Book Review - Preaching that Speaks to Women

Preaching that Speaks to Women was written by Alice P. Mathews. The book got my attention because the introduction is written by Haddon Robinson. The book is not about women's role in the church. It is a rather good attempt to help preachers understand a group that represents more than half of any congregation.

Ms. Mathews first chapter deals with the myths of the differences between men and women. She acknowledges that there are biological differences and discusses how she sees our culture mitigating those differences in women. She ends up somewhere in the middle of the discussion of "nature vs. nurture." She tries quite hard to end up in the discussion where she admits the differences but doesn't want anyone to think she believes in a stereo-typical male or female mindset. I think that some other authors will do a better job of showing the biological differences between the two genders but Ms. Mathews does a good job of showing that the differences exist and how those differences need to be considered by the preacher.

She organizes her book around the biblical statement that we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Each of the statements refer to areas of importance to women.

chp.2 - love with our hearts: deals with ethical decisions.
chp.3 - love with our souls: deals with the psychology of women
chp.4-6 - love with our minds: deals with epistemology (I thought this was the best of the book. Her discussion on postmodernism is quite good. this is also the hardest section of the book because of the deep subject matter)
chp.7-8 - love with our strength: deals with women's abilities and gifts
chp.9 - how women feel marginalized
chp.10 - practical advice

Each chapter is organized by the following pattern:
1. Discusses the topic
2. How this topic applies to preaching
3. Summing up the chapter
4. Questions to Ponder

I really liked this book and heartedly recommend it to every preacher. The author did not have a theological agenda about male/female roles in the church. I think that any preacher from conservative to liberal will find a lot to chew on and digest. One thing to note, this is not an easy read. She doesn't use big words but she delves into concepts (postmodernism, epistemology, etc.) that require a good deal of thinking. Some may see her practical suggestions in chapter 10 as concession to feminism but I think if we dig a little deeper we will see that we speak to a different breed of people today and we need to alter our terminology without altering our doctrine. I think her suggestions will play well in any congregation.

One goal that I've made concerning my sermons is paying closer attention to my illustrations. In one of her chapters she recounts a speaking engagement where she opened using an illustration concerning her sewing machine. She jokingly said at the end that this illustration was payback for all the football illustrations used by male preachers. She got quite a laugh and response to that joke. I got the point real quick. I'm trying to limit but not avoid stories or jokes from the male realm of things. I hope that this focus will engage the ladies in my congregation more.

Strange Funeral

Since Trey told Lisa that he's done funerals for just about every kind of pet I thought maybe he could appreciate this story. Pat received it from a kindergarten teacher we know back in New Jersey.

As a young minister, I was asked by a funeral director to hold a
grave-side service for a homeless man, with no family or friends.
The funeral was to be held at a cemetery way back in the country,
and this man would be the first to be laid to rest there.

As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became lost; and
being a typical man did not
stop for directions. I finally arrived an hour late. I saw the
backhoe and the crew, who was eating lunch, but the hearse was
nowhere in sight. I apologized to the workers for my
tardiness, and stepped to the side of the open grave, where I saw
the vault lid already in place. I assured the workers I would not
hold them up for long, but this was t he proper thing to
do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I poured

out my heart and soul. As I preached the workers began to say
"Amen," "Praise the Lord," and "Glory"! I preached,
and I preached, like I'd never preached before: from Genesis all
the way to Revelations. I closed the lengthy service with a prayer
and walked to my car. As I was opening the door
and taking off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying to
another, "I ain't never seen anything like that before and I've
been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."

I thought this story was hilarious. I've got a couple of stories like this only not involving a funeral. Perhaps I'll share one of those soon. Enjoy.

Fees for Speaking

Have you ever wondered what some celebrities charge for speaking? Well here is a partial list. Interesting that no politicians are mentioned. Some I recognize and some I don't but these are for you to ponder.

Alan Thicke - $10,001-$20,000
D.L. Hughley - $10,001-$20,000.
Jerry Stiller - $10,001-$20,000
Star Jones - $20,001-$30,000
Carson Kressley - $20,001-$30,000.
Carson Daly - $30,001-$50,000
Diane Sawyer - $30,001-$50,000.
Suzanne Somers - $30,001-$50,000.
Anderson Cooper - $50,001-$100,000.
Jimmy Kimmel - $50,000-$100,000
Kelly Ripa - $50,001-$100,000.
Bill Cosby - $100,000 and up.
Martha Stewart - $100,000 and up.
Jon Stewart - $100,000 and up.
Donald Trump - $200,000 and up.


You can read a little more about each celebrity and their fee here.

Biblical Preaching

Here's an excellent article by William Willimon (definitely one of my favorite authors) that you should read. I personally think he's hit the nail on the head even though the article is 12 years old. I hope Don in particular reads it, considering his latest post which you can read here. I think you will find it enlightening. This article is found at Expository Thoughts. It is one of the blogs where I frequently find interesting ideas for sermons and sermon series.

Planning your sermons

During my first year of pulpit work (second year of full time ministry) we went on a foliage trip (October) with Pat's parents. Lisa was just 3 months old. We stopped every couple of hours so Pat could feed her. During one stop Lon and I got to talking (we were always talking Bible or some related topic) and the subject of planning one's sermons came up. Lon told me that the seminaries teach their students to spend a week during the summer planning their sermons for next year. I needed a plan badly because Monday morning was torture trying to figure out what to preach on Sunday. My plan was to preach sermon series. I started with biblical topics (worship, faith, salvation, evangelism, etc.) and wrote down titles of sermons that would help develop the big topic. I did the same thing with whole books of the Bible. I might choose a theme from a book and then develop that theme. Or I might just preach through the book verse by verse or paragraph by paragraph or section by section (depending on how big the book was). I might choose a section of a book that was just made for a sermon series (Sermon on the Mount, etc.). I found endless possibilities. That month I started my plan for the next year. I didn't have a clue as to the needs of my congregation. The congregation seemed to diverse to me to come up with a single set of needs. So I decided to preach a balanced set of sermons. Kind of like preparing a balanced meal for a family. I planned sermons from the OT, from the NT, from the Gospels, some expository, some topical, a book series, and I worked my plan. So beginning in 1980 to this present year, I have planned out my sermon titles and texts each year for the next year. Over the years, anytime the elders have suggested that the congregation needs a particular sermon, I have always interrupted whatever series I was on and fulfilled their request.

So what do you other preachers do in regards to planning your sermons? Do you do it by the year, by the quarter, by the month, or week to week? What plan do you use? Part of the reason I'm asking is because of a post Don just did (here). His discussion of how to preach to the entire congregation got me to thinking about how I plan my sermons. I recently found a book on planning your preaching that I haven't had a chance to read and digest. Maybe I will read it and do a review on it sometime soon. This is one area where I would really love to get some good ideas and input.

For those of you who don't preach, can you discern a plan or pattern in your preacher's sermons? Or have they shared with you what their plan is? Or maybe you've given this topic some thought and have some ideas of your own. Please share.