Tammy Melchien

Do you preach like a lone baseball pitcher on the mound or like an entire basketball team? I've spent most of my 25-year preaching career prepping my sermon almost entirely on my own—without help or coaching from anyone else. That's what Tammy Melchien and Dave Ferguson call the pitching ace approach to preaching: it's just one ace on the mound. But once again (see Part One of this two-part skills series), Dave and his colleague Tammy have challenged me to consider more of a basketball team approach to preaching—depending on a team of highly skilled players. As Dave and Tammy put it, "We are better teaching pastors because of our process and because we are better together than any one of us could be on our own."

Lee Eclov

"For such a time as this." Those famous words from the Book of Esther have, as Lee Eclov mentions, served as a kind of biblical code for, "If not you, who? If not now, when?" Eclov takes that key verse, gives us the context, and then stirs our imaginations with what could happen if God's people lived out that verse in every age and every situation. Eclov says, "Courage starts when you realize, 'I am uniquely positioned to help the helpless, to stop a terrible wrong, to stand in the way of a tyrant.' Courage grows when we see that we are positioned to be part of God's 'relief and deliverance' (4:14) for others." We love showcasing sermons (like this one) that will help preachers see how to construct a great sermon. So read it and learn.

Also, check out these new resources:

• Featured Illustration: 'Street Pastors' Serve Others on London's Streets
• Featured Video: Truth: In a world that tells us anything can be true and everyone's truth can be different, the Bible tells us that God is the Truth, and the Truth can never change.
• Featured Sermon: "The One the King Delights to Honor" by Lee Eclov
• Featured Skills Article: "Developing a Big Idea Series and Sermon" by Tammy Melchien and Dave Ferguson

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

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