Rick Warren's Online Community for Pastors and Church Leaders
Saint Nicholas is a great story to share this Christmas! Nicholas was born in Southern Turkey in 280 AD and was a difference maker. Study the historical writings on this man, but I some it all up in this short video. Play it for your kids, or even your staff, just take the info and preach it. The enemy always has a counterfeit, and …
Continue Reading
It’s a natural process to be impacted by someone’s leadership and then copy that leadership for a season.
It’s what you know so it’s what you do.
But at some point you have to learn to lead through your voice and style.
Just because someone you deeply respect does certain things in their leadership of others doesn’t …
Continue Reading
“For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and smoother than oil is her speech.” (Proverbs 4:3)
Before there was a folk singer by that name, James Taylor was a professor of preaching. This veteran teacher of preachers held forth in classrooms at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary for many years. One day, in a room filled with …
Continue Reading
Sooner or later the preacher runs into a wall.
He’s stuck. He doesn’t have a good answer.
When someone on staff asks, “what are you doing for your next sermon series?” they are met with a blank stare.
This happens to preachers of all stripes. Verse-by-verse expositors run into this wall when it’s time to figure out the …
Continue Reading
There are certain elements that must be included in every single sermon that we ever preach. They are non-negotiable. To put it another way, every sermon you preach has three key components…
The God Component
The “God component” is what sets preaching apart from other kinds of public speaking. We are God’s spokespeople. We …
Continue Reading
“…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance….” (James 1:3)
Pity the church with an immature pastor. He can drive good people crazy.
His ego is always out there seeking a caress, his stubborness could put a mule to shame, and his unteachable spirit frustrates even the saintliest. He thinks of himself first of …
Continue Reading
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola
Jesus: A Theography (Thomas Nelson, 424 pages, hardcover) is the new release by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola (authors of Jesus Manifesto). This new book uniquely tells the story of Jesus from Genesis to Revelation, connecting all the dots together, showing that the Bible is one beautiful narrative of …
Continue Reading
Good title, right?
Now a confession. I was never afraid to stand in front of a group and speak. Not ever. In fact, quite the opposite.
As a fourth grader in our little West Virginia schoolhouse, teacher Margaret Meadows would periodically invite class members who had read an interesting story to stand and share it. I recall …
Continue Reading
Everybody worships. Not everyone believes in God, or in gods, or in the God of the Bible, but everyone worships. Everybody ascribes worth to something, which is one of the basic definitions of worship.
My favorite book about worship, outside the Bible, is Warren Wiersbe’s Real Worship: Playground, Battleground, or Holy Ground?. …
Continue Reading
By Bryan Cribb
Maybe I'm alone in my struggle, but in the preaching task, I've always had difficulty with illustrations. I don't quite know where to look for them. I'm not a natural storyteller. And I always botch the proverbial punch lines.
Yet this same illustration inadequacy has driven me to what I believe is perhaps an even …
Continue Reading
I want to share my best ideas with you each week, along with a ton of great content, fresh ideas, downloadable resources, and more... all for FREE!
