Leonard Ravenhill wrote, “I tremble at the awesomeness of preaching God’s Word.” The preacher who doesn’t tremble before this task needs to read the texts below. The preacher who does tremble at his calling and task will most certainly want to read them.
On Pastoring: H.B. Charles, Jr.On Pastoring H.B. Charles
A Short Guide to Living, Leading, and Ministering as a Pastor
From the Publisher: No one is ever fully prepared for the ministry. For pastors just starting out, those needing a little rebalancing, or those growing tired in the trenches, a short guide to the basics is a welcome relief.
In On Pastoring, H. B. Charles gives 30 instructive reflections on the pastor’s heart, leadership, and public ministry, covering topics like:
Cultivating personal godliness
Prioritizing your family
Guarding your ministry effectiveness
Planning, preparing, and preaching sermons
Balancing pastoral roles and duties
Being a pastor means wearing many hats, weathering lots of pressure, and bearing great responsibility. Let H. B. Charles be a trusted advisor as you do the serious work of shepherding a flock of God.
The JPC 60-Second Review: H.B. Charles writes a “real” book on pastoring – not a “theoretical” one written as a testimony to the author, but a book written as instruction, correction, and encouragement for the ordinary pastor. The author writes from 25 years of pastoral successes and failures, and he does so in a way that says failure need not be fatal, but can be functional in pastoral success. His blend of teaching, scripture and personal anecdotes is a perfect reading blend and his transparency is both liberating and refreshing. The book is an enjoyable, head-nodding read of 30 chapters of 5 pages or so each, and is divided into three parts: The Pastor’s Heart, The Pastor’s Leadership, and The Pastors’ Public Ministry. All three are excellent, but the 10 chapters on the pastor’s heart are excellent in their content and presentation – you’ll find yourself stopping often to reflect as again and again he lands on “those” places every pastor knows all too well: ministering to the audience of One; your call, heart health, legacy and more. His sections on leadership and public ministry are practical looks at everything from the planning of your preaching to developing a library, the ministry of meetings to weekly preparation – all so needed. “On Pastoring” is a must-read for young pastors, but lead and staff pastors, or for seminary students preparing for pastoral ministry. Again, this is a must-read.
PREACHING & PREACHERS – D. MARTYN LLOYD-JONES
From the Publisher: For over 30 years, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones ministered at Westminster Chapel in London. Today, he is widely considered one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century. Based on a series of lectures originally given by Lloyd-Jones to the students of Westminster Theological Seminary in the spring of 1969, this collection of essays on the essence of powerful preaching has become a modern classic.
Lloyd-Jones defends the primacy of preaching, showing that there is no substitute, and he challenges preachers to take their calling seriously: “The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching.” He also provides practical direction on the task of preparing a sermon, sharing insights on the shape and form of a message as well as covering such topics as the use of humor, giving invitations in a message and the preacher’s relationship to the congregation.
If you can own only one book on preaching, make this the one you read. This 40th anniversary edition includes the original text of Preaching and Preachers along with essays by Bryan Chapell, Mark Dever, Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Timothy Keller and John Piper reflecting on the impact this book and the ministry of Lloyd-Jones had on their preaching. This is a book that will continue to speak to a new generation of preachers and teachers for years to come.
The JPC 60-Second Review: A “game-changer.” By “game-changer,” we mean that this book by Lloyd-Jones will end the games that pass for preaching in modern pulpits as he focuses the preacher-reader on the biblical message, the task at hand, the life and preparation of the preacher, and, most importantly, the God who calls the preacher to the holy task of proclaiming His Word to the church, and through the church, to the world. This is a book written in the homiletics holy of holies, rich in content and weighty in its call. Lloyd-Jones helps the preacher prepare this week’s message with practical helps, but even more, he helps the preacher build himself and develop the disciplines that lead to a lifetime of effective and life-giving preaching. He exalts God by reminding us of the primacy of preaching, the ministry without substitute. He talks about the sermon itself, its preparation, its content, and its form. He walks the reader through the preaching moment, focusing on the preacher and on the congregation. Most of all, Lloyd-Jones calls the preacher to walk worthy of his vocation as a preacher, calling him ever higher in his personal and sermon preparation for the good of the people of God, the salvation of those yet separated from God, and the glory of God Himself. This is still the gold standard of books on preaching and preachers, absolutely not to be missed.
HE IS NOT SILENT: R. ALBERT MOHLER
From the Publisher:
“Contemporary preaching suffers from a loss of confidence in the power of the Word, from an infatuation with technology, from an embarrassment before the biblical text, from an evacuation of biblical content, from a focus on felt needs, from an absence of gospel.”
Preaching, the practice of publicly expositing the Bible, has fallen on hard times. How did this happen? After all, as John A. Broadus famously remarked, “Preaching is characteristic of Christianity.”
In this powerful book, He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, R. Albert Mohler Jr. shows us how. In a style both commanding and encouraging, Mohler lays the groundwork for preaching, fans the flame on the glory of preaching, and calls out with an urgent need for preaching. This message is desperately needed yet not often heard. Whether you’re concerned or enthused by the state of the church today, join Mohler as he examines preaching and why the church can’t survive without it.
JPC 60-Second Review: When I taught Homiletics in Bible College, I put this book to good use for its philosophical, yet practical approach. Preaching is more than the mechanical selection of text and the scribbling of some notes. There is a Biblical teaching on the whys, whats and hows of it. Mohler takes us through the whats and whys of preaching, calling the preacher to deepen his or her understanding, reflection, appreciation of what preaching is and what it does. He then calls the preacher to consider the transcendent ministry of preaching and its eternal ramifications as we approach the Word, our churches, our culture and our times. As preachers, let us consider the whats and whys of our preaching, let us consider whether we are working to silence God or to be used of God as His mouthpieces to His church and world.
BIBLICAL PREACHING – HADDON W. ROBINSON
JPC 60-Second Review: As a preacher, I studied and applied it. As a Bible College campus pastor, I taught it in my Homiletics classes. This is it, the gold standard in learning how to develop and deliver expository sermons. Quite frankly, if more preachers simply studied and applied this one book, the church of Jesus Christ in America would be radically changed – eisegesis would be replaced by exegesis and sermons would no longer be the thoughts of preachers, but the presentation of the Word of God. Imagine the difference. Biblical Preaching is an ongoing classic not only for its call to expository preaching, but its practical training in how to study for and prepare an expository sermon, one that simply opens and explains a text to the people of God. We’ve all heard – and preached – our share of poor sermons, asking ourselves what we could have, would have done differently, if only we could. The past is gone, but here is a tool in your hands, one you can use to reduce the chance there will ever be a next time. Forget Personal Preaching. It’s time to let God speak for Himself on Sunday. It’s time for Biblical Preaching.
© [2015] — Journey Pastoral Coaching