Preaching to a Post-Everything World: Crafting Biblical Sermons That Connect with Our Culture

by Zack Eswine, Bryan Chapell (Foreword)

Zack Eswine starts this unique pastoral resource with a captivating Could I now reach who I once was? Challenging the idea that today's preachers must do away with biblical or expository preaching if they are to reach non-Christian people, Eswine offers a way of preaching that embraces biblical exposition in missional terms. Recognizing all of the different cultural situations in which the gospel must be preached, he gives preachers practical advice on preaching in a global context while remaining faithful to the Bible.Pastors, seminarians, and church and ministry leaders who speak in various contexts will welcome this fresh, thoughtful examination of bringing the Word to today's multi-everything, post-everything world.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Leadership, Christianity, Nonfiction, Church

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2008

About the author

zack is an author, pastor and mentor seeking words for living humanly in Jesus.

Reviews

[Christian Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very important preaching book that applies to a multitude of areas in the Christian life. While Eswine is most concerned with helping preachers his ideas could easily be applied to help the non-clergy in their every day interactions with non-Christians.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have really mixed feelings about this book: certain chapters are almost indispensable reading for preachers, while others were dry and difficult to slog through. Additionally, the title is somewhat misleading, and the chapters were not organized well.

The notion of preaching to a "post-everything world," is very compelling to me, and I picked up this book in the hope that Zack Eswine would thoughtfully engage the realities of our postmodern climate, why preaching seems to be an art that is loving it's relevancy to young people today, and how to change that tide. There are moments that lean in this direction, but much of the book admittedly feels like a rote handbook for sermon prep, particularly the first third.

This is not to say that the book is worthless (I did give it 3 stars), as I do plan on keeping it on my shelf. Eswine includes extremely thoughtful chapters on how to talk about war in the bible (in an age that is terrified of terrorism), how to speak about hell, and how to prepare for preaching like a sage. These chapters were profoundly helpful, and made me wish the rest of the book was up to par with them.

This is generally a helpful book for those who are interested in the art of preaching to our culture, but I can only give a highly qualified recommendation. If you are intrigued by the premise, pick it up with the understanding that only certain sections are explicitly about our post-everything, skeptical culture.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Zack Eswine's "Preaching to a Post-Everything World," which was assigned for a preaching class at Regent College. It was the third book I had read specifically on preaching but some of my peers who had read books by Bryan Chapell, Haddon Robinson, and other books on preaching thought Eswine drew too much from other homiletics writers without providing fresh content. I think this is a fair critique but I think Eswine does an able job at synthesizing together these precursors. I especially appreciate Eswine's admonition to preach about those areas of the Bible we post/moderns tend to be squeamish about, such as the conquest of Canaan, the Book of Judges, and Hell. The one thing I will say is that this book has a lot of terminology in it and it might have been useful to include a glossary at the back. In many respects this reminded me of a math textbook from high school; Eswine offers solid explanations and suggestions for crafting a sermon but it's much better to do the work of writing a sermon alongside reading this book.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit verbose but also very helpful in parts, especially early on.

[Mark Loughridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and useful enough book on preaching - a thoughtful consideration of the impact of the world we live in on how we need to preach. Eswine considers how we are heard, and how we can be better heard.

One of his most useful points is his 3 models of preaching: a prophet, a priest and a sage, and to which contexts each is better suited: churches, in between, unchurched. I appreciated his concept of sage preaching - ie learning from Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes - as an approach to presenting truth in the 21st century.

Helpful too in terms of highlighting flaws and biases in preaching.

Absolutely packed with material - could perhaps have done with a more rigorous editing to whittle it down to the essentials. Perhaps a little over-done with frameworks and quirky titles - as one other reviewer notes "adding clutter to an otherwise simple framework".

Finishes with a vital emphasis on the need to look to the Holy Spirit to fill our preaching, and advice for the preacher's own devotional life.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains a great deal of material that is not only professionally challenging, but personally challenging as well. Really enjoyed it.

[Bradley Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found some helpful insights for preaching. Will likely come back to sections of this book for aid in the future. But Eswine’s style is a bit quirky and his terminology can be a touch distracting at times. These make its reading a bit more labored.

[Geoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book on preaching to a post-everything world begins by asking the question, "Could your preaching reach who you once were?" For some, that might be a challenging question. For me, having been raised in a Christian family, it isn't nearly as taxing as asking if my preaching is able to reach the unchurched in my neighbourhood. But I liked the premise - which is outward looking, mission-focussed. Eswine starts with Chappel's Christ-centred preaching model. But whereas Chappell seemed to be writing for a churched audience, Eswine consciously asks what the implications are of the various principles in a churched, non-churched and mixed context. He draws on Keller and others to assist with this.

I liked the second part of the book where he encouraged preachers to match their preaching to the preaching style of the text: priest, prophet or sage. He provided good rationale and practical example for modifying our approach to match how God speaks.

I really liked the third section where he discussed various tough topics for preachers to handle: the war passages, hell, idols, and the devil. His insights were practical and profound. I was especially pleased with his inclusion of a section on "unction" even though I felt that there was much more to be said here. His concluding comments and suggestions for being missional monastics or monastic missionaries matched my own mantra of being mystic activists.

