by Eddie Bragwell One of the encouraging things that I see among my brethren is the number of young men who are expressing a desire to make preaching the gospel their life’s work. Along with that the number of local churches that are willing to financially and morally support an aspiring young preacher as he…

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by Whit Sasser The following are some of the ways an individual can find those who are disposed of heart to become Christians; with the hope that once they hear the gospel, they will obey it, to the saving of their souls. Some of the ways require much money; some are practically cost-free. Some involve…

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Question: Hello Minister, I’ve recently been dealing with a lot of internal conflict concerning God’s individual will for my life. I’ve been in deep thought as to whether I should give up all the things that I enjoy, as well as my current life at home with my parents, in order to serve Christ and…

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by Ethan R. Longhenry For good reason, people prove skeptical about salespeople in general. We know they get paid to sell us things, and many of them will make a lot of promises, apply a lot of pressure, and engage in all kinds of manipulative practices to get us to sign on the dotted line.…

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Question: Good day, Must one go to school to become an evangelist? I ask because these guys coming from schools taught you just have to listen to them and that their take on the Scripture is final. I spoke on Ephesians 1:5 at a study that it doesn’t teach about personal elections as in Calvinism,…

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by Edward O. Bragwell via Biblical Insights, Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2013 The trend toward developing a “professional clergy” among churches of Christ has been in the making for some time now. More and more, both churches and preachers, have come to view gospel preachers as professionals much like the professions of this world. Churches…

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by Doug Dingley I recently read on a church leadership lectureship flyer that the church is losing approximately 600 preachers per year while replacing only about 300 over that same time span. Although those numbers initially seemed staggering to me (especially when you factor in that in all likelihood, a sizeable percentage of those 300…

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Question: Good morning Mr. Hamilton, Could you give me some examples of what to say as an “invitation” when I’m done with a sermon? Thank you, sir. Answer: An “invitation” at the close of a sermon is a tradition and not a requirement. Not that it is a bad tradition, but we must understand that…

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by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 4:6-16   I.         It is hard to come up with ideas to write about constantly. We speak of “writer’s block.”             A.        A preacher typically gives about 100 lessons per year plus teaches classes.             B.        But finding and selecting topics can be hard, even if all you need is an idea for…

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