Upcoming Event
A Reformation Sunday worship service commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Accra Confession
October 27, 2024, 5:00 PM
From Lament to Praise
When we gather for worship on New Year’s Eve, we do so to praise God for the past year—to thank God for the wonderful gifts he has given us and to remember his wonderful deeds. But what if our year has not been good? What if, when we think back on the year, all we can remember is pain and heartache?
September 1, 2008
Imagine: What Has Christ Done for Us?
How do Christ's life, death, and resurrection save us? What poetic imagination do we use to grasp his saving work?
January 1, 2008
Preaching Christ from the Gospels
There are unique and wonderful challenges in following the apostle Paul's example of preaching Christ and Him crucified from the gospels. How do we faithfully communicate the message of Christ from the very words and life of Christ himself? It may seem obvious, but too often men and women are getting it wrong.
January 1, 2008
Seeing What Is Really There: Preaching and the Imagination
Frederick Buechner writes that people "as a rule see only what they expect to see and little more." The preacher's calling is see beyond what we expect to see and help congregations to do the same. This session discussed what the preacher can do to be faithful to this calling.
January 1, 2008
Finding Stories for Sunday's Sermon
Although sermon preparation involves lots of steps-everything from selecting a text to embodying the sermon on Sunday-the search for meaningful illustrative material during the week is often the most frustrating.
January 1, 2008
Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching
This workshop audio will help participants begin to explore the possibilities and homiletical impact of engaging in an ongoing, vigorous program of reading for preaching.
January 1, 2008
Between Font and Table
In this workshop participants explored the relationship of Word and Sacrament in weekly preaching. Undervalued biblical and theological foundations of the Lord's Supper and baptism can add to the depth of one's sermons. Additionally, a sacramental approach to preaching can influence one's use and understanding of language and illustration.
January 1, 2008
Symposium 2008 - Thematic Worship: A Rich Feast for the People of God
Rather than attempting unity in our services through a commonality of style or form, how much richer and spiritually nourishing to use a biblical or theological theme as a unifying principle. This approach allows for the use of a rich variety of forms and styles, and gives time to focus on and respond to an aspect of God and his truth in a way that is edifying and serves a catechetical function over the long run.
January 1, 2008
Redeeming the Time: Homiletic Theology for a Pilgrim People
This workshop focused on the formative power of the lectionary when it is read within the theological narrative of the Christian year: the story of salvation.
January 1, 2008
Todd Farley on Embodied Preaching
Todd Farley shows preachers how to use body communication to preach lively sermons. His embodied preaching ideas spring from a theology of restoring arts to ministry. A feature story exploring body communication in preaching.
December 21, 2007
Gerardo Marti on Successful Multicultural Churches
Whether you say multicultural, multiracial, or multiethnic, churches want to become more diverse. So many churches want to know: what makes a congregation successfully multiethnic? A feature story exploring successful multicultural churches.
November 9, 2007
Worship as “Letting Go”
While studying successful multiethnic Protestant churches in metro Los Angeles, Gerardo Marti experienced tremendous variations in worship. “The churches ranged from highly liturgical and mainline to wildly charismatic and Pentecostal.
November 9, 2007