Last week I made a video showing an illustration that Michael Todd recently did at Transformation Church. The video was met with feedback from some who loved it and others who didn't like it at all. In this video, I want to examine the question of what makes a sermon illustration effective and engaging and what makes it merely a distraction.

Ron Edmondson joins me for episode fourteen of the Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares his experience of leading with vision, creating culture and the importance of words when preaching or casting vision.

Michael Todd, Lead Pastor of Transformation Church in Tulsa, OK, gave a sermon last Sunday in which he illustrated a point in a super creative, memorable way. In this video, I'll show you what he did and draw out some principles and lessons we can learn from it as pastors who want to capture and maintain the attention of our listeners when we preach.

In this episode we'll dive into four more questions to consider before you get up to speak. These are insanely practical and will help ensure a distraction free delivery of your sermon.

The President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), JD Greear, is also the Lead Pastor at the Summit Church in Durham, NC. They have launched an inquiry into the past actions of one of their pastors, Bryan Loritts.

Matt McClure joins me for episode twelve of The Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares his perspective as a youth pastor on how to relate and speak to teenagers and the changing metrics for success in student ministry in light of the pandemic.

Sometimes a direct approach to application is needed, but in other cases an invitational approach might be more effective.

Josh Duncan joins me on episode eleven of The Preaching Donkey Podcast to discuss his church planting journey as well as his experience with revitalizing a church. He shares about the hardships and struggles of ministry and how to love your family through tough times in ministry. We also dive into the importance of using tension in sermons and intentionally NOT resolving the tension.

These are the most important questions every speaker should ask before delivering any message.

Brandon Cox, pastor of Grace Hills Church in Arkansas, joins me for episode ten of the Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares about the importance of communicating with the whole person, planning ahead and working with your team!