Book Review: ONE YEAR TO BETTER PREACHING

One Year to Better Preaching: Fifty-two Exercises to Hone Your Skills

© 2013 by Daniel Overdorf, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 49501.

 

Who does not want to improve their preaching? Daniel Overdorf has delivered a helpful book on doing just that. I am amazed when talking to Pastors how many once they leave Bible College or Seminary do very little to expand their preaching ability. I spent time over the years reading a number of books on preaching. However, many of them lack practical suggestions on how to improve by exercises one could do. This is the value of this book. It gives you a year’s worth of practical exercises to help you improve your presentation, sharpen your skills, and to become a better preacher.

He addresses eight categories that one should try in improve and gives practical exercises to do so. This includes: Prayer and Preaching; Bible Interpretation; Understanding listeners;  Sermon Construction; Illustration and Application; Word Crafting; The Preaching Event; Sermon Evaluation.

Of the 52 suggestions, they are not coming out of simply an academic exercise, but each has been tried in real life churches by real life preachers. Each section has testimonials at the end by Pastors who have tried the exercise and how it worked for them. This is not to say that every suggestion will work for a certain preacher, but it does indicate these exercises are worth a try. It does not mean that one should try a different exercise every week. I would expect a preacher to be subjective and try exercise over a month or so, evaluate if it was worthwhile, and then go on to another. However, you decide to do it, and even if a specific exercise does not work for you, over time this book will help you improve your skills. Much in this book is not new or unknown, but it does stimulate to look at the skills in a practical way in order to improve them. I wish this book came out 40 years ago when I was first starting out as a preacher. Even if you are doing what is in this book, it will make you think about what you are doing and how you are doing it. I saw some things in these exercises that I already did, but never gave them much thought. It did make me think about those things. Preacher, get this book!  Use it. You will be better in preaching of the Word. 

[Thanks to Kregel Publishing for providing a free copy of this book for my honest review.]