Daniel L. Akin

I don’t often pick up biographies, but that is something I’m trying to include in my reading diet more. When I saw this one coming up, I was immediately interested. What could be better than bite-sized biographies about women I’ve never heard about before? I love missionary stories, so this sounded like it would be right down my alley…and it was. Oh, was it ever good!

This is the kind of book I love to slow down and savor. I enjoyed the way these ladies’ stories were told—mostly in facts, but with enough description and nuances (and letters! I loved those parts of the stories!) that it brought them to life for me. Their love for God is palpable in these pages, and I found their stories both encouraging and deeply challenging. Some of them faced unimaginably tough times, and the way they kept their faith in God despite their difficulties inspired me.

I also enjoyed the devotional aspect of this book. While the transition from biography to devotional felt a little stilted at times, it did work fairly well, and I appreciated the Biblical truths brought out in this book. It was done in a faith-building way, without dragging down the stories as a whole.

This book quickly became a favorite of mine, and I hope I’ll be able to get a physical copy one day. I’ve also thought of several friends who would likely appreciate getting to read it—it’s a gem! Highly recommended.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book, and this is my honest opinion of it.… (altro)

It may not be proper book summary etiquette, but I was beyond thrilled to find Text-Driven Preaching listed in the syllabus. It had been on my “Amazon Wish-List” for a while, but now I had an excuse to buy of which my wife would approve! Dr. Daniel Akin is one of my favorite authors, as well as the president of a stellar seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Dr. David Allen has become one of my favorite professors, and it has always been a privilege to hear him preach the Word. He is one of the professors of preaching here at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and it is a privilege to know him. I was not immediately familiar with Ned Mathews, but when I finally got the book and opened it up, I was blown away by what I found. It was a collection of essays from some of the greatest expositors of the Word! From Shaddix to York to Vines, it is a veritable “who’s who” of expositors and I just knew it would be an extremely helpful read. Long story short, I was right.

Book Synopsis
Text-Driven Preaching is a timely response to the sickness of anemia Dr. Allen diagnoses in the American Church. This book is made up of essays written by some of the greatest practitioners of expository preaching from across the country and is a clarion call for pastors to remain or become faithful in preaching true expository sermons, straight from the text, reclaiming our pulpits. The writing is fresh, timely, and has a sense of urgency in tone. Each contributor writes from their area of expertise, offering the Biblical alternative to the “pop psychology” flowing from many pulpits across the land.

Broken up into three sections, Text-Driven Preaching covers expository preaching from just about any direction imaginable; historical, preparation, delivery, genre considerations, and so forth, between sections on the preacher, on preparation, and on preaching. The authors continue to drive home that a text-driven sermon is “a sermon that develops a text by explaining, illustrating, and applying its meaning,” which Allen writes in the introduction, by exhorting us to stay glued to the text from our preparation to our preaching, allowing the text to be in the driver’s seat of our sermons.

It provides the reader with just about every topic imaginable, moving from the historical aspects of expository preaching to the practical aspect of tying it all together in the pulpit. Each part contains three to four chapters (written as essays) by eleven different preachers, each with their own style and from their own background. One of the editors, Ned Mathews, ends the book with a powerful question and answer, “In our day, much has been made of the need for churches to be purpose driven. But the term “purpose driven” is elastic in the application. Whose purpose is to drive our churches?” His answer? “The kind and scope of text-driven preaching that is described in this book.”

Personal Interaction
If I could describe the flow of the four essays in the first section on “The Preacher and Text-Driven Preaching,” it would be we find the secrets and disciplines of expository preaching by learning from the history of it, moving from what we learn from Aristotle’s Art of Rhetoric into how we follow that line into the task of preaching. Which, as Dr. Patterson writes on page 35, “to be used of God must be borne along on the zephyr winds of the Holy Spirit.” I found this helpful. For no matter how we prepare or how well we preach unless the Spirit moves in and through us, we would be wasting our time. Therefore, as I read through the history of the section on preparation, I was continually reminded of the importance of the Spirit’s work, from beginning to end. I even wrote in the margin of page 57 on Bill Bennett’s chapter on the “Secret of Preaching with Power,” “Do I genuinely seek the Spirit’s power in my preaching?” I confess that this chapter was the most convicting of the book as I sometimes take His work for granted.

I found the second section on “Preparation and Text-Driven Preaching” to almost be information overload, but nevertheless practical. Dr. Allen’s “12 Steps in Preparing a Text-Driven Sermon” on pages 119-120. It’s long but has worked almost as a checklist for me in my preparation to make sure I’m following the path I should for the text. Vogel’s essay on genres was also helpful as I continue my craft as a preacher. I didn’t take a lot of time on the genre before but now find its importance homiletically. Genre clearly matters and needs to be considered for there to be faithful exposition and variety in our preaching, as he concludes (191).

Finally, the third second on the actual preaching of our sermons tied the essays together at the pulpit. I tend to get leery with writing on communication styles or delivery, because of the propensity to act or become someone we are not. It was nevertheless clear and ended on an even stronger note with Dr. Akin’s chapter on the application. To apply the Word faithfully, Akin says “we must know the Scriptures and the culture, the world of the Bible and the world in which we find ourselves.”

Conclusion
To conclude, Text-Driven Preaching will be a helpful resource for me now and into the future because it is practical, timely, and clear. Each author brings his own expertise to the table and delivers a powerful defense of and an example for true, faithful, and beneficial expository preaching. I commend it highly and am always encouraged when a book is convicting and motivating to continue to improve, develop, and expand my call to preach the Word.… (altro)