See the title above? Right now you are asking, “What in the world?”

Alliteration is a horrible outlining tool. The reason is that pigeon holing your outline into 4 Ps or 3 Qs usually makes one or two of the points less clear than if you did not try to alliterate the outline.

I found an article on Sermon Central by editor Brian Mavis about the foibles of sermon alliteration. It is a great explanation for what is wrong with alliterative sermon outlines.

Here is Pulpit Housecalls #003 – Effective Use of Quotations.

In this show, first I apologize for not posting a podcast in so long. Listen to find out why.

Second, I discuss using quotes in your sermons. I give an example of how I helped make one a little more interesting than just saying, so-and-so said … I also give some guidelines for using quotes and some ideas for making them more interesting.

Third, my recommendation for this week is a great side called MediaLink.com which offers free video downloads on subjects like missions and evangelism. It is supported by the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board and the North American Mission Board..

Finally, I put out a plea to go and post in my forum. I am trying to get this forum going and one post from each reader/listener in each forum will help make them much more useful for all of us.

My web site has a slightly new look. I have simplified things by getting rid of the opening page. I am also using my blog as the main page. I think this is much easier to navigate and use. If you want to find any of the links, go to the side bar and scroll down to see links to other parts of my page.

My third Pulpit Housecalls Podcast will be posted very soon. I will be covering the use of quotations; making them come alive. We will also look at some guidelines for using them and not using them. Be looking for it soon.

Dr. Wayne McDill was my preaching professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He wrote a book entitled The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching that I think is a nice tool for helping beginning preachers learn the basics. He also wrote a paper entitled Preparing Bible Messages which you can download from the seminary’s Ministry Resources page. The direct link to the PDF file is here. Just right click the link and choose “save as” and you can download it.

In it he begins with dicussing the call to preach, the value of preaching from God’s word, and then gets into the actual steps. It is a very simple process that beginning preachers can easily understand.

This is Pulpit Housecalls Podcast #002 “The Big Idea”

Pulpit Housecalls Podcast #002

In this podcast I discuss an article by Ken Davis on introducing tension into a sermon in order to keep the attention of your hearers. I also discuss the Big Idea. The links mentioned are below:

The Ken Davis Article

The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching by Keith Wilhite and Scott Gibson.

This week’s recommendation: PreachingToday.com.

Post in our forums.

We spend our whole lives trying to avoid tension. Being a pastor is a tension filled job. But when we preach, tension is our friend.

To discover what I’m talking about, listen to my podcast and read an article by Ken Davis at Preaching Today.

Want to put your blog on Technorati, the Google for Blogs? I did and am now posting this little code to prove my owndership of this blog.

Technorati Profile

Pulpit Housecalls dated October 3rd, 2005 #001

Download the Podcast here or by subscribing in iTunes.
Pulpit Housecalls Podcast #001

This episodes notes:

We look into the subject of introducing tension into a sermon’s introduction. This helps to raise the interest level of your hearers. If you want to hear the full sermon, then go to our my church’s web site and look for “Long Creek News and Such” and you can download it there.

To read the text you can download a PDF file of it here: Sermon for Pulpit Housecalls Podcast #001

I mentioned in this episode Preaching Magazine a journal for preachers. It has a great article on “Why men hate going to church: An interview with David Murrow.”

If you would like to ask a question, make a comment or suggestion, or just give me some feedback on the first episode of the podcast, send me an email: Pulpit Housecalls.

Finally, I also mentioned that I write a monthly column for Christian Computing Magazine, entitled “Higher Power with Kevin” dealing with hardware issues. Check it out.

Here is the full MP3 of my sermon from September 11 entitled “Where Was God?” on Psalm 46. I also deal with this sermon’s introduction in my first Pulpit Housecalls Podcast.

Donwload the sermon at:

UPDATE: This sermon is no longer available online. If you would like to hear or read it, send me an email and request it.