Preach It

Who wouldn't want to be an all-around better preacher? Here are vital tips and ideas written in a light and humorous way by a seasoned, successful preacher. Great for new pastors, seminary students, or any pastor who is feeling overwhelmed. A practical primer! Review If you read only one book on preaching, this one should be it! I couldn't put it down! --Anne Graham Lotz, 12/04This wonderful book is stimulating and practical. If you take preaching seriously, then this book is for you! --Dr. Crawford W. Loritts, Jr., Assoc. Dir., Campus Crusade For Christ USA From the Back Cover Turn Survival Into Success With This Guide to PreachingWho wouldn't want to be an all-around better preacher? Here are vital tips and ideas that are great for new pastors, seminary students, or any pastor who is feeling overwhelmed! "Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more needed in the church today than powerful preaching of God's Word. Here a powerful preacher shares both his heart and his secrets, in ways that are helpful to anyone entering the pulpit." -Os Guinness, author of The Call "If you read only one book on preaching, this one should be it! I couldn't put it down! Stuart Briscoe is refreshingly honest, uncompromisingly truthful, practically helpful, personally relevant, and totally encouraging to those who strive to just 'Preach It.'" -Anne Graham Lotz "Stuart Briscoe is one of the greatest preachers of our time, and I am so glad that he has given us the gift of Preach It! What a treasure of wisdom and insight! This wonderful book is stimulating and practical, and it will move your heart. If you take preaching seriously, then this book is for you!" -Dr. Crawford W. Loritts, Jr., Author, Preacher, Radio Host, Associate Director, Campus Crusade For Christ, U.S.A. "While many of us are called to preach, there are few who show us how! Stuart Briscoe is a mentor par-excellence to all of us 'want-to-be-better' preachers." -Dr. Joseph M. Stowell, President, Moody Bible Institute About the Author Stuart Briscoe was born in Millom, Cumbria, England, and began preaching at the age of seventeen. In 1970, he became senior pastor of Elmbrook Church, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He served there for 33 years, building it into the leading church it is today. Briscoe has authored dozens of books and is in demand for his preaching and teaching around the world. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 "Preach It, Lad, Preach It!"Fifty-five years ago I preached my first sermon. And nobody was more surprised than I. At the tender age of seventeen, I had recently left high school and embarked upon a career in banking courtesy of the District Bank, a British financial institution that initially paid me a pittance but promised me a good pension forty-eight years hence! So I was, apparently, settled for life like the other men in the branch, many of whom had been keenly anticipating retirement for almost forty years. But God had other plans. Having been transferred far from home by the bank, I attended a small church as a stranger and was startled when a gentleman approached me and asked, "How old are you?" I replied "Seventeen." "It's time you were preaching," he pronounced confidently. To which I replied timidly, "I can't preach." He inquired, "Have you ever tried?" When I replied in the negative, he responded with relentless logic, "How, then, do you know you can't do it?" I was duly mortified. But it got worse. "You will preach next Tuesday to the youth group, and your subject is 'The church at Ephesus,' " he informed me with formidable authority. I must confess that although I had spent most of my life in and around churches, I was not aware that they had a church in Ephesus, but I suddenly became an ardent student of that particular corner of "God's vineyard" (an expression I had heard preachers use). My motivation was less than honorable, of course. My