Dr. J Kent Edwards Biblical Preaching Books

Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching

Looking for a way to connect with folks who "tune out" during traditional sermons? Follow Jesus' example of storytelling---and try preaching in the first person! Edwards shows that by assuming the "voice" of a biblical character, you can bring your text to life.

Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching - Dr. J Kent Edwards Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching in Korean - Dr. J Kent Edwards

The Steps from Text to Narrative Sermon Presenting biblically centered sermons in a new, creative genre Pastors and teachers are always on the lookout for new ways to expand the effectiveness of their preaching. Sermons delivered in the first-person point of view can weave the power of story and drama into the biblical teaching, making familiar--and not-so-familiar-- characters and situations come to life. This book helps students and pastors understand how first-person sermons can be preached with biblical integrity. It extends Haddon Robinson's "big idea" philosophy of preaching to this new genre. J. Kent Edwards takes a practical approach as he walks readers through the steps needed for creating sermons that are faithful to the text and engaging to the listener. Examples and worksheets enable readers to apply this unique approach to one of their own sermons. The book includes a CD-ROM with a video sample of first-person narrative preaching.

Preaching and acting has an interesting connection. Preachers are not actors because our message is true and when it is practiced best, the preacher describes an actual commitment to a real God who is speaking through his Word in a real moment-in-time. There is no acting in it, though the communication skills of the actor might be helpful in the presentation. This, then, is the challenge of preaching narrative texts. How do we take the text seriously, not only for its propositional content, but also for its form of presentation without distancing ourselves from what we preach? How do we tell the story of Samson with a sense of immediacy and not be inauthentic?

In first-person preaching, the preacher enters into the story by personifying one of the characters, bringing truth to life by creating an experience of the text for contemporary listeners. It is a challenge, but Kent Edwards' book can help. Edwards, following the well-established "big idea" approach of his mentor, Haddon Robinson, offers a step-by-step approach to developing first person sermons that can be appropriated and applied by contemporary listeners. In so doing, he helps us with narrative sermons and narrative biblical texts of every description. Bundled with the book is a very professional CD which has a video of Edwards' Samson sermon.

This is a practical book, taking the preacher from the early exegetical steps all the way to the end of the process. There is advice here on everything from characterization, to manuscripting, to stage direction (blocking), to costuming. Some preachers will find the prospect intimidating, but even those who lack the dramatic skills required for this kind of presentation will still find value in the author's instruction regarding the understanding and uses of biblical narrative. Chapter Eight, for instance, offers a number of alternatives for the effective and faithful preaching of the stories in the Bible.

This is a helpful book, well worth the investment of those who want to communicate the Bible not only for its ideas, but also through its form.

Read an excerpt from Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching.

Purchase Dr. Edwards' Effective First-Person Biblical Preaching Book. (Zondervan, 2005.)

Deep Preaching . . . creating sermons that go beyond the superficial

Introduction - Beyond an 'A'

Purchase the Deep Preaching Book - Dr. J Kent EdwardsIt was one of the worst experiences I have ever had in the classroom. I was standing at the back of the classroom ensconced in a sound-proof booth listening on headphones to one of my students preaching a sermon to the class.

I have taught preaching for years and, in the process, listened to hundreds of beginning sermons. I can assure you that listening to a beginning preacher's first sermon is work. It's like screening a young Steven Speilberg's first attempt at filmmaking. You are pretty sure that his future films are going to get better, but what you are watching on the screen right now is not going to win an Academy Award.

This particular preacher, however, had my full attention. As I listened to the message I heard the student follow the 'steps to preparing a sermon' that I had outlined earlier in the semester. This was a technically perfect message. He had based his message on a legitimate natural unit of Scripture. He had a clear 'big idea' that arose legitimately from that unit of Scripture and was reflected in a clear homiletical outline. And my student was delivering the sermon with a level of polish seldom seen in an 'Introduction to Preaching' course.

Given the performance of the student, you would expect that I, as a professor of preaching, would be beaming with pride. After all, my student had followed my rules. He had immersed himself in my template. I had to acknowledge that, according to the syllabus I had written, this sermon deserved the highest grade possible. I was going to give it an A. That realization made me want to weep. Why?

Because that sermon, despite being well organized and sporting only the soundest of exegesis, was trivial. Superficial. Emotionally vacuous. My student was handling one of the most profound truths in Scripture with the respect typically accorded to a trash container on its way to the curb. What my student was preaching was true, but banal. He had gazed at the truth of Scripture without being overwhelmed by it. He had held the truth in his hands but, unlike Jeremiah, he had not eaten it. He knew God's word externally not internally. The sermon was shallow.

It reminded me of an incident that the late J. Vernon McGee told regarding a trip that he took to South Africa. As he was traveling through a small town he saw a group of boys clustered around a circle drawn in the dust at the side of the road. The famous preacher realized that the boys were playing a game that he had played as a boy – they were playing a game of marbles. As McGee came closer he noticed that the children had substituted small stones that were common in the area for the glass marbles so commonly used in North America. As McGee continued to examine the stones, however, he realized that these were not ordinary stones. They were diamonds. The children had no idea what the true value of those stones were. They were treating the most precious stones in the world without regard for their true worth. They were playing marbles with diamonds. So was my student.

I don't think that Hollywood movies need to be taken seriously but, when it comes to preaching, I cannot get the words spoken by Mr. Miagi out of my mind. He was the one that said in The Karate Kid, "there are no bad students, only bad teachers." In this case I agree. My student was not to blame. He had only done what I had told him to do. The problem was mine. My best efforts at teaching preaching were producing superficial sermons. Something had to be done. I could not allow this to continue.

I have set out in this book to rethink preaching. To help preachers learn how to preach the powerful word in ways that will powerfully change those who hear it. I think this is possible. I believe that when a sermon is preached, the words of the preacher need not settle comfortably on the lives of the listeners like dust on a coffee table. I believe that preachers can re-create the worlds of our listeners by re-speaking the words that God used to create the universe.

I invite you to join me in casting off the lines that moor our ministry to the status quo and steer your preaching out of the comfortable shallows. Together we can move beyond the yawn-inspiring to the awe-inspiring. Beyond the trite into the transforming. Lets refuse to settle for an 'A' sermon. Lets embrace the challenge and learn the discipline of deep preaching.

Deep Preaching Table of Contents

Introduction – Beyond an 'A'

  • The challenges of preaching today
  • The reasons for preaching today
  • More reasons for preaching today
  • Start with your Heart
  • Get the 'big idea'
  • Take God’s idea into your closet
  • Grasp the Grandeur
  • The 'Closet Work' begins
  • The 'Closet Work' continues
  • Preaching Deep Sermons

Conclusion
Appendix