and equip you to impact the everyday lives of real people. You'll be delighted at the quality of the example sermons and anxious to put these tools to work in your own preaching ministry. This book is not about making your propositional point a little more interesting; this book will change how you imagine the preaching task. Refreshingly faithful, theoretically nuanced, purposefully practical, and at times laugh out loud funny, Preaching Metaphor will help you fall in love with preaching all over again. Praise for Preaching Metaphor "A pioneering and incredible piece of work. Rossow's treatment of metaphor and culture is not only enjoyable, it makes you wonder how often we fill in the blanks of biblical images with our own cultural narratives without giving it a second much less passing thought. I know of no other work that offers such a well-developed theory of metaphor for preaching." -Len Sweet best-selling author, professor, and owner of PreachTheStory.com "Remarkably clear, winsome, compelling, and practical. This book is not only a must for the preacher's library, but a gift to the preacher." -Leopoldo A. Sánchez M. author of Sculptor Spirit: Models of Sanctification from Spirit Christology and professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary-St. Louis "In an era when images saturate our existence and capture our attention, Justin Rossow provides what a visual generation needs: a way to create compelling sermons that stick-for both the preacher and the hearer. In a humble, winsome, and knowledgeable way, Preaching Metaphor presents the practice of harnessing imagery as a means of communicating Gospel truth. You'll find this to be a practical manual for powerful preaching!" -Michael W. Newman, author of Gospel DNA: Five Markers of a Flourishing Church "Every once in a while, I've read things that make me wonder how they're possible, and I really thank God for letting me read them. This book is one of those. Praise God for Justin." -Conrad Gempf author of Jesus Asked: What He Wanted to Know and lecturer in New Testament at London School of Theology, UK. From the introduction: "I just want to help make next Sunday a little easier for you and for your hearers. And maybe, if things go as planned, I might even help you delight in the preaching task a little more than you have in awhile. You see, I am on your side; I think what you do week in and week out is amazing. And I want to help. In order to help, I want to talk about metaphor. I know, I know; talking about metaphor sounds all artistic and poetic-and it can be-but, as we shall see, metaphor is also a fundamental tool for how we make sense of our lives, reach decisions, imagine possibilities, and evaluate outcomes. Because metaphor is a fundamental tool of human thought and experience, getting a better handle on metaphor opens up all kinds of possibilities for reading and preaching Scripture."