Southwestern Journal of Theology 2021 Book of the Year Award (Honorable Mention, Preaching/Ministry/Leadership) A veteran pastor with thirty years of experience guides readers through a ten-step process to preaching Old Testament narratives from text selection to delivery. The first edition received a Christianity Today award of merit and a Preaching magazine Book of the Year award. This edition, now updated and revised throughout for a new generation, includes a new chapter on how to preach Christ from the Old Testament and an exemplary sample sermon from Mathewson. Foreword by Haddon W. Robinson.

The right words for the right occasion A pastor must be able to step with ease into a number of different speaking venues. In addition to a regular preaching schedule, you as a pastor face an endless parade of special occasions at which you are asked to speak. Some occasions are planned, others are unexpected, but for all occasions you must be ready to communicate the Word of God in a way that complements the liturgy and worship. Preaching for Special Services gives you practical guidance on how to develop and deliver clear, listener-sensitive sermons for special occasions such as weddings, baptisms, and funerals. Each chapter examines the history and theology of preaching for a particular occasion and then centers on the development of the sermon for that event. Scott M. Gibson's approach to sermon construction is based on Haddon W. Robinson's central-idea preaching described in his Biblical Preaching. Preaching for Special Services also offers an extensive list of resources for each special occasion and specific exercises to help you put the principles in this book into practice.

Statistics show that the average person watches almost 5 hours of television per day - that's more than 1,700 hours a year. It's obvious from these statistics that television is doing something right, for people to be tuned in for that amount of time. Stop Preaching and Start Communicating has nothing to do with television's content. Instead, it has everything to do with examining television as an effective communications medium, and how oral communicators can learn from it. In this book you will learn: - how to define and get to know your target audience - how to begin and end a message that gets attention and leaves them breathless - how to communicate without notes - how to communicate just one memorable big idea - how to communicate to transform, rather than to simply inform