One of the top priorities at Riv is raising up young men to preach the Gospel. We deploy them in our weekend services and send them out to plant new churches around the world. In addition, we have tons of men and women teaching the Bible all over the Lansing area.
To this end, I am constantly reading and recommending great books on preaching and teaching. Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell, Explosive Preaching by Ronald Boyd McMillan, Preaching by Tim Keller, and On Preaching, by H.B. Charles are some of my favorites and they each scratch a particular training itch. The one gaping hole on that shelf in my library has been a practical book that gets into the nitty gritty of preparing and delivering a sermon that people will actually want to listen to.
I mean, let’s be honest for a minute. There are few things more excruciating than listening to a boring sermon. From experience, I would argue preaching a boring sermon is right at the top of that list. No pastor wants to bore people with the Word of God, but many do.
That’s why I was so thrilled as I read Preaching That Moves People by my friend (and fantastic preacher) Yancey Arrington.
Yancey finds the solution to snoring congregations at the intersection of his two great passions: skiing and preaching. He avoids the common pitfall of trying to conform the reader into himself with principles broad enough to apply to any theological tradition and narrow enough to be applied to any specific preacher. This book is accessible for young preachers who are just finding their voice and contains plenty of insight for experienced preachers with decades of experience under their belt.
In fact, I found myself applying what I read in the very next sermon I preached and every sermon since.
Suffice it to say, Preaching That Moves People is the book I have been searching for. I am going to hand it to every preacher wannabe in my church (and all the crusty old preachers, too).