Every time a congregation gathers for worship, many different people, from different points in life, with different needs, and perspectives come together, each refracting messages through their own lenses. Each person processes communication in ways that are influenced by age, gender, race, personality type, ethnicity, education, and social and economic background. Jeter and Allen explore how these factors affect the ways in which members of the congregation receive and process sermons, and how the preacher can optimize the opportunity for each to hear and understand the gospel and one another.

In our increasingly pluralistic and multicultural society, there is a need for preaching that is capable of crossing cultural boundaries and engaging multiple contexts. Jared Alcántara's exciting new work proposes an intercultural and improvisational account of preaching in conversation with the legacy of Gardner C. Taylor.

Preaching is an integral part of every church service, and its purpose has always been to edify, encourage, and to emphasize the positive effects of coming together as a people of God. Yet there remains an inconsistency between the intended goals of preaching and the subjective perception of the listeners. In this homiletical study, Dr. Enoh Šeba provides fresh insight into the “turn to the listener” model and offers a theologically sustainable warrant mandate for the transformation of the preaching practice through a stronger involvement of the congregation. While grounding the research in the experience of Croatian Baptists, Dr. Šeba highlights practical suggestions for both listeners and preachers that are transferrable across contexts. This important work reveals that preaching can and should be transformed into a truly congregational practice that will affirmatively affect the dynamics of ecclesial life. This book will spark conversations and induce small-scale changes on a variety of levels while bridging the gap between preachers and their listeners.

One Year to Better Preaching provides preachers with fifty-two hands-on exercises that sharpen their homiletical skills. The book is designed particularly for those who preach each week—and have been, perhaps, for some time—to help them get out of the rut of the routine and infuse their preaching with new sparks of creativity, fresh approaches to sermon preparation and design, and sharpened verbal and nonverbal communication skills. Novice preachers, also, will find the exercises useful in developing their preaching abilities. Each chapter includes instructions for an exercise, tools and suggestions needed for the exercise, comments from preachers who completed it, and recommended resources for further study The exercises address eight categories of homiletics: • Prayer and Preaching • Bible Interpretation • Understanding Listeners • Sermon Construction • Illustrations and Applications • Word Crafting • The Preaching Event • Sermon Evaluation Readers can complete the exercises in the order presented, which address different categories week to week, or they can sharpen their skills in a particular category over a period of weeks by using the chart provided. They might also work through the exercises in collaboration with other preachers. One Year to Better Preaching will leave a preacher reinvigorated and better equipped to proclaim the Word of God skillfully, passionately, and effectively.

Preachings most able practitioners gather in this book to explore and explain the idea that preaching is a practice that can be taught and learned. Arguing that preaching is a living practice with a long tradition, an identifiable shape, and a broad set of norms and desired outcomes, these noted scholars propose that teachers initiate students into the larger practice of preaching, in ways somewhat like other students are initiated into the practice of medicine or law. The book concludes with designs for a basic preaching course and addresses the question of how preaching courses fit into the larger patterns of seminary curricula.

What if adolescents aren't bored with preaching? What if they have and are interacting with preaching in complex, various ways that have escaped the attention of adult listeners and preachers? What if their own preaching informed the ways adults think about Christian faith and theories/practices of preaching? While much recent discussion in preaching revolves around underrepresented groups, the relationship between adolescent youth and preaching remains largely unexplored. Youthful Preaching brings youth into contemporary conversations about preaching by listening to their voices and by advocating for communities of faith and practice to seek ways to reimagine, renew, and strengthen the relationships between youth, adults, and preaching.

How does our gender impact our preaching? Can women express anger in a sermon? Why use a first person narrative sermon structure? After preaching for several years Christine Redwood realized both her preaching role models, and her theology, had come predominantly from men, so she spent the next six years researching feminist scholars and their readings of stories from the book of Judges. In this accessible book she shares what she has learnt including sample sermons and exercises for preachers wanting to grow in their craft. This is essential reading for preachers wanting to amplify marginal voices!