Episode 24: Bishop Jenny Andison
Jenny Andison is the former area bishop of York-Credit Valley in the Diocese of Toronto and became Rector of St. Paul’s Bloor Street in 2021. Bishop Jenny was born in England and has lived in Pakistan, India, Singapore and Japan. She earned an Hons. BA from Queen’s University in 1994 and received her Master of Divinity from the University of Toronto (Wycliffe College) in 1997. In 2017, Wycliffe College honored the bishop with a Doctor of Divinity.
In our conversation, we discussed her sermon de-brief sessions, preaching with a new campus starting, and how important prayer is in preaching.
Episode 23: Dan Wunderlich
Dan Wunderlich is the Pastor at Lakeside United Methodist Church in Sanford, FL. In our conversation, we talk about his ritual of going to Starbucks before preaching on Sunday mornings, how he starts Advent earlier than the lectionary, how the practice of Improv has shaped his preaching, and the use of questions during the sermon.
It was a great conversation with some incredible insights. If you want to watch him preach his sermon about “Finding Faith in the Deep Water” you can find it here.
Episode 22: Karoline Lewis
Karoline Lewis the Marbury E. Anderson Chair in Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN, where she has taught since 2007. In our conversation, we talk about listening to the Bible outloud, the performative nature of preaching, and the power/shadowside of images.
Karoline is the author of a number of books which you can find here. She is also the Program Director for the Festival of Homiletics where you can find more information here.
Episode 21: Jason Byassee
Jason Byassee is the Senior Minister at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church. Before that, he was the Butler Chair and Full Professor of Homeletics and Biblical Hermeneutics at the Vancover School of Theology. We talk about feedback vs. feedforward, the first laugh, and the eruption of the real.
Jason is the author of many books, has his webiste here, and you can watch his sermon about Nadab and Abihu titled “Strange Fire” here.
Episode 20: James Howell
James Howell is the Senior Pastor at Myers Park UMC in Charlotte. In our conversation. we talk about shedding love vs. making observations, preaching as a docent, and how important trust is when you are preaching.
James is the author of the book The Beauty of the Word: The Challenge and Wonder of Preaching and hosts a podcast titled “Maybe I’m Amazed”.
Episode 19: John Shughart
John Shughart is the pastor of Lena Vista UMC in Auburndale, Fl. In our conversation, we talk about how important it is to know where you are the history of a placer when you preach, preaching as “conceiving, bearing, and naming”, and how to preach on passages that have been preached so many times.
Season 1 Recap
We have had a lot of conversation with many preachers last year, but now some of the best clips are put together for you to learn and enjoy. Season 2 with new preachers will be coming out son.,
Episode 18: Olu Brown
Olu Brown is the Lead Pastor at Impact Church in Atlanta, Georgia. In our conversation, we talk about preaching in the midst of transitioning out of a church as a pastor, what Sunday Rehearsals look like at Impact Church, how to pivot in preaching when things in the greater community happen, and how preaching happens everywhere.
His newest book, Normalizing Next, can be found here.
Episode 17: Mike Conner
Mike Conner is the Senior Pastor at First United Methodist Church of Pocatello, in Pocatello, Idaho. In this conversation, we talk about different Theological Worlds,” how Mike sits in the same text for multiple weeks at a time, how important funeral sermons are to him, and the best critique of all time “My God is not a pigeon.”
Episode 16: Adam Mustoe
Adam Mustoe is the Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church Kearney. Adam talks about how he carves out his week so he can complete his sermon by Wednesday, how he sees successful preaching as good ole’ “homecookin’”, and his 3 facet of good public communication.
Episode 15: Bishop Will Willimon
Bishop Will Willimon was the bishop of the North Alabama Conference, Dean of Duke Chapel, and author of multiple books. In our conversation, Bishop Willimon talked about the appropriate length of sermons, how he speaks truth in love and humor, how the Scripture passage read shapes the style of the sermon, and the “mic drop” ending.
Episode 14: Jim Harnish
Jim Harnish is a retired United Methodist Pastor and author. In our conversation, Jim shares about his first time preaching, how he reinvents sermons like Tom Brady did with his football career, how curiosity has helped him stay fresh, and why he writes a full manuscript every single time he preaches.
Episode 13: Bishop Ken Carter
Bishop Ken Carter is the Bishop of the Florida Conference and of the Western North Carolina Conference. In our conversation, we talk about preaching in different size churches, the mantra “trust your material”, and the voice of preaching.
Episode 12: Meghan Killingsworth
Meghan Kilingsworth is a Co-Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Sanford, Florida. Meghan shares about how she polls her community before she preaches, listening to the Bible read outloud, and how preaching is a two-way relationship.
Episode 11: Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson
Bishop Sue-Haupert Johnson is the Bishop of the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. In our conversation, Bishop Sue talks about how she preaches as a Bishop, the feelings and instincts she has a preacher in the moment of preaching, and how her own self-awareness shapes her preaching.
Episode 10: Charley Reeb
Charley Reeb is the Senior Pastor at John’s Creek United Methodist Church near Atlanta, GA. Charley shares about how preachers need to preach about their conviction, his experiment with preaching the Lectionary, and how he rehearse sermons and story telling.
Episode 9: Matt Miofsky
Matt Miofsky is the Lead Pastor at The Gathering Church in St. Louis Missouri. Matt shares about his teams process of creating sermon series is similar to the TV show shark tank. He also shares with us about how he gets feedback on the sermon before he actually preaches it on Sunday. Finally he shares that the two books that have recently been impactful for him is a commentary on Revelation and a book about James Baldwin.
Special Christmas Eve Edition- Magrey deVega: “The Hook, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Naps”
Magrey deVega is the Senior Pastor at Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Fl. Magrey shares all about his Christmas Eve sermon for 2021. We talk about how he looks for the one interesting “hook” when he is preparing a sermon, how he sets up his Word document to help remind him of Johann Sebastian Bach, and how important naps are for preaching.
Episode 8: Rob Tucker
Rob Tucker is the pastor at Watkins United Methodist Church in Louisville, KY. Rob talked about preaching on his series titled “Christmas Playlist” and he is preaching on Psalm 98 related to the song “Joy to the World.” We talked about the history of the song “Joy to the World”, preaching and worship as “story”, the importance of transitions, what comedians can teach preachers, and his process of word dumping.
Episode 7: Rob Bledsoe
Rob Bledsoe is the pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church in Bradenton, Fl. He is preaching this week the first sermon of the Advent Season. Rob shares about his process of preparing a manuscript, how it different preaching as a new pastor to a congregation, and how he is learning to move sermons from the head to the heart.