Go Preach!: A Primer for Beginning Preachers

This book is an excellent "beginners" guide to preparing a worship service, paying particular attention on the message or sermon. The author begins by examining a little history and theology of preaching and what preaching really should be like, which is not necessarily what you hear on Sunday mornings anymore unfortunately. In fact, Gilbert devotes a chapter to the (correct) idea of the sermon as a proclamation of the Good News, not just story time as is so often the case today. Gilbert dedicates a chapter each to the initial preparation of the sermon, knowing about the congregation you are to preach to, and a more in depth look at sermon preparation as well as the use of the lectionary. The author also has several chapters of topics such as: grammar, humor, practicing the sermon, and evaluating your preaching. Gilbert gives information about the actual delivery of the sermon and what to do afterward, such as, silent prayer or an alter call. Finally, the author closes with ways of getting ideas for new sermons and a chapter on special occasion preaching, such as, funerals, weddings, baptisms, and so on. At the end of the book the author lists several other helpful books for a preacher to have in his collection. Overall, this was an excellent book for the beginning preacher. I didn't agree with everything the author had to say though. For example, Gilbert writes "Do not wear white socks" (page 89). I wear white socks all the time and do not believe it detracts from the message at all! Gilbert did get the main point of preaching across and that is to proclaim the Word of God! "Preaching is first and always the proclamation of God's Word" (page 12). I would recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their preaching skills.

I found Go Preach to be an excellent book for beginner level preaching. I am becoming a Certified Lay Speaker and it was extremely helpful for me in planning and preparing for sermons and also for preparing to visit churches and other locations where you have not been before.

This book is part of the curriculum for the United Methodist Lay Speaking course on Preaching. It gives good, solid, basic information that would help anyone who is called in to preach in a church. Obviously, as with all books, some parts of the book are better than others. The fashion advice is perhaps not the only viewpoint one would consider, but on the whole, this is a valuable resource if one finds oneself in the situation of being asked to fill a pulpit now and again. If you are taking a United Methodist Lay Speaking course on preaching, this book should be supplied to you upon registration, so buying it independently would be unnecessary.