Unleashing the Word: Preaching with Relevance, Purpose, and Passion - Softcover

Hamilton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1426707002 ISBN 13: 9781426707001

Publisher: Abingdon, 2009

Synopsis

Imagine announcing a new series of sermons and seeing worship attendance increase by 1,000 people on the first Sunday of the new series. Or consider a pastor developing sermon plans two to three years out. What kind of pastor sits in a bar with a notepad just looking for ideas for sermons? Or has as his aim to preach the best prepared, best researched sermons his congregation has ever heard? All of these and more explain part of the reason the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection has grown from four people to over 10,000 in just thirteen years.

In Unleashing the Word, Adam Hamilton helps pastors and church leaders consider the purpose, planning, and execution of excellent preaching. He offers detailed descriptions of the sermon planning, writing and preaching process behind one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. He includes numerous personal anecdotes and enough sermon ideas to keep the average pastor busy for years! Finally, after you have read how sermons are planned and prepared at the Church of the Resurrection you can watch the included DVD which features four full-length sermons and other resources to help you apply what you've read in the book. If you only buy one book on preaching this year, this is the book you must buy!

Praise for Unleashing the Word:

"I wish I had read this book early in my thirty-eight year pastoral ministry. If so, I would have done a better job." --J. Ellsworth Kalas, Professor of Preaching, Asbury Theological Seminary.

"Unleashing the Word will be around a long time to help preachers preach the Word with power and conviction!" --Tyrone Gordon, Senior Pastor, St. Luke "Community" UMC, Dallas

"Hamilton offers a goldmine of practical advice...Pastor-preachers will benefit greatly by adopting and adapting Hamilton's approach." --O. Wesley Allen, Jr. Assistant Professor of Homiletics, Lexington Theological Seminary

"Anyone wanting to discover something about the art of preaching and its relationship to the life of a thriving congregation would be hard put to find any better reading resource." --Charles Killian, Professor of Preaching and Storytelling, Asbury Theological Seminary

About this title

Synopsis:

Preaching is a strange business. The very word preach has come to mean something we wish someone else would not do to us ("Don't preach to me!" "All I ever get from him is a sermon!") The idea of standing up and just talking for twenty minutes or more seems hopelessly outdated in a world fascinated by the dance of electronic images that flicker on a screen. Ours is a post-Christian society in which the church's voice--especially as heard from the pulpit--is increasingly drowned out by competing claims for our time and attention. And yet, has there ever been a time when people were more in search of meaning and purpose? In spite of living in a period of affluence and accomplishment, do we not yet feel vulnerable to forces beyond our control? In short, are we not still hungry for a word from God? Adam Hamilton is persuaded that there is a great need and desire for effective preaching today--and that those who learn how to preach effectively for 21st-century people have the potential to make a significant impact upon the lives of their hearers, and through them upon the culture in which they live. Preaching can transform people's lives, change the culture, and renew the church.

In fact, it may very well be that no one has a greater potential to bring hope, healing, and light to the community than does the preacher. Key features: practical insights on effective preaching gained from the experience of one of today's most influential pastors; helpful guidance on the best ways to integrate sermon outlines and notes, as well as screen projection and audio, into sermons. Key benefit: will reinvigorate the reader's preaching with down-to-earth suggestions and inspiring stories of the difference effective preaching can make in the life of a congregation and a community.

About the Author:

Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches in the country. The Church Report named Hamilton's congregation the most influential mainline church in America, and he preached at the National Prayer Service as part of the presidential inauguration festivities in 2013.

Hamilton is the best-selling and award-winning author of Creed, Half Truths, The Call, The Journey, The Way, 24 Hours That Changed the World, John, Revival, Not a Silent Night, Enough, When Christians Get It Wrong, and Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, all published by Abingdon Press. Learn more about Adam Hamilton at AdamHamilton.com.

About this edition

• Publisher: Abingdon
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1426707002
• ISBN 13: 9781426707001
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152