On Preaching: Practical Advice for Effective Preaching by H.B. Charles, JrMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A very solid book on the nuts and bolts of preparing to preach and preaching. There were several themes that stuck out. First, he emphasized prayer throughout the book, which was an encouragement to me. We are to be men of prayer and you can tell for him prayer is not on the edges, but at the center. Second, he focused on clarity. Be clear he said over and over again. This emphasis on clarity shows he is interested in feeding the sheep instead of impressing the sheep. Third, I liked his idea of writing out a sermon manuscript, but taking nothing into the pulpit except his Bible. I have never done that, but I will try it in the future. Finally, he has several chapters that other books on preaching don't, such as how to be a guest preacher, avoiding indecent illustrations, how to prepare a sermon calendar, and how to be an associate minister.
There were a few drawbacks. He does not spend very much time on the body of the sermon. He probably felt this was covered in more in-depth books on preaching. At times, he is a cliched. He also repeats himself a bit, though my guess is that this comes from many of the chapters originally being blog posts.
For a young preacher like myself this book was helpful in keeping the target, faithfully handling and preaching God's Word, in my sights.
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