Eswine writes with a real flair for creative expression and from having wrestled with these ideas in personal, pastoral ministry as well as in the classroom. This offering is well-worth reading for those who have covered the basics of preaching.

[Stuart Turton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was excellent and okay. At times it felt like I was reading a share trading chart, moving between 3-star and 5-star moments regularly. It had material that made me sit up, smile, rush for a pen and scribble things down in fear that such valuable information would suddenly vanish from the universe. At other times it had me irritated, yawning and confused by adding clutter to what was previously such a simple model. Added to that, Eswine waffles (as I've experienced in his other book Sensing Jesus) and is sometimes too clever in his style, which obscures meaning and feels forced.

[Tim Woody · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is pure gold, not that there weren't points of disagreement (for in areas of sage preaching for example) but even in these areas I found a lot to learn from. Eswine is humble, and understands that we should be thinking about preaching to the unchurched and finding that mutual human condition that we all share in.

[Michael Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful content, but the communication and organization frustrated me.

[JJ Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Eswine. He’s got a lot of really good insights, and I really appreciate everything that he brings to this topic. If I ever start preaching regularly, I’m going to have to pick this book up again and work through it really slowly and carefully

That being said, I think his style can border a little too heavily on the poetic. It’s probably my fault for not reading more slowly and carefully, but it can make it a bit difficult to track his flow of thought at times, and there are lots of times where what he’s trying to say could have been communicated just as easily with plain language. It’s probably more an issue of my preferences and laziness than any actual deficiency in the writing, but I did find myself skimming around a few times. But it doesn’t matter, because I still think that this is a super helpful book for preachers.

[Jonathan Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7 stars. There was a lot of this book that I really liked. Still trying to wrap my head around the roles the author says a preacher must embody, it will require more thought and pondering. But I really liked the last few chapters about how to preach tough texts and preach them in a way to reach our post-Christian world. Good stuff

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main idea of the book is to help you reach the person you used to be.
Good premise, though all the contents don't necessarily support the main idea. At times this books feels like a smorgasbord of everything on preaching that the Eswine COULD write about.
Way to long of a book. If you read it, skimming it works fine.

[Tim Fritson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always looking for books and resources to help me continue growing in my preaching. This was very insightful and practical as far as the task of preaching in our current world and cultural context. Will likely be regularly recommending it to others as I seek to integrate some its tips and suggestions into my preparation routines and weekly deliveries.

[Andrew Watkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no book written by Zack Eswine that hasn’t encouraged me, challenged me, and ministered to my own soul. This book is no exception. Obviously the book’s topic is preaching and it is very helpful in that sense, but most preaching books won’t feed your soul.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful and encouraging

As a pastor living in Japan, this book was more helpful than I anticipated and thinking through my context and my interactions in the world as I prepare sermons.

[Nathaniel Madonna · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my new favorite books on preaching. Full of wisdom and insights that any preacher would be helped by. I found myself connecting with Eswine's writing style. An insightful read for American preachers in particular.

[Smooth Via · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.
I found a few good takeaways, but mostly just... Meh.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a difficult read, but a necessary one.

Helpful in formulating what to say and how to say it.

[Jeremy Schmucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! He quotes Bryan Chappel a lot, so it would be beneficial to familiarize yourself with Christ-Centered Preaching before reading this book.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a 4, were it not for the abysmal book production. A rough paperback-cheap binding, cheaper font screen printing.

Good insights throughout, a lot to glean.

[David Jamison · Rating 3 out of 5]

First half was great, second half so much, but still helpful content such as the chapter on recognizing idols in churched and unchurched cultures.

[Joseph Henry Kester · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5

Lots of very practical and challenging wisdom, but it was sometimes distractingly idiosyncratic.

[Peter Yock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great moments. But a little meandering at times.

[Jamesandrobyn Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great view on preaching.

Eswine gives a great look at what it is to preach in our world today. His take is a reminder to preach in context and to let God speak.

[Daniel Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books on preaching. Eswine is a Chapell guy and you will see a lot of overlap with 'Christ-Centered Preaching'. The best part about this book is how Eswine makes a biblical case for different forms of preaching. While many evangelical and Reformed preachers tend to only be 'prophetic' preachers (and would define preaching in such a form), Eswine shows a biblical case for priestly or sage preaching styles. One's personality, context, scripture text, etc. should determine the style/delivery.

Lots of practical stuff too. How does one preach narrative texts? Eswine gives some good options.

Like Christ-Centered Preaching, of Haddon Robinson's Biblical Preaching and other well-known homiletical texts, this book will be a reference guide for your preaching ministry.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good. Much denser than I imagined, and even different than I first imagined, but wow..this was a good book. I will need to go back to review some of the points as I took a long time to get through the book, but I especially loved that this work builds on the work of Bryan Chapell's "Christ-Centered Preaching."

[Sean Post · Rating 5 out of 5]

During my homiletics training I read guys like Haddon Robinson and Donald Sunukjian. These amazing communicators taught others to preach with excellence in a modern cultural climate. Eswine has done the same for us but in our new post-modern context.

If I were to recommend one book for aspiring preachers it would be this. Very, very well done by Eswine.

[David Cowpar · Rating 5 out of 5]

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