Mike Graves begins this book with the question "If preaching is intended to enliven the church, why is it killing so many ministers?" His answer? Because preaching has become divorced from the vitality and diversity of the preacher's daily life. He invites preachers to discover how preaching can be renewing rather than draining.

Seventy-five years ago, renowned preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick asked in "Harper's Magazine," "what's the matter with preaching?" Fosdick's question is even more relevant today, as both pastors and laity acknowledge the need for improvement in Sunday morning's sermons. And who better for pastors and students to learn from than those who already do it well? The contributors to this book are a some of the best and most thoughtful preachers in the church and classroom today. In their essays, they assess the state of preaching today, identify a variety of issues that challenge effective preaching, and offer helpful suggestions for what can be done to improve preaching. In the process, they help to define what effective preaching is.

Named as one of the top ten living preachers by Newsweek, this soft-spoken preacher has for more than three decades enlightened, delighted, compelled, and, most of all, engaged his listeners with his stories.

Now, published for the first time, this collection of more than two hundred of Fred Craddock's stories tells in his own words of his childhood in western Tennessee, his days as a seminary student and professor, his pastorates, his experiences as husband and father, and his many travels. Through these personal stories, recollections, and parables from everyday life, we get a glimpse of Fred Craddock and his proclamation of the gospel.

Colleagues and students of Dr. Craddock will read these stories with fond memories of the man who told them and of his unique style of interpreting the gospel. For others it will be a lesson in preaching, a wealth of sermon ideas, and insight into living the Word.