Welcome to WorkingPreacher.org:

The web’s newest, most helpful, and downright coolest resource for preachers.

Okay, so I realize that calling our site the “most helpful” and “downright coolest” resource for preachers may sound like a big claim. But I actually think it’s true. And, to be frank, if it does sound like we’re biting off a lot to chew on this small part of the web, I think that’s okay. Because our ambitions for this site run high. Really high.

In short, we’re out to inspire better preaching! We’re getting at that by offering timely, compelling, and trustworthy content for today’s working preachers. Further, we’re doing all this for free, as a ministry of the Center for Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary. That’s right – all these resources are free, given away to inspire more faithful and creative proclamation of the Word!

To acquaint you more fully with this site, I’ll break up this introduction into three brief sections:

What We Are

In a sense, our name tells our story – we’re out to support, nurture, and inspire preachers working at the craft of creating compelling, faithful, and creative biblical sermons. So, you’ll find exegetical material geared to the weekly lectionary and to other biblical material; resources and insight regarding the craft of preaching; viewpoints and commentary on our contemporary culture; and a host of opportunities for life-long learning. And it make this as widely available as possible, we’re offering it all free – no user fees, no subscriptions, nothing – we’re not even hosting those annoying ads or pop-ups.

What you won’t find is someone else’s sermons, sermon outlines, or illustrations. Our task is to make you a better preacher, and that’s not going to happen by asking you to pretend someone else’s stuff is your own. You also won’t find stuff that’s a had a long life in print repackaged for the web – almost everything here has been designed for the web, and those few things that seem to deserve a second hearing in cyber space are all re-edited to fit this medium. (Oh, and did I mention it’s all free?)

Who We Are

We are a group of Christians committed to supporting better preaching. We include biblical scholars, theologians, homileticians, and pastors dedicated to the craft of authentic biblical preaching. What is “authentic biblical preaching,” you ask: it’s the task of preaching in such a way that God’s Word in Scripture comes alive so as to speak to the real live situations and issues of the real live people who listen to our sermons. Some of the voices on these pages you’ll recognize immediately, while others you’ll soon appreciate – all of them, we believe, have something to say worth your time and attention.

I should also say, perhaps, a bit about who we aspire to be. Currently, we’re mostly seminary teachers and pastors who hail from the traditions associated with the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. As we move forward, we are dedicated to attracting more and more voices that represent other strands of the Christian tradition both in the North American context and throughout the world – recognizing, for instance, the important role of African- and Latin-American traditions in the preaching in this land, and the way theologies of historically marginalized people are influencing preaching around the globe. Eventually, we expect to be a fully ecumenical, diverse, and international group united by the Reformation conviction that God uses good biblical preaching to change lives.

What’s Coming

Since our launch in Advent 2007, we’ve been adding audio and video resources that we hope have been helpful.  We’ve heard ‘Wow’s and ‘Thank You’s over the Brainwave podcasts and Preaching Moment videos.  Soon, we’ll be increasingly interactive, inviting your questions on preaching, insights into the craft we share, and opinions on various issues of the day. Over time, we hope to build a cyber-community of folks committed to better biblical preaching. As we move forward, we’ll also be looking for your feedback on how to improve this site, as we firmly believe that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well. And so I’d invite your help, both by telling others about this site and by telling us what you think of what you’ve found here. Thanks! I really appreciate your time and, even more, your commitment to the proclaimed Word!

David Lose
Marbury E. Anderson Biblical Preaching Chair, and
Biblical Preaching Doctor of Ministry program lead,
Luther Seminary