The Top Three Books on Preaching I Recommend

When I was in my early ministry days in a low-level role at a megachurch, I was preparing to give a ten-minute sermon to a group of twenty students. On a large staff with a deep bench of great communicators, my opportunities to preach, even in the youth group, were few and limited to smaller opportunities, like the one for which I was preparing.

One fellow staff member walked by my cubicle. He noticed my Bible was out, a Word doc open on my laptop, and several commentaries sprawled out on my desk. It was clear I was overcooking what I was working on. But that’s what you do when you’re young, hungry, and eager to prove yourself.

He asked what I was doing. I shared that I was going to give a sermon (more like a ten-minute devotional) to a large group of students (obviously exaggerating the group size).

Never one to miss an opportunity to mentor a young leader for sporadic three-minute increments, he told me about a framework for delivering a sermon. It was Andy Stanley’s Me-We-God-You-We outline. This outline starts with a relatable opening personal story (Me), connects with the shared struggle of the audience (We), goes to the Bible to learn what the Word of God has to teach us (God), moves to application points for the audience (You), with a compelling conclusion inviting people to imagine what it would look like it “we” truly lived this out (We).

I found this helpful and began writing.

This was my go-to preaching framework for years. These were my early years when preaching opportunities were few and far between. If there was any hope of gaining more preaching opportunities, I couldn’t afford to give a single stinker sermon to the youth group, the one time every six months I had a chance. There was no chance of exploring, experimenting, and finding my voice. I had to prove that I could do it to get my reps. Therefore, a consistent framework like Stanley’s was the tool in my preaching toolbox.

A Renewed Vision for Preaching

Ten years later, I find myself looking back on those days with an entanglement of gratitude and disappointment - gratitude for the early lessons and opportunities, and disappointment in the lack of intentional development of the craft of sermon preparation and delivery. The goal of the sermon in that context was the application points that people then apply to their lives. The focus of the preparation was on a clear sermon structure, with compelling and comedic stories that led to the main point and the application points.

Several years ago, with weekly preaching opportunities as a middle school pastor at another church, I decided to change up how I outlined and prepared my messages. I continue to tweak my method to this day, mostly with minor adjustments, to improve the craft.

We tend to look in hindsight on our past selves, wishing we knew then what we know now. We may wonder what it would look like if we had read then the books we’ve read now and were free to be ourselves, the very best version of ourselves, for the blessing of others.

Looking back, I wish I had read three books on preaching in order to shape my early preaching imagination. But that is not how this works. Nevertheless, here are my top three preaching book recommendations I would have given my “self” ten years ago, but now pass on to those who aspire to be teachers and communicators of the Scriptures.

Preaching: Communicating in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller

This book reignited a vision for preaching that centered Jesus, no matter what text I was preaching. I read this while I was a middle school pastor. Drawing from the insights gleaned from Keller, I did all that I could to ensure the students would hear the good news about Jesus in every sermon I delivered.

Learning from a Legend: What Gardner C. Taylor Can Teach Us About Preaching by Jared E. Alcántara

Drawing from the great African-American preacher, Gardner C. Taylor, Alcántara provides in this book a short biography of Taylor interspersed with profound preaching maxims. For a taste of some of the insights gleaned from this book, click here.

Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today by John Stott

I just finished this one last week. It had been sitting in one of my Amazon wish lists for a year. But after a fellow pastor friend recommended it, I finally ordered it. John Stott’s writing, per usual, is thorough, clear, and charged with conviction (with the occasional moment of characteristically unassuming British humor). Stott’s book has sharpened my sermon preparation and infused greater confidence in the delivery of my past three sermons.

What preaching books have you come across that you would pass along to aspiring preachers? Please share in the comments!