The Preacher & The Message

Doing the D.Min under Haddon was a time for me to glean wisdom from a great man.  I feel very fortunate that he invested in us, his life’s passion.
-- Rick McKinley, DMin 3rd residency March 2006.

The Purpose

In today's communication age, a preacher's message must compete with the vast flood of information from the mass media. Preaching continues to be a major way through which men and women come to faith in Jesus Christ and then develop as Christians. Effective preaching is imperative and must be both biblical and relevant. If a preacher's message is not grounded in the Scriptures, then it has nothing of significance to say. If it is not related to life, then it makes no difference to those who listen.

The Preacher and the Message

Doctor of Ministry track is designed to help preachers be faithful to both the biblical message and the men and women in the pew.

The Plan

Year One: The Preacher and the Message

During the first residency, you wrestle with what it means to produce and preach a "biblical sermon." Based on the best models of adult education, the class is taught inductively. You and the others in the seminar work through several different passages in different genres of Bible literature to discover how to find the idea and purpose of each text. Through this process you learn how the different literary forms of the Bible shape different types of sermons. In addition, during the second week of the residency you preach a sermon without notes based on one of the passages studied. The sermon you preach is video-recorded and evaluated by both the professor and others in the class.

Year Two: The Preacher and the Audience

Of course, we do not simply teach the Bible. We teach people the Bible. In this seminar, you give attention to the listener. You study communication theories and apply them to preaching the Scriptures to modern audiences. You learn how to analyze an audience and think about the congregation that you address each week. What are the signals from the media that preachers must hear? How do women in a congregation differ from men in the way they listen to sermons? How does an awareness of the listeners affect the forms sermons take? How do you use your imagination both in the study of the text and in the preaching of biblical sermons? Preaching should make a difference in people's lives; therefore, you give particular attention to application of the biblical text to life. As a result of this seminar, you preach a narrative sermon without the use of notes or pulpit in order to apply what you have learned.

Year Three: The Preacher and the Teaching of Preaching

Christian leaders must not only communicate God's truth themselves, but they are often called upon to teach others to communicate. Lay people enter into a more thorough study of the Scriptures when they have to teach others. Pastors in different fellowships seek help in preparing effective biblical sermons. Christian colleges and theological seminaries often look for teachers who can train their students to preach effectively. In this third residency, therefore, you study and develop ways to teach homiletics. You study basic theories of teaching and learning, and apply those theories to constructing a course in homiletics. You are involved in teaching some aspect of homiletics during and following the residency.

Requirements

As a student in the Doctor of Ministry program in preaching, you attend three two-week intensive residencies (seminars), one each year for three years. The residencies consist of lectures, case studies, participant reports and individual consultations. The class sessions are collegial in style and stress down-to-life learning within a community context. There is a strong mentoring component to the program. In preparation for each seminar, you read widely in books and periodicals, and this reading and research contributes to each residency. Following the first two seminars, you complete a project that relates what you have learned to your ministry. After the third seminar, you complete a major thesis-project focused on some aspect of preaching and ministry.

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