Preaching with Passion

by Alex Montoya

(Foreword by John MacArthur) An interactive guide to passionate preaching through spiritual power, conviction, compassion, authority, urgency, brokenness, your whole being, and imagination.

Genres: Christian

160 pages, Paperback

First published May 8, 2000

Reviews

[Michael Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on preaching. A must read for the preacher.

[Marshall Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciate Alex Montoya as a preacher and this was a convicting read. Was struck by his emphasis on compassion as a key component of preaching.

[Jake Rainwater · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are many, many problems with this book. One such is the premise of the book itself. Montoya has dedicated a monograph to the idea that true preaching must be passionate. He writes, “If there is no passion, there is no preaching” (62). However, Montoya never actually defines what exactly is meant by passion - an oddity, considering he provides dictionary definitions of “compassion,” “conviction,” et al. Instead, it appears that Montoya allows the chapter subjects - holiness, conviction, compassion, authority, urgency, brokenness, wholeness, and imagination - to collectively describe “passionate preaching.” This closely resembles a preacher trying to use alliterated points that just do not quite fit with either the text or the theme of the sermon. Without a proper definition of the quality the book is trying to drive home, one is left imagining passion to mean a typical, fire and brimstone type preacher. In other words, preaching is ontologically tied to the manner in which the word of God is delivered. This most certainly cannot be the case, as the apostle Paul seems to concede that he was not the most gifted speaker in 2 Cor. 11:6. Maybe Paul would have been a better had he been more “passionate?”

Montoya often overstates his point. For example, he states, “How we deliver the sermon is as important as what we deliver” (51). The point, “how we preach matters” would have sufficed, yet Montoya claims that it matters just as much as what is preached. This is an unbelievably careless claim. In the book of Galatians, Paul is not admonishing them for how they are preaching the gospel, but for what they are preaching. In fact, there is not one place in the New Testament where the delivery of the gospel is critiqued. It is only the content of what is preached that is ever evaluated. Being a “popular-level” book is simply not an excuse for these sorts of mistakes. More recent authors such as Kevin DeYoung, Mark Dever, and John Piper have all demonstrated that popular level books can be accessible, exegetically sound, and carefully nuanced.

Montoya’s premise is flawed, and his argumentation is irresponsible. This creates a book that as a whole feels disjointed and unconnected. All of his points, at first blush, are agreeable enough. The preacher should suffer well, and should feel compassion for his flock - but do these subjects not lend themselves to a book on pastoral ministry more than a book about passionate preaching? Preaching with Passion feels like a collection of blog posts about pastoral ministry that were collected under the not-so-common-theme of “passionate preaching.” To the book’s credit, it is a short read, but there are too many good book on preaching to waste time reading a bad one.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the vast sea of preaching books that focus on how to write a sermon, it is refreshing to read one on how to preach a sermon with passion. Montoya provides numerous gems and counsel to grow in passionate preaching.

There are brief moments that are jarring. For example, Montoya seems convinced preachers don’t live in the “real world” with their people. He looks down on preachers who don’t send their kids to public school, and insists many preachers make more money while working less than the average person in the community (110). I’m sure there are pastors this is true of, but it is not the ones I know.

In summary: recommended, helpful, but has a few brief moments and arguments that are out of place.

[Víctor Cardozo · Rating 5 out of 5]

He leído algunos libros muy buenos acerca del tema. Pero este material realmente me ha cautivado. Alex Montoya, nos ayuda a aquellos que predicamos a ser conscientes de nuestro trabajo, conscientes de la pasión que este demanda, con la cual Dios busca llegar a los corazones de la audiencia y lograr ese cambio interno que sólo produce la Palabra de Dios. Dios nos ayude a ser prudentes en nuestra labor siendo apasionados por Él y Su verdad.

[Becky Hintz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read--It is a good reminder that in preaching God's truth, we should strive not only for accuracy, but also for effectiveness. Montoya wants us to work as hard at communicating the truth to our hearers as we did at understanding the truth ourselves.

[Miguel Luis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book for all the preachers.

[Neyla Ceballos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenísimo... Práctico, y tan útil