With the need for fresh material during the Christmas season, this is a great time for you to try out a valuable new feature on PreachingToday.com: the My Alerts feature. With My Alerts, you can create custom alerts and we'll notify you by e-mail when new content is published on your favorite topics or Scripture references, or by your favorite authors. You will automatically be notified whenever we add new illustrations, sermons, videos, or articles to our site on a subject that you're interested in, such as Christmas!—or conversion, or gospel, or any of the words on the PreachingToday.com topics list.

Here's how to give My Alerts a try. On the main menu, select "Find sermon illustrations," then "Browse topics." In the "All Topics" area in the upper left of the main white area on the page, select the letter "c" in the alphabet list beneath the selection field, then next to the word "Christmas" click on the icon of the folder with a plus sign. Select "create an alert" from the drop-down list. You're done!

In the Advent season, it is not unusual for unchurched people to find their way into a worship service, and for them the perfect Christmas sermon might be How Outsiders Become Insiders, by PreachingToday.com managing editor Matt Woodley, based on the remarkable inclusion of the Magi in the Christmas narrative.

What is your default way of preaching: as a teacher, a shepherd, or a prophet? Is your default style enough to keep your congregation healthy? Learn more in James MacDonald on Three Types of Preaching.

Be inspired for preaching during this Advent/Christmas season! From November 22nd through December 20th, we will feature a new sermon each week on Advent/Christmas themes. During that same period, you can also expect to see one or more new Christmas illustrations each week.

Preaching Christ,

Brian Larson
Editor, PreachingToday.com
blarson@christianitytoday.com

Craig Brian Larson is the pastor of Lake Shore Church in Chicago and author and editor of numerous books, including The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching (Zondervan). He blogs on Knowing God and His Ways at craigbrianlarson.com.