1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA

On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 91ÁÔÆæ
People often assume that preachers who read widely are on the prowl for illustrations. These people are right. Preachers are hunter-gatherers, searching not only the world's literary masterworks but also contemporary fiction, journalism, and biography. But preachers are not merely in search of useful stories. Reading deepens the preacher's knowledge of human cries of the heart. In fact, the preacher's reading deepens preaching because it deepens the preacher. In this workshop, Neal Plantinga and Hulitt Gloer discussed their highly successful "Imaginative Reading for Creative Preaching" seminar, which the two have co-led the last five years as a multi-week summer program. This workshop will help participants begin to explore the possibilities and homiletical impact of engaging in an ongoing, vigorous program of reading for preaching.
The last few minutes of corporate worship are critical because they frame the entire purpose of worship and its connection to our lives in the world.
Explore how Christians in the earliest centuries of Christianity engaged topics related to wealth and poverty in their preaching, public prayers, offerings, celebrations of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the shaping of buildings and spaces for Christian worship.
How did early Christians understand their illness and pain in their Greco-Roman context?
The last few minutes of corporate worship are critical because they frame the entire purpose of worship and its connection to our lives in the world.
Explore how Christians in the earliest centuries of Christianity engaged topics related to wealth and poverty in their preaching, public prayers, offerings, celebrations of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the shaping of buildings and spaces for Christian worship.
How did early Christians understand their illness and pain in their Greco-Roman context?
Pastors of three Hispanic churches will share what they learned from experiences implementing congregational projects related to the development of new understandings and practices of worship and preaching.
