“Preaching and…“ Workshop Series, The Great Plains Conference, UMC

by Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence on Wednesday, August 2, 2023

“Preaching and…“ Workshop Series 

The Preacher’s Toolkit: A Continuing Education Initiative of the Great Plains Conference, UMC presents the "Preaching and…" Series,

co-sponsored with the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence at SMU

Part One: Thursday mornings, October 12 and November 9, 2023 ---  9:15am - noon

Topic: Lessons from Advertising for the Pulpit

Based on the book Preaching and the Thirty Second Commercial: Lessons from Advertising for the Pulpit by O. Wesley Allen, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Homiletics at Perkins School of Theology and Carrie La Ferle, Professor of Ethics and Culture at the Temerlin Advertising Institute, Southern Methodist University.  

Workshop Leader: Dr. O. Wesley Allen

Advertisers aim to “persuade us to invite their product into our life stories.” Sounds a little like preaching! While much advertising conveys different messages from the Christian faith, the best advertising, define as “brand initiated communication intent on impacting people,” offers preachers’ approaches and techniques that can be helpful in our pulpit communication. In our first session Dr. Allen will introduce us to key concepts of the book. In our second session, after participants have read the book, we will workshop its strategies for an upcoming sermon(s). 

Part Two: 2 Thursday mornings in spring, 2024  (dates to be decided)

Topic: Holy Humor: Unleashing the Power of Humor in the Pulpit!

Based on the book Humor Us! Preaching and the Power of the Comic Spirit, by Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, Perkins School of Theology  and Owen Hanley Lynch , Professor of Communication and Public Affairs at SMU whose research deals with humor’s function in the classroom and workplace. 

Humor has gotten a bad rap in preaching, often misused as an opening joke unrelated to the rest of the sermon, or discouraged altogether. This workshop will help preachers understand how humor works and demonstrate specific ways to put it to work in our sermons, both to challenge and to bring hope.  

In our first session, Professors McKenzie and Lynch will introduce humor as a divine quality, part of the image of God in which we were created, a gift we can discern in life and the Bible. They will offer insights into types of humor and uses of humor in the pulpit.

In our second session, after participants have read the book, we will practice  finding humor in life around us and biblical texts and incorporating it into our sermons. 

Workshop leaders: Alyce M. McKenzie, Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship, Perkins School of Theology  and Owen Hanley Lynch , Professor of Communication and Public Affairs at SMU