Volume 15, Number 6
Proclaim Grace! Concluding Issue
This is the Concluding Issue to our Proclaim Grace! series. Follow the links to the discussion starters.
Study Aids
Once again Pastor Daron Lindemann and the author have partnered up to put together a set of application and discussion questions to accompany this issue of Preach the Word. We hope this added resource can help both individual pastors, as well as study groups or circuits, to gain even more from each edition of the newsletter.
- Study Guide – Vol. 15.6 Concluding Issue Discussion (Doc Format)
- Study Guide – Vol. 15.6 Concluding Issue Discussion (PDF Format)
Overcoming Pulpit Discouragement
Here is the key question to ask for any of us who have wondered (at least in our hearts) whether this thing called preaching really matters. What got Luther preaching again after his period of discouragement? And how did zeal for preaching remain burning brightly for the rest of his ministry despite the fact that there was no sudden flowering of evident gospel fruit in Wittenberg?
“Thank You, Pastor! And May I Also Add . . . ?”
As I bring this series to a close, I regret that the voices of lay people have been heard too sporadically in these 12 issues of Preach the Word. It is only fitting that we devote the center of this issue to listening to their words of thanks for good preaching and pondering their words of encouragement for what they believe would yield even better preaching. All of it expressed with two recurring themes: a deep love for preaching and for those who preach.
Endlessly a Student and Perpetually Humble
It’s my prayer that I’ve communicated clearly that such a ministry-long quest for growth in preaching (or any ministry skill) is not merely for those who might someday be canonized in a “preacher’s hall of fame.” If God had wanted only the most gifted to speak for him, he could have cloned Luther and placed him into all our pulpits. Instead, he placed you and me precisely into the pulpits he intended for us before we were even born (Jeremiah 1:5
).
Tools for the Pursuit of Better Preaching
Remember the online resources gathered for the <em>Proclaim Grace!</em> series and where they can be found.