Preaching Teams: Accountability & Excellence

This post is an excerpt from my e-book, Preaching Teams: Sharing the Load and Building the Kingdom Through Collaborative Proclamation. For a free download of this 40-page book that covers a philosophy and rationale for team preaching, as well as many practical tools and tips gleaned from my 20-plus years on preaching teams, please click here:

Accountability + Synergy = Excellence

 One of the reasons I enjoy being a teacher of preaching in a seminary is the privilege of seeing beginning preachers thrive.  In the space of a few months, we will see them progress from insecure and awkward to confident and competent.  This happens not because they heard some good lectures on preaching, but because the environment and process of the class is conducive to growth. 

We create space for students to share their ideas and get input from others as they prepare a sermon.  Then they preach the sermon in class and receive immediate feedback and suggestions for improvement from their classmates.  In the course of an academic year, we will repeat this process six times. Each cycle builds the momentum of each student’s progress.

The vulnerability of preaching to classmates who are evaluating every aspect of the sermon can be a bit intimidating at first.  But without exception, students will come to the end of the year wishing they could continue.  In no other course do we experience a greater level of camaraderie, growth, and enthusiasm in the pursuit of excellence.  Students who began the course with dread will come to the last day saying, “I’m going to miss this.”

My answer is, “You don’t have to miss it!”  If we work and preach in isolation, we may slowly grow as preachers over time.  But on a healthy preaching team, iron sharpens iron and each preacher grows exponentially.  The result is greater benefit for the people of God, and more effective preachers for the glory of God.