Power in the Punch Line - LeadershipJournal.net

Andy Stanley's article on preaching is great advice for teaching, too. Given that tonight is college bible study, this reminder may just morph tonight's lesson. He has two points:

Make one point and go deep--don't simply try to fill up 35 minutes.
Know your one point--give the listeners a take home statement, not a thesis statement.

Gosh, I guess he made just one point...

POWERPOINT SERMONS

Brad has some good points on proper use of PowerPoint. I especially like his comments about putting scripture on the screen.

I know many people find it helpful, but I find it distracting most of the time--especially when there are lots of fill-ins.

Evangelical Theological Society: Pinnock-Sanders vote results

Given that Pinnock and Sanders were both retained by ETS (Pinnock by 34%, Sanders by less than 5%) I think there will be a couple heavy books on the January reading list:

The Openness of God by Clark Pinnock

The God Who Risks by John Sanders

To balance it off, though, I will probably read something like Holes by Louis Sachar

I had a discussion with a friend the other day about my countercultural belief concerning prayer before meals--I don't really do them, at least not the traditional "bless this food to our bodies" prayers. I prefer to be thankful for the food while I'm eating it, savoring the flavor and aroma and reminding myself and God how great it is that he made things like coffee and green beans and chicken. My friend was concerned, especially in reference to the modeliing value of prayers before meals. Any thoughts?