Preaching and Who Gets The Glory

Preaching and Who Gets the Glory Last week I had the privilege of preaching on Pentecost.  What a great day to be able to present the story of the birth of the church!  However, while preparing for this message, I once again had to confront…

Top Tips for Creating Wedding Messages

Top Tips for Creating Wedding Messages I shared in the last post the story of the groom saying, "I don't remember anything you said...."  That experience taught me the lesson taught in that post.  In this post I'll be sharing the top tips…

Preparing a Meaningful Wedding Message

Preparing A Meaningful Wedding Message Funerals provide a wonderful opportunity to share the Good News, as we've seen in the previous posts.  People face their own mortality as they deal with the loss of a friend or family member, and are…

Funeral Sermon for An Unbeliever

Funeral Sermon for An Unbeliever In the last post we considered some guidelines for preparing a funeral message.  Now we are going to turn to how to prepare a funeral sermon for an unbeliever in your community. The Difficult Funeral I remember…

Creating An Impactful Funeral Message

Creating an Impactful Funeral Message We've been considering various parts of a funeral in the previous posts.  Here's the first in the series.  In this post we turn specifically to creating an impactful funeral message that will build on…

An Effective Order For The Funeral Service

An Effective Order for The Funeral Service In the last few posts we looked at the challenges of preaching at a funeral and some lessons I've learned in preparing for a meaningful funeral.  In this post we are going to consider an effective…

Preparing A Meaningful Funeral Service

Preparing A Meaningful Funeral Service In the last post we started looking at the six elements for preparing a meaningful funeral service for your people.  Dr. Alan Wolfelt identifies six such elements.  He is the director of the Center for…

Preparing a Funeral Service

Preparing a Funeral Service In the last two posts we looked at the challenge of preaching at a funeral service.  We also considered some tips on how to prepare to preach at a funeral service.  In this post we're switching gears just a bit.…

Preparing to Preach At A Funeral

Preparing To Preach At A Funeral In this last post I started to look at the challenge of preaching at a funeral.  We considered some of the challenges and the opportunity of a funeral sermon.  In this post we pick up that theme as we consider…

Preaching At A Funeral

Preaching At A Funeral The first year that I was in ministry was a surprise in many ways.  I learned that what I had learned at seminary didn't always apply to the real-life experience of the pastor.  One of those areas where I hadn't learned…