In today’s special guest host episode, Dr. Mac Brunson fills in for Preaching Coach Founder Dr. David Allen, talking with longtime preachers Dr. Jerry Vines and Dr. Barry McCarty. Dr. Brunson serves as senior pastor of Valleydale Church in Birmingham, Ala.; Dr. Vines served as pastor for more than 60 years and served twice as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC); and Dr. McCarty serves as chair of the Hans Denck School of Communication at Truett McConnell University and has served the SBC in the role of chief parliamentarian for four decades as of this coming June. The group’s engaging and lighthearted discussion spans across several topics pastors will find interesting from the use of AI in sermon preparation to the development of sermon illustrations and the structure of any spoken presentation to an audience. A close walk with the Lord and time and attention given to spiritual disciplines rise to the top, they agree, in equipping a pastor to preach faithfully the inerrant Word of God.

In today’s special guest host episode, Woodlawn Baptist Church Senior Pastor Dr. Lewis Richerson talks with Dr. Tommy Middleton, current director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge and the previous senior pastor of Woodlawn Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. This engaging discussion ranges from the importance of theological education, the ways that has changed over the past two decades, and the need for more pastors called of God to carefully exposit the Word of God.

In today’s episode, Dr. David Allen discusses how to preach Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” in Part 2 of a two-part series on this verse, examining the Greek and taking a close look at the proper interpretation of this portion of Scripture.

In today’s episode, Dr. David Allen discusses how to plan a sermon on the first half of Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” which is part 1 of a 2-part podcast episode. Part 2, examining the phrase, “for theirs is the kingdom of God,” will follow soon.

Learn more about Preaching Coach and find resources to help you prepare sermons and deliver them well at PreachingCoach.com.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen argues that the public reading of Scripture is often done poorly and should be a Word-centered act of worship. He reflects on his own early tendency to read Scripture perfunctorily, then points to Reformation-era Church of Scotland practices and cites Nehemiah 8 and 1 Timothy 4 in explaining the biblical priority of public reading, exhortation, and teaching. Dr. Allen shares 10 practical keys for reading well, including choosing a reasonable-length text, using oral interpretation, practicing ahead of time, improving mechanics (diction, rate, pitch, volume), projecting, reading naturally, being heard/understood/felt, using good posture, varying eye contact, and not rushing. He demonstrates the difference by reading Luke 19:1–10 in two different styles, illuminating helpful and unhelpful ways to read Scripture.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen reads a book chapter which could have been a sermon – “Marks of Maturity in the Ministry,” by Warren Wiersbe. Listen to this chapter from “Listening to the Giants,” and ponder the wise words about preaching a sermon versus a message and being a man who acts rather than reacts.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen reads a transcript of Thomas Chalmers’ Sermon, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” This episode is the third installment in a series looking at significant sermons from the past.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen shares a recording of Dr. Roy Metts’ 2004 Founders Day sermon at Criswell College. This episode is the second installment in a series looking at significant sermons from the past. In his sermon, Dr. Metts delivers an expositional message from Colossians 1.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen reads the transcript of a sermon from Bailey Smith, preached in 1980 during a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The sermon, looking at 2 Corinthians 4, is one for which Dr. Allen was present at the time of its delivery and one which has enduring value to pastors, theologians, and students still today.

In this episode, Dr. David Allen interviews Olivier Melnick, the founder and executive director of Shalom in Messiah Ministries. The son of Holocaust survivors from France, Olivier is an international speaker, an authority on the topic of antisemitism, and the author of seven books. This discussion centers around the root of antisemitism, how it has expanded in recent years, and what Christians can do to help combat it.