2016 Syllabus
Interpreting Scripture Through Preaching INSTRUCTOR: HOWARD
L. WHITE
Purpose: To teach beginning preachers an effective process for preparing
sermons and tools for delivering them, and to lay the groundwork for further study
and growth.
Required Books:
Long, Thomas G., The Witness of Preaching: Second Edition. Louisville, KY:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
Stanley, Andy and Jones, Lane, Communicating For a Change: Seven Keys to
Irresistible Communication. Random House, 2006. ebook is fine.
Grading:
Grades will be Pass or Fail.
Passing will require completing the assigned work, class participation, and
preaching a sermon which meets the school requirements.
Contact Information:
Dr. Howard White
1212 W Calhoun St Macomb, IL 61455-1226
309-833-2153
howardleewhite@gmail.com
Assignments:
Write and preach a sermon for faculty and student evaluators early in the second
week of school. Guidelines for your in-class sermon will be discussed on the first
day of class. You are also expected to serve as an evaluator for one of your peers.
Written Assigments due: Thursday, July 14, 2016
Send your work by email as an attachment. I suggest PDF or WORD. Even if you
first do the worksheet by hand, please type your answers before sending them. I
don't care about underlines on the final document. Contact me if you have any
questions and especially if you think you'll have trouble finishing on time.
The two books for this course compliment one another. Preaching for a Change is
a fast read, and will give an overview of the whole preaching process with an
emphasis on some things that make preaching more effective. Read the whole
book. The Seven Imperatives make up the chapters in part 2. The Witness of
Preaching gets down into the details of each stage of preparing a sermon. I
encourage you to read the entire book, but if you're short on time, focus on
chapters 3 – 6.
Assignment One
Name, summerize in your own words, and respond to each of the
“Seven Imperatives” found in Preaching for a Change. (“This blew
my mind, because...” “I couldn't do this for these reasons...” “This
doesn't seem practical in my setting, because...” etc.) You don't have to
give them equal treatment. In fact, you may want to find one or two
that you have stronger feelings about and spend more time there. Your
assignment should be no less than 3 double-spaced pages and no more
than 8.
Assignment Two
Complete the “License School Preaching Worksheet.”
The purpose of this assignment is to walk you through a process of Bible study
designed to prepare you for writing a sermon. You will find this process in
Chapters 3 and 4 of the The Witness of Preaching. Please use one of the
following scriptures:
Luke 10: 25 – 37
Luke 10: 38-42
Amos 7:7-17
Amos 8:1-12
Colossians 1:1-14
Colossians 1: 15-28
Assignment Three
Using the same scripture as in Assignment Two:
1) Create an outline for a possible sermon that would accomplish the Focus
and Function. You may want to use Andy Stanley's “Me-We-God-You-We”
form. Or use one of the many possible sermon forms found in chapters 5
and 6 of The Witness of Preaching. Give me a pretty good idea what you
would say and how you would say it.
2) On a separate page(s), write out an Introduction and a Conclusion for this
sermon.
[tip: This sermon you are working on in your homework is not the same sermon
you will preach at school. Since you are doing all this work, I suggest you go
ahead and finish this sermon and use it. The scriptures happen to be assigned on
July 10 and 17 in the Revised Common Lectionary this year. You should come out
of school with at least one more sermon ready to use, and ideas for several others.]