Who are your favorite preachers? When I was in college, I loved to hear a Baptist preacher from Lansing, MI, named Howard Sugden. In seminary the red-letter days in chapel for me were when John Stott showed up at TEDS to preach.
We attend Willow Creek and we regularly are treated to well-known preachers and speakers, and I'll avoid talking about which ones I like the most, but I will say that our whole family misses John Ortberg.
But, preaching fascinates because most of my life has been punctuated by both preaching and by listening to preaching. Over time one arrives at conclusions at what makes good preaching and what makes bad preaching. (BTW, I don't consider myself a preacher; I'm a teacher with preaching tossed in.)
All of this to say that, due to the support of the Revd Kurt Iver Johanson, some sermons of James S. Stewart are now available: Walking with God is the title of this book.
Stewart is a prince -- an articulate NT scholar, he was a professor who found a way to preach nearly every Sunday in Scotland.
His sermons, and I read through a bundle of them, are articulate, practicable, wise, and an excellent model for those of us who need a model of a classical form of preaching. Never informal; always sound of judgment and serious in focus.
I recommend that casual, young preachers buy this volume, read it, and learn from this wonderful preacher. What most of us need is not so much a new book about preaching, but some great examples of preaching. This is one such book.
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Speaking of African-American preachers, Robert Smith of Beeson Divinity School is quite an expositor and has been featured on "Preaching Today" several times. Here is his sermon from Psalm 23 "precious moments" http://bdsmedia.com/audio/index.htm
The flavoring of John's question #10, my response #14 and Brian's comments #23 relate to the issue of the way of doing church and it is a tangential reference to preaching. Although John's initial comments created a reaction of sorts and even if the object of those verbs was Paul the reality is does preaching in the conventional manner the most effective way of spreading the Kingdom?
I hope this doesn't sound like a "man-crush," but I really enjoy Tim Keller's preaching (Redeemer Presbyterian in Manhattan). Now that I'm thinking about it, Gordon Cosby (Church of the Savior in Washington, D.C.) rivals Keller in my "favorite preacher" category. They're two of the best at communicating the essence of the gospel, though in two distinctly different ways.
One of the best collections of recorded sermons I've ever heard is A Knock at Midnight, featuring the preaching of Martin Luther King, Jr. One of my favorite sermons from this series is Paul's Letter to American Christians.
Rob Bell hands down. He is the best interpreter and communicator of the new move of God in the church in America. Counter-cultural, revolutionary and un-ashamedly subversive.
www.mhbcmi.org
Greg Boyd is also phenominial
Both of these guys take on the tough issues and call into question dominant assumptions of our culture.
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