Ever wonder what a faithful pastor looks like? I certainly did when I began serving as a pastor. After studying the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 TImothy and Titus), I came up with a simple sketch to picture a faithful pastor.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Praise and Prayer Update (October 31, 2025)
Here's an update on the Reeds recent travels and a few specific prayer requests for the coming week.
Home Run Sermon Introductions
Hitting a home run in a world series game is the desire of every baseball player (just ask Addison Barger). Hitting a home run in our sermon introductions should be the desire of every preacher. So how can we do that?
Getting Free from Your Sermon Manuscript (Part 3 of 3)
How do you keep your manuscript from become a manacle? How do you break free from your carefully prepared manuscript so the sermon is preached rather than read? That's the focus of this final installment in the mini-series on Sermon Manuscripts.
How to Write Your Sermon Manuscript (Part 2 of 3)
In my last post, I offered seven reasons why manuscripting your message makes for better sermons. In this post, I want to offer some suggestions on How to Write Your Sermon Manuscript. After studying the passage to discover the Big Idea and craft a sermon outline, how should a preacher approach writing the manuscript? Here are seven practices I’ve found helpful in writing a sermon manuscript.
Why Sermon Manuscripts Make Better Sermons (Part 1)
After preaching for almost 40 years, I still write a manuscript for every sermon. I get the fact that not everyone is sold on writing out a manuscript for their messages. So let me offer seven reasons why manuscripting is worth the time and effort.
Preachers: Here’s a one-hour change that will improve your sermons (and lower your stress)
A number of years ago, I took a preaching course with Haddon Robinson. One of the most helpful things he taught us was a way to take some pressure off sermon preparation and wind up with a better sermon. The…
Read More Preachers: Here’s a one-hour change that will improve your sermons (and lower your stress)
Right-sizing Your Ministry Expectations
What are your expectations in ministry? Would you say they are high or low? Optimistic, realistic, or even pessimistic? How can we right-size our expectations? That's the focus of this post.
Stan Fowler: Scholar, Servant, Singer.
One week ago, on Tuesday, August 26th, Dr. Stan Fowler, long-time theology professor at Heritage Theological Seminary, graduated from earth to heaven. I had the privilege of working with Stan during my years at Heritage. Stan was a “scholar in…
Summer Tuesdays with Ezra (Chapter 10)
Ezra 10 Chapter 10 continues the narrative, picking up what happened as Ezra prays a prayer of deep contrition and confession. As he was “weeping and casting himself down before the house of God”, a great assembly of Jews—men, women,…
Rick and Linda Reed 