The Big Idea of Biblical Preaching: Connecting the Bible to People Paperback – February 1, 2003

This book has had a HUGE impact on both the way I approach sermon preparation as well as the delivery and communication of the message. It is a very dense book with a LOT of insightful information that is worth reading many times over.I read this along side of Andy Stanley's Communicating for a Change. I felr they were greatly complimentary to each other, and I highly recommend both!

This is a tribute to Haddon Robinson so each essay speaks to a somewhat different contribution Robinson made to homiletics. It's a helpful read.

The product was shipped in a reasonable time and was in great shape upon arrival. The product was as described and I'm loving the content. Thank you for a great product.

Very practical and a wonderful tribute to Haddon Robinson. Many preachers would benefit from reading Robinson's book and then this book as a follow up

The content of this read was impactful for me at this stage of my ministry in that I have had a number of years to reflect upon as a practitioner in the pulpit. Much, if not most of this time has been a learning experience of understanding what NOT to do. Although exposed to the concept of "Big Idea" preaching in my seminary training, it was delivered along with mixed messages about giving equal priority to exegesis from the language department. For this reason, from an educational standpoint, the theme was neutralized in my actual ministry (preaching) experience. More than ever, having experienced the challenge of communicating from the pulpit, the concept of Big Idea communication is of greater interest. Oftentimes, or at least in my case, the seminary experience produces students who are carefully trained to plunge into the cryptic or hidden truths in the passage through in depth language study and analysis. Unfortunately, these habitual practices work in the opposite direction in that the Big Picture is abandoned for the microscopic. The expositor quickly becomes lost in the forest for all the many trees that he has discovered along the way. This is not to say that the necessary exegetical spade-work should be abandoned. However, it is important to carefully determine what is considered necessary to communicating the text effectively, in confidence. I believe this to be the central message of this text - what is the primary truth or principal to be gained by the listener.Overall, Stowell's piece had the greatest impact in my overall estimation in his insistence that we "preach for change" in the life of the listener. He takes the profession of preacher from merely an entertainer to a physician of the soul who sees his task as life-change and eternal impact. The idea of restating the central theme to a contemporary context and then the careful alignment of this with specific needs of the audience seems rudimentary, but frequently overlooked. It is my belief that culture is becoming increasingly less attentive which will call for greater strides in this area of constructing a clear message that simulates a precise rifle-shot, rather than a random spray of shotgun pellets. The life-long learning process continues for many of us as we seek to become more effective in this manner.

This is new book and it arrived on time.

Talking about preaching with a friend a few years ago he kept on saying, Haddon Robinson, make sure you read Haddon Robinson. The book 'Biblical Preaching' arrived, and every word was worth reading. In this collection of essays in his honour there are is some good material: not every word is worth reading. There are two essays though that caught me and I wanted to read carefully. One was by Terry Mattingly on understanding our advertising film saturated culture. His thesis about the need to read the signals coming out from the TV and cinema and then deal with them in preaching was worth a whole book. He started off with what happened when he mentioned the film Thelma and Louise in a seminary class - a lot of fun. The other great essay was by Paul Borden on how to get the main exegetical idea from the stories of the Bible and then how to turn this into a sermon. He goes into lots of useful details about the process, which could be used in a class. Pity there wasn't space for him to give a concrete example. I liked Bruce Waltke's analysis of Proverbs showing how there is a central idea and effectively reminding us all not to get too bogged down in source and form criticism. And the other essays, they're fine....but not much new.

Great expansion of the concept - good material

This book is one of the best guides for expository preaching and sermon planning. It helps simplify but keep subject focus of specific Scripture. By a unique step by step process, the listener to a sermon is left with a concrete three pount understanding of contemporay application of the Sermon text.