Working Preacher Books

Digital Homiletics

By Sunggu A. Yang

Digital Homiletics demystifies the art of online preaching, helping readers understand both the why and the how of engaging listeners via digital formats. Sunggu Yang lays a concise and accessible theological foundation and then shares ten methods for effective digital preaching. Readers will encounter concrete tips and advice for sharing God’s word online, whatever the dimensions of their electronic ministry.

Yang profiles each of the ten methods in Digital Homiletics with an eye toward general description, homiletic theory, practical tips, final remarks, and innovative attention to “Details of the Style.” Who is involved? Why might preachers employ this technique? Where should it be practiced, and when? What content is best suited to each method? The answers to these questions will help readers’ tailor their online delivery. Throughout, Yang helps us recognize the distinctive nature of the homiletical task when preaching to an online audience.

Podcast episode with the author: Working Preacher Books ep. 14

Publication date: April 30, 2024

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Preaching the Gospel of Justice

By Jennifer L. Ackerman

The call to holistic preaching has many dimensions. Are we called to preach the good news of God’s grace? Advocate for justice? Is preaching worship? A prophetic act? “Yes,” Jennifer Ackerman answers–to all of the above. Through personal stories, biblical examples, and concrete advice, readers will learn how to join gospel and justice in community.

Ackerman draws on her experience as a practitioner, teacher, and director of Brehm Preaching–A Lloyd John Ogilvie Initiative at Fuller Theological Seminary to provide concrete tools for readers seeking to develop their capacity for preaching with a relational focus. Ackerman helps us think about preaching through the lenses of community, justice, worship, and prophecy. The work of the church is work best done together, both within congregations and as ministers connect with fellow practitioners. Grounded in Scripture, with tangible resources and exemplar sermons, Preaching the Gospel of Justice is a hands-on tool for translating theory into practice.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 13

Publication date: April 30, 2024

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For Every Matter Under Heaven

By Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston

“For everything there is a season,” as the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, and that includes preaching. Beyond ordinary Sunday morning worship, many other “seasons”–special occasions–arise for preaching in the life of the church, whether by virtue of the secular calendar or celebrations or circumstances in the congregation or community. For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions offers preachers a process for creating sermons that are biblically grounded and relevant to the occasion.

Beverly Zink-Sawyer and Donna Giver-Johnston offer preachers a process for finding appropriate sermon texts for special occasions by considering the occasion itself, the listeners who might be gathered, and the ways God is at work in that time and place.

Podcast episode with authors: Working Preacher Books ep. 12

Publication date: December 8, 2022

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The Visual Preacher

By Steve Thomason

In The Visual Preacher: Proclaiming an Embodied Word, Steve Thomason’s illustrated text shows preachers visual techniques to study the Bible, construct a sermon, use the space where they preach, and develop and use videos.

Thomason assures readers they don’t have to be skilled artists or technological wizards to effectively use visuals in preaching.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 10

Publication date: July 19, 2022

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Divine Laughter

By Karl N. Jacobson and Rolf A. Jacobson

Karl N. Jacobson and Rolf A. Jacobson offer preachers a means of growth in their art and an approach to reading Scripture both for its humor and through the lens of humor. The book models approaches to the biblical text that allow the Bible to be funny and that bring humor to the text. Divine Laughter brings the task of preaching into conversation with both the comedic parts of the Bible and the theological parts of the comedic, in order to bring a new kind of life to preaching. As a serious look at humor and laughter in the Bible, the book explores the theological implications of what it means if we think of God, Jesus, and even the Holy Spirit as filled with laughter. Preachers are invited to wonder at and chuckle their way through examples of God’s laughter in the Bible, thinking about what that means for God’s people, for the life of faith, and for preaching to God’s people.

Podcast episode with authors: Working Preacher Books ep. 11

Publication date: July 12, 2022

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Real People, Real Faith

By Cindy Halvorson

Real People, Real Faith provides practical tools to portray biblical characters as multidimensional human beings who encountered and journeyed with God. Placing high value on historical, cultural, and scriptural contexts, Cindy Halvorson demonstrates techniques for generating holistic characters, particularly by exploring archetypical human reactions and spiritual longings. She shows how the preacher can use this method to reimagine the biblical characters, present figures with whom listeners relate and empathize, and draw portraits of real people whose relationship with God is in many ways like listeners’ own—people with whom they may sojourn and grow.

When listeners are touched by a biblical character’s story and shown how their relationship with God was transformed, they too may experience the Divine’s love and care for them.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 09

Publication date: February 15, 2022

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Honest to God Preaching

By Brent A. Strawn

Brent A. Strawn focuses on the importance of honesty in preaching, especially around three challenging Old Testament themes: sin, suffering, and violence.

