Preachers' favoritism for the epistles—with brief forays into the gospels or Wisdom literature—is well known. It's unfortunate that such a disproportionate amount of pulpit time is given to some sections of Scripture while entire sections and genres of literature are glossed over.

There's a reason this happens, though. Many preachers feel under-equipped to tackle difficult or unfamiliar genres such as Old Testament narrative, poetry, or apocalyptic. But the forgotten genres of the Bible hold treasures of truth, imagination, and beauty. Preachingtoday.com's editor Matt Woodley talked with Pastor Bryan Carter about how pastors can preach skillfully on all the different genres of the Bible.

Matt Woodley, PreachingToday.com: Bryan, your church is hosting the 19th E.K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference in July. This year's theme is "Preaching 360"—preaching on the different genres of the Bible. Why is this topic important for preachers?

Pastor Bryan Carter: I think one of the issues that many preachers struggle with is the need for variety in their preaching. All of us have our own personal biases and preferences when we preach. We have a tendency to stay in a similar genre, or we're stronger in preaching certain types of genre. So the hope behind our conference is to help preachers learn to preach with great variety, and get a great appreciation for how God communicates his truth in different ways. It's a beautiful picture to be reading through Scripture and see how God changes the genre so that he can communicate to different people in different settings. For instance, one of the joys about the poetry and the wisdom literature of the Bible—specifically poetry—is that there's an emotional side of poetry that you don't get when you're reading a narrative text. So it's fascinating to discover that my preaching can have more color, it can reach more people, and it can be more dynamic when I'm using the full palette of Scripture that God has given me.

A genre is just a type or style of writing. So when we consider scripture, the 66 books of scripture, they are not all written in the same style, but God uses a variety of styles to communicate to us. So in the Old Testament, which will be our emphasis for this year, you have the following literary genres: historical narrative, the law, wisdom, poetry, prophecy, and apocalyptic.

Do you find that different genres speak to different life situations as well? For instance, does a psalm of lament speak to someone who is suffering?

Most definitely. As I read through the Bible, I notice shifts from one genre to the next. The genres are different. So if you're reading from 1 Kings and then you start Job, you notice the different styles of literature. You'll also notice that the genres highlight different emotional responses to our faith. By paying attention to the different genres you get a fuller meaning of the text, you get a fuller picture of God, and you get a fuller meaning of the principles of following Christ.

But all of this requires different preaching skills. Preaching a narrative passage takes a certain skill set. Preaching on prophecy requires different skills, and so forth.

Do you have one default genre that comes naturally to you? Are there any genres that are a stretch for you to preach?

Prophecy is usually a stretch for me. I will do it but it's something that I'm still in the process of learning. I'm preaching through Jeremiah for the first time, and I'm learning a lot as continue in this series. Personally, I feel more naturally inclined for the narratives and the epistles. I enjoy preaching those in the New Testament. Those genres are my mainstays.

But I have to add that preaching the different genres has helped me grow both in my walk with the Lord and in my preaching. First, it's helped me see God through different lenses. I see him work through the miracles in the gospels. I see him work in settings where we preachers pull the principles out as we move along. I love seeing God work through the poetic books. I have gained an appreciation for the hymns of scripture, too—whether they're in Philippians 2 or in the Psalms. I sense something differently when I see the writer in the midst of the writing. Poetic pieces just give you a different sense—they include a different level of emotion and connect with you in every way. There's a repetition that's there.

Secondly, preaching the different genres has helped stretch me as a preacher. I've adopted an Old Testament-New Testament-gospels kind of sequence. By balancing out the genres I preach on, I've entered into a new depth in my preaching. I typically try to preach through books or through themes, but it was hard to know if I had a good sequence. Preaching the genres has forced me to say, Okay, let me try this now part of Scripture, and now let me stretch myself even further by trying to preach on this unfamiliar part of Scripture. All of this forced preaching growth has helped me reach and serve my congregation better.

Many preachers undervalue the preaching potential of the Old Testament—except for familiar passages like Psalm 23 or Genesis 1. What do you think the church misses when we neglect huge portions of Scripture that might be unfamiliar or difficult to preach?

I totally agree that there has been a habit for our own personal preferences, leaning heavily toward the New Testament. As a result, I think our church is missing out and us preachers are failing to examine some of the gems of scripture. For example, by ignoring Old Testament prophecies about Christ, we fail to see how the Old Testament points us to Jesus Christ. One of my joys these days is to watch how a particular type or foreshadowing of Jesus, a prophecy of Jesus Christ perhaps, was worked out then, many years before he would even show up on the scene. It's fascinating.

We do ourselves a disservice by not giving the attention to the Old Testament that we need to. And sometimes we devalue it. We'd rather get to the gospels, or rush our way to the epistles. One of my good friends often links the two in his preaching. He will link an Old Testament story to the New Testament. There are a number of ways to do it, but I think we have to stretch ourselves to give the Old Testament its just due in our preaching.

Any other advice on how to give your people a balanced diet of genres? How can preachers make this a practical reality?

The "genre food groups," I love that. I think the precursor is the importance of planning your preaching. You need to think ahead—Okay, I'm going to do this for the fall, I'll use this season to deal with the Psalms, I'll use this month to do some narrative. For Christmas I might want to try this genre, or for Easter I'm going to prepare and try out this genre—maybe an Old Testament Messianic prophecy passage like Isaiah 53. You need to realize as you're planning to preach in the fall or spring that you have options. A lot of times as pastors and preachers we can get in our own niches or we just don't take the time to think through our year as well as we should.

One more thing—as we were studying this whole issue of genres, I was struck by the issue of Job being part of the wisdom literature. So as I began to study the book of Job in comparison to narrative, I became so engaged with it that I decided to preach Job for Christmas. I made it a Christmas series called, "When it Doesn't Feel like Christmas."

The reason I did this message around Christmas was an experience from the prior year. I was visiting with several members who shared about the Christmas blues—how they don't put up a tree, and have a difficult time during the holidays because of loneliness or the loss of a loved one. I didn't realize how many people were impacted by depression in the holidays. So we used the book of Job as a way to connect with people that are suffering, going through difficult times. My last message in the series was "Jesus in the book of Job." We began to talk about Jesus as the ultimate suffering servant—the gift that we all need for our suffering.

It was one of the best-received series I have done for Christmas. But I came up with that sermon series idea after paying attention to biblical genres. Then I began to think about how to pair different types of genres with the seasons and the issues in our churches and communities. It helps all of us see the Bible—and ourselves—in new ways.

Bryan Carter is the Senior Pastor at Concord Missionary Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas and the Vice President of E.K. Bailey Ministries.