Dale

How'd you like to use creative but simple illustrations that connect your big idea with your people? That's the genius behind this week's featured interview with Dale Hummel, senior pastor of Wooddale Church in Minneapolis. Dale has an uncanny knack of using simple, low-tech stuff—a bag of garlic, Alka Seltzer, a chocolate cake, a fishing boat, and even an old-school chalkboard with stick figures—to help make biblical truth stick. But for Dale it always begins with the biblical text, not your creativity. This week's interview—"Taking Your Illustrations to the Next Level"—has some practical ideas about why and how to illustrate your text.

This week we also wrap-up our nine-part sermon series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Check out these excellent models of expository preaching from an under-preached book—2 Thessalonians: "Justice and Judgment," "The Power of Spiritual Deception," and "True Relationships."

This week to help you in your preaching efforts we offer the following:

• Featured Sermon: Justice and Judgment by Jim Nite (part of our 9-part series on 1 and 2 Thessalonians)
• Featured Illustration: Lack of Rest Causes Spike in Athlete Injuries
• Featured Video: A Four-Fold Blessing: A beautiful prayer that challenges our definition of a "blessing."

In Christ,

Matt Woodley
Editor, PreachingToday.com
mwoodley@christianitytoday.com

P.S. Watch for next week's sermon by Ajith Fernando from our new "Global Preaching Voices" series.

P.P.S. We'd love to hear your story about how our ministry has mattered to you. Share your story with PreachingToday and Christianity Today!

Matt Woodley is the pastor of compassion ministries at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.