What’s your preaching story?
We want to hear from preachers serving in congregational settings about what preaching is like for you these days. We’re looking for first-person, true stories and reflections about the preaching life.
Some examples of what we’re looking for:
- Tell us about a time when you were really stumped by text but the Holy Spirit showed up anyway.
- Tell us about a conversation with a parishioner that was inspired by a sermon you preached.
- Tell us something funny/scary/heart-warming that happened during one of your sermons.
- Tell us how you fell in love with preaching. Or tell us why you fell out of love with preaching.
- Tell us a lesson you learned through a sermon that didn’t go the way you planned.
- Tell us how your preaching has changed over the years.
Some things to consider:
- If you are telling stories about parishioners, colleagues, or family members, be sure you have their permission to share.
- Slightly irreverent is fine; mean-spirited or disrespectful is not.
- Don’t be the hero of your story. In other words, we don’t want to hear about the best sermon you ever preached. We want to hear how God showed up and how the good news was proclaimed.
- Pieces should be original work, not published elsewhere. Brief quotations from other sources are fine with proper attribution.
Submissions should be 400-600 words, in first-person if written, or 3-4 minutes if shared by video or audio.
Please include:
A photo of you: a headshot or a ministry-in-action pic is fine.
A photo of or from the place you preach most regularly, or the place where you work on your sermons (for example: stand in the pulpit and give us a glimpse into what you see, or show us your workspace or favorite coffee shop table).
A brief biography.
Your social media handles, if you’d like to share.
Submissions in languages other than English are welcome.
Some submissions may be published on the Disciples website and/or in the For the Messengers newsletter for preachers. By submitting your writing, you give us permission to use your piece. Writers whose submissions are chosen for publication will receive a $75 honorarium.
Send to [email protected]. Written submissions should be submitted as a Word document. If you want to submit a video or audio file, write to us first and we’ll send a share link.
The deadline for this round of submissions is October 1, 2023.