Strawn frames these themes specifically for working preachers, so they can create sermons that speak to these thorny themes with depth and clarity.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 08

Publication date: December 7, 2021

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The Peoples’ Sermon

By Shauna K. Hannan

In The Peoples’ Sermon, Shauna K. Hannan argues that it is no longer faithful for a preacher to craft a sermon in isolation, step into “the pulpit” (literally or metaphorically) on Sunday morning, offer a one-sided monologue, and on Monday start all over, alone, with the process of researching and writing in preparation for the following Sunday.

The Peoples’ Sermon dares to suggest that preaching is most faithful when it is collaborative. Pastors do not own the pulpit; they steward it.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 07

Publication date: November 9, 2021

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Preaching the Headlines

By Lisa L. Thompson

Preaching the Headlines reframes preaching as an ongoing conversation between the modern world and the world of the biblical text. Preachers use what they know about life as a bridge to the text, while life in the text provides the bridge back to faith in the contemporary world. The goal of the book is to provide a process to aid preachers in doing theological reflection on the everyday world as an integral part of sermon development.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 05

Publication date: August 31, 2021

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Writing for the Ear, Preaching from the Heart

By Donna Giver-Johnston

In Writing for the Ear, Preaching from the Heart, Donna Giver-Johnston teaches preachers how to communicate effectively—how to get away from their notes and make a more personal connection with their listeners. Grounded in a theology of the incarnation, she offers a step-by-step method for writing sermons with the fewest, most impactful and memorable words and delivered by heart to communicate a message that captures the ears and hearts of listeners.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 06

Publication date: August 10, 2021

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Preaching Jeremiah

By Walter Brueggemann

In this book, Walter Brueggemann conducts in an experiment in homiletics. He wants us to wrestle with the question: What if we allow the canonical shape of the book of Jeremiah to instruct us concerning the shape and trajectory of the sermon? The preaching task requires honesty about what God requires and a clear proclamation of what God has done and will yet do.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 01

Publication date: November 3, 2020

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A Lay Preacher’s Guide

by Karoline Lewis

In A Lay Preacher’s Guide: How to Craft a Faithful Sermon, Karoline M. Lewis provides lay preachers with an essential and accessible guide to the basics of Sunday-morning preaching. In this go-to resource for lay preachers, Lewis lays out in a concise and clear format the steps to preaching a faithful sermon, a process that can be immediately applied to weekly sermon preparation.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 04

Publication date: May 5, 2020

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The Gospel People Don’t Want to Hear

by Lisa Cressman

Lisa Cressman, founder of Backstory Preaching, provides tools to craft difficult sermon messages that can be heard. Part 1 focuses on the preacher’s preparation, the building of mutual trust with listeners, and the authority needed to proclaim the gospel with empathy, compassion, and skill. Part 2 focuses on the sermon itself with practical suggestions on what to say and how to say it.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 02

Publication date: May 5, 2020

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Leading with the Sermon

by William H. Willimon

Prolific author William H. Willimon makes the compelling case that two key pastoral tasks—preaching and leadership—complement, correct, strengthen, and inform one another. Preaching is the distinctive function of pastoral leaders. Leadership of the church, particularly during a challenging time of transition in mainline Protestantism, has become a pressing concern for pastors. This book shows how the practices, skills, and intentions of Christian preaching can be helpful to the leadership of a congregation.

Podcast episode with author: Working Preacher Books ep. 03

Publication date: Feb. 4, 2020

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Preaching from the Old Testament

by Walter Brueggemann

In this new volume, prolific scholar Walter Brueggemann seeks to show Christian preachers how to consider the faith witnessed in several Old Testament traditions and to help them discover rich and suggestive connections to our contemporary faith challenges. The author also assumes that a wholesale sustained engagement with the Old Testament is worth the effort for the preacher. He recognizes what he calls the “sorry state” of Old Testament texts in the Revised Common Lectionary, which he claims often constitute a major disservice for the church and its preachers. The lectionary gerrymanders the Old Testament to make it serve other claims, most of the time not allowing it to have its own evangelical say. Brueggemann hopes that his exposition in this volume will evoke and energize fresh homiletical attention to the Old Testament, precisely because he believes the urgent work of the gospel in our society requires attentive listening to these ancient voices of bold insistent faith.

“I read Walter Brueggemann and it makes me want to preach.”
– Jason Byassee, Vancouver School of Theology

Publication date: May 17, 2019

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