5 Sites for Not so Desperate Preachers
There are lots of sites for desperate preachers around. Places where people have uploaded all their sermons for others to replay somewhere else. I’m not sure of the benefit or justification for such desperate action by a preacher, though I do admit to having used the words of others in my own teaching and have often turned to such sites when the panic sets in on Saturday evening. But there are some awful sermons online, and I don’t intend to, nor want to add to them.
However, there are a few sites that I use almost every week in my quest for inspiration and understanding of the bible. Sites that provide great resources for preachers and worship leaders, that help you get to grips with the texts and leave room for, and actually encourage, regular offline inspiration. In this post I’m going to share five sites that I visit regularly.
The List…
Some of these sites are lectionary based, but that doesn’t mean that if you have some hang up about preaching the lectionary you should bypass them. Most sites have scripture reference indexes, so whatever the text, you’ll find something here.
1. TextWeek.com
TextWeek.com is simply indispensable. It is a huge collection of lectionary and scripture related resources. Just look what is available of for Luke 9:26-36 as an example. Content ranges from links to the text itself, through detailed contemporary and historical commentary, to the odd sermon (well not so odd actually), full liturgies and worship resources. The movie database provides a concordance of movie clips. The Art Index catalogues ancient and modern art masterpieces related to the bible reference or subject. And because you can’t leave home without it, there is PDA version that means you can take this week and next week’s resources with you!
2. LectionaryStudies.com
Rev. Bryan Findlayson’s bible study notes are like an online commentary on the lectionary. The Lectionary Bible studies are all based on the the NIV. Bryan in each study provides a fairly detailed exegesis on the passage, describing context and content. There are discussion starters and some detailed notes on Greek etc. Here’s his take on Luke 9:26-36. The layout of the studies is also pretty pleasing to the eye and easy to read.
3. ATLAS Serials
ATLAS gives online access to a collection of some of the best theology journals. You can read articles published in many of the leading journals from as early as 1924 to the present. I wish I’d discovered this at college! It does cost $99 for an annual subscription (less than most journals) but if you go through the link on textweek.com you can try it free for 30 days.
4. Preacher’s Magazine
Published by the Nazarene Publishing House, Preacher’s Magazine is distributed three times a year, with content that relates to the three seasons of the Church calendar: Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, and Pentecost. Each edition features different aspects of the pastoral task of preaching.
5. Reverend Fun
Now we’d be very boring people if there was not some humour thrown in somewhere. On this site you’ll find an endless supply of cartoons.
(Copyright Gospel Communications International, Inc - www.reverendfun.com)
There you have it. 5 great sites for preachers that are not desperate for anything but wanting to understand and communicate the message of the bible today.
Tim,
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the intersection between open source and sermon writing. I wrote a post recently on a blog for which I serve as an editor about collaborative sermons, and the response was pretty positive.
So I’ve been looking for a website, a program, a platform—something upon which to build a community where pastors can go to create sermons collaboratively, inviting either fellow pastors, staff members, congregations, or even the world in general, to be part of the process.
I haven’t had much success on the technological side of things, though. I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the subject, and any suggestions or recommendations you might have.
Your link seemed to be broken so I think I’ve found it on google.
Seems like an interesting discussion, which perhaps calls into question what we mean by the sermon anyway. I’ll leave coments on the concept of collaborative sermons to that post. But your question over technology isn’t easy to answer but probably begins life with the good old blog. Brian Bailey’s book doesn’t really touch on this subject, but some of his reasoning might suggest the good old plain simple blog is sufficient.
Thanks Tim, you did indeed find it. (I forgot the closing ” mark on the hyperlink–looks like you fixed it, though).
I think presbymergent.org is actually a pretty good attempt at an “open” blog, in that we have the wordpress option set to allow anyone who registers to submit posts, and publish pending editorial review. I guess we could take it a step further and nix the editorial review, but we’re not quite there yet.
I agree that Wordpress is a great conversational tool. My hesitation with using it as a platform is that as far as I know, it doesn’t allow authors to set varying permission levels for each post, and it doesn’t keep track of revisions by different authors, a la Google Docs, or wiki software. But that said, I haven’t really given it full consideration, and with the right plugins, it might be worth a shot.
Thanks for the advice, and I’ll definitely be checking out the Bailey book. I like the new Phi Theme, too, btw!