What is PCPE?
Mission
The Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence at SMU was launched in 2013 with a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc. The Center’s Co-directors are the Rev. Dr. Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology and Dr. O. Wesley Allen, Jr., Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics. Its mission is to enhance transformative preaching in local congregations. In the past seven years the Center has accomplished its goals through varied initiatives: one-on-one mentoring, workshops, lectureships, publishing projects, and preaching peer groups.
Leadership
Dr. Alyce M. McKenzie, Director of PCPE, and Dr. O. Wesley Allen, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins, prolific author, compelling preacher, and Consultant to PCPE, are both sought after speakers who travel widely preaching in local churches and offering a variety of workshops on topics related, both to their published books and current research.
Initiatives
CPX: Certificate in Preaching Excellence
Each year we offer four webinars on different homiletical topics led by a variety of homileticians. These courses are open to anyone. But if someone is interested in acquiring a certificate, they can take four of these courses (across one or more years) and then have three individual coaching sessions with a homiletician (available only to those in the certificate program).
At the invitation of denominational judicatories, Dr. Allen offers daylong workshops teaching an approach to weekly sermon development targeted toward those who have not had the opportunity to receive a seminary education. The process is tailored toward identifying helpful online resources and a timetable that can be adapted for those who are bi-vocational.
“Preaching and…” Workshops and Publishing Project
Preaching and pairs an expert in the field of homiletics with a scholar from another field to bring fresh insights to the task of preaching. The results of their collaboration are presented in the form of in-person workshops and a book series published by Westminster John Knox.
Lively Lectionary
Each week Dr. John Holbert, a Perkins professor emeritus of homiletics, writes two lectionary reflections: one on the First Testament lesson and one on either the Epistle or Gospel reading from the New Testament.
Lively Lectionary