Pastors, alumni, and students gather for annual preaching workshop

Over 40 pastors, alumni, and students gathered together on Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s campus on October 2 for the annual preaching workshop. Meeting in the Riley Center, those in attendance heard from five speakers on how to preach through the book of 1 Samuel.

“We are always delighted to have you on Southwestern’s campus, and we are very happy to have you here today,” said David S. Dockery, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “I couldn’t be happier to have Dr. McKellar and Dr. Osborne leading our preaching workshop. We’re blessed to have them, and you’re blessed to have been a part of the workshop.”

During the workshop, each speaker covered five-to-six chapters of 1 Samuel and walked the gathering through how they would handle the text. Matthew McKellar, professor of preaching and George W. Truett Chair of Ministry at Southwestern Seminary, led the workshop and provided insight into the decision to choose 1 Samuel.

“When we do these one-day preaching conferences, we typically alternate between an Old Testament book and a New Testament book each year,” McKellar said. “We did Ephesians last year, so we decided on 1 Samuel because it is rich in what we call Old Testament narrative, Old Testament stories.”

McKellar was the first speaker at the workshop as he worked through chapters 1-6. As McKellar’s goal for the workshop was to “provide 10 different outlines for sermons through 1 Samuel,” he worked through the section of Scripture he was assigned before providing a basic preaching outline.

He emphasized that Southwestern Seminary teaches text-driven preaching as a form of expository preaching. “The substance of the text governs the substance of the sermon, and the structure of the text governs the structure of the sermon,” McKellar said.

McKellar divided the passage into six distinct sections that they could use for sermons with a desire for practical application for those in attendance.

Following McKellar, Chris Osborne, professor of preaching and pastoral ministry and James T. Draper Chair of Pastoral Ministry at Southwestern Seminary, worked through 1 Samuel 7-12.

Osborne provided pastoral insight to the chapters he was given as he emphasized preaching without notes. He provided the attendees with an overview of the chapters he covered as well as eight sermon ideas that they could use.

Osborne offered a breakdown of each chapter he covered and then provided an encouragement and exhortation to the pastors in attendance at the workshop.

“I understand how hard pastoring is; I understand how hard it is in every way,” said Osborne, who for more than 30 years pastored Central Baptist Church in Bryan, Texas. “The one thing God will not tolerate is you quitting. He will tolerate you getting fired, but quitting is a statement that you don’t trust Him.”

Osborne concluded, “Your whole ministry, in your family, to your wife, and to your children, is really what you believe about a God who has already shown you what He can do.”

Deron Biles, pastor of Sunnyvale First Baptist Church in Sunnyvale, Texas, presented on chapters 13-19 of 1 Samuel, and he provided detailed notes for the workshop. He emphasized that what is on the inside of a person is what matters, not what is on the outside.

Biles handled the famous text of David and Goliath and provided notes on how to preach the passage in a text-honoring way. Like the speakers before him, Biles wanted to show how to work through Scripture to find the best way to present it that still honors the nature of the text.

Stephen Rummage, pastor of Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, spoke on 1 Samuel 20-25, which he titled, “David the fugitive: Trusting God under pressure.”

Rummage said that preachers may be tempted to just combine several of the chapters together, but that would not show the different areas in David’s life in these moments that are both commendable and reprehensible. He provided seven different sermons to consider when working through the book of 1 Samuel. He also encouraged not excusing David’s actions just because he was king, but instead focus on how God can use even those who act against the way He designed for believers to live.

To conclude the preaching workshop, Joshua Williams, associate professor of Old Testament and director of research doctoral studies at Southwestern Seminary, offered an overview and exegesis of 1 Samuel 26-31.

Williams took a slightly different approach to presenting his chapters as he provided the historical and hermeneutical background of the book as a whole to show the importance of handling Old Testament narrative well.

He walked through how the narrative of the text did not follow direct sequences of history, but was constructed in a way to tell the story of what happened and how it happened. His desire was for the preachers, teachers, and students in the workshop to have an accurate understanding of how to present historical narrative, specifically, from 1 Samuel 26-31.

The workshop was designed not only for preachers, but for anyone handling God’s Word and teaching on a regular basis. Several of the people in attendance for the workshop were students. Stephen Ammons, a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern Seminary and pastor of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Rockdale, Texas, has attended several preaching workshops in the past and is encouraged every time.

“I have found that when I come to these, it has strengthened my ministry,” Ammons said. “Southwestern has always been the school I wanted to go to, so attending the preaching workshops were ways for me to attend and learn from professors until God opened the door for me to come and be a student.”

The next preaching workshop will cover 2 Corinthians and will be held on October 7, 2024.