For some strange reason, books on preaching either tend to emphasize study, work, and preparation or the Holy Spirit. Very few books find the balance between the indwelling Spirit and the necessary work that accompanies the act of preaching the Word. Greg Heisler has done just that in his book, Spirit-Led Preaching.
Realizing the great need that exists for the presence of the Spirit in the Twenty-First Century pulpit, Heisler writes:
As much as preachign today needs the authority of God’s Word, it also needs the power of the Holy Spirit…We have failed to connect the discipline of homiletics with the doctrine of pneumatology, and as a result we find ourseles “surprised by the Spirit” when he does move. Spirit-Led Preaching seeks to establish a positive theology of the SPirit’s role in preaching by building upon the theological fusion of Word and Spirit.
Heisler rightly and effectively demonstrates that the Spirit-inspired Word cannot be separated from the Spirit if it is to be properly proclaimed. Preaching expositionally pre-supposes the work of the Spirit, but to ignore the Spirit in preparation is to dishonor the God who has given the word. Heisler rejects both the, “I don’t need to study; I just need the Spirit” approach, and the “I don’t need to pray; I just need to study hard” approach and adopts a method that appreciates the hard work of exegesis and the even harder work of Spirit-inspired prayer.
One of Heisler’s greatest contributions is his concept of preaching as a Trialogue:
Preaching as trialogue means the presentation of the message becomes a three-way conversation between the preacher, the audience, and the Holy Spirit.
The author goes on to demonstrate that powerful preaching is a dynamic interation of the three entities with the preacher preaching, the Spirit giving testimony, and the audience responding to the message.
This is a great book that should be read by pastors who desire to make their preaching more than an academic exercise. Spirit-Led Preaching was the winner of the 2007 Preachingtoday.org Book of the Year, and I can see why. I would gladly encourage it.
Im from England ,i love a good old sing ,the few times a year ive been in church each year ,pucker up for a spiritual sing ,the village organist spoils the whole procedings with her duff notes then assembly sing all doom and gloom,i come out the place feeling more depressed.the lyrics are cool and im not knocking any religion or culture but its boring. in this horrible world currently, shouldnt we be attracting more people to our holy places and not turning them away?