Notable Voices (October 4, 2012)

The Five Steps to Preparing Sermons -- Tony Merida

Based on the content from his book Faithful Preaching (B&H, 2009), Tony shares this one-page PDF summary of the five steps he uses to prepare a sermon. It's a useful tool for even the most seasoned preacher.

When You Preach A Lousy Sermon -- Justin Buzzard

Justin recounts a recent service in which he felt his preaching fell flat. However, it served as a reminder that God doesn’t need a good sermon to do His work.

What Makes a Book Proposal Catch a Publisher’s Eye? -- Barnabas Piper

As president of a publishing company, I'm frequently asked for publishing tips. I have even shared some of those tips here on the site. In this post, Barnabas sums up his perspective quite nicely: If you want to get noticed as an author, you must prove you can write.

10 Lessons Churches Should Learn from the Apple Store -- David Lose

Innovation in both retail and technology has been vital to the success of Apple over the past decade. David uses a recent article about this from Guy Kawasaki and shares how Apple's success and innovation can be translated over to and implemented in the church.

The Strengths and Weaknesses of Working from Home -- Trevin Wax

Trevin takes my post from earlier this week on working from home and examines both the merits and disadvantages of this growing trend. The primary disadvantage he lists is an important one. Innovation and mentoring would greatly suffer in companies with no centralized workforce.

The Top 5 Dangers that Disqualify a Church Leader -- Ron Edmondson

Almost weekly I hear of a minister or leader who has fallen either ethically or morally. It happens much too often. Ron provides five dangers to avoid to keep this from happening in your own ministry.