Thanks for the prayers! What an incredible two weeks I had in Charlotte during my Doctoral Residency. The two weeks flew by! God is doing great things in many of my resident mates' lives. It was awesome to be back with my classmates that I have not seen for a year, and also have new classmates joining our Doctoral journey.
During the two weeks, we got to know and learn from Dr. Scott Gibson, who is one of the foremost authorities on preaching today. He taught us the Big Idea Biblical Preaching, which teaches us that: 1. There is a “Big Idea” in every Bible passage and 2. We are to preach that “Big Idea” clearly. One of the first things I read as I prepared for the residency was that preaching should be transformational. Every Sunday we preach, we are preaching transformation. We ALL should be transforming into more passionate disciples of Jesus Christ and becoming more like Christ.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17
I don’t think it would be too far to stretch Paul’s thoughts to say that scripture is for preaching also. And most importantly, scripture is used for transforming lives as well as training us to become more passionate disciples of Jesus Christ.
During the class, each of us in the cohort had to study a passage, find the “Big Idea,” find the subject and complement, find the complete exegetical idea, find the homiletical idea, make a complete outline, and then preach the sermon without notes! It was an incredible experience! I’m hoping my preaching will change and improve greatly!
I hope you will take note of my preaching over the next few weeks, months, and years. I’m hoping we all will be able to see many differences and changes. Hopefully, everyone will be able to grow and know that transformation is the goal. I’m praying that we together can be transformed and learn to walk with HIM as a Body of Christ.