Accepting applications to Lay Preacher Cohort
We are currently accepting applications to the second Lay Preacher Cohort of the Faithful Preaching Project. We are looking for lay preachers at small mainline Christian churches in the United States to join a one-year cohort of 15-20 peers. The cohort will meet online with one another and a preaching coach, with the goal of cultivating more faith-full preaching. Through discussion and sermon sharing, lay preachers gain a community of peer-coaches who can encourage and support one another.
Eligibility Requirements for Lay Preacher Cohort
Commissioned and/or licensed by a church or denominational governing body to preach
Currently serving a small congregation (<100 in attendance)
Ability to connect to online learning portal provided by FPP
Applications will close on June 1, 2025. The cohort will be announced by July 1, 2025.
Hear what our current lay preachers have to say about the experience:
“The Faithful Preaching Project has significantly bolstered my confidence as a lay preacher. I am deeply grateful for our community of faith where we can learn from one another and grow together. Hearing the experiences and insights of others has been both inspiring and enriching, providing me with renewed strength and a deeper understanding of my calling.” - Armel Crocker
“It has been enjoyable, and educational to learn how other lay pastors study and prepare their weekly messages. I’m finding the twice monthly meetings on Zoom to be very informative. I have learned things that are helping me to better form my sermons. Though this is a cohort to help with our preaching, we have also talked about some of the problems we face in the smaller churches that most of us pastor. ” - Larry Sears
We look forward to welcoming another set of lay preachers to a FPP Cohort!
It was an honor to have the Rev. Dr. Lisa Cressman, Founding Steward of Backstory Preaching, lead a preaching workshop last month. In this practical workshop, all attendees had the opportunity to listen and learn, reflect and dialogue.
Through sermon preparation exercises like Lectio Divina and multiple ways to think through the Biblical text, Dr. Cressman encouraged participants that when "we slow down enough, [the sermon fodder] emerges of its own accord. It is effortless on our part because the Spirit shows up when we are still and quiet enough to hear it." We are grateful to Dr. Cressman for coming to Austin Seminary and leading this workshop.
Here’s what participants had to say about the workshop:
I felt the Lord ministering to my spirit as I went through the exercises.
Thanks for a good short workshop with LOTS to take away - a good use of time and a payoff for short time.
Outstanding content and ideas to help make my preaching of God's word more relatable to my congregation and other ministry settings.
You are officially invited to the next workshop!
On Saturday, August 30, 2025, Faithful Preaching Project at Austin Seminary will welcome Rev. Dr. Alyce McKenzie, Professor of Preaching & Worship at the Perkins School of Theology at SMU. Dr. McKenzie will present a workshop titled “Show, Don’t (Just) Tell! Fiction Writing Strategies for Sermons.”
About the workshop: People want profound biblical and theological teaching, but they don’t want lectures. This 4-hour workshop will equip participants to use metaphor, scene and story to gain and maintain listener attention, so they retain the memory of Sunday’s sermon on Monday and beyond! The workshop will be based on insights from Making a Scene in the Pulpit: Vivid Preaching for Visual Listeners and Novel Preaching: Tips from Top Writers on Crafting Creative Sermons. Participants will need to read Making a Scene in the Pulpit to be prepared for the workshop.
Title: “Show, Don’t (Just) Tell! Fiction Writing Strategies for Sermons.”
Date: Saturday, August 30, 2025
Location: Wright Hall on Austin Seminary Campus (4th floor of the Library)
Timing:
Gathering at 9:30 a.m. in Wright Hall
Workshop from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. (with an hour-long break for lunch)
Q&A with the author until 3:30 p.m.
Please note, this workshop is in-person only. Online-only preaching workshops from the Faithful Preaching Project will be offered separately.
Clergy Retreat at Mo-Ranch
Twelve members of Faithful Preaching Project’s Clergy Cohort met at Mo-Ranch earlier this month for a retreat. The time together centered around creativity - that of the preacher and that of God. We were honored to have a presentation from Dr. Donyelle C. McCray, Associate Professor of Homiletics at Yale Divinity School to start the retreat. The preachers time to create art, hear from the preaching coaches, work on a joint sermon with a partner, and relax at beautiful Mo-Ranch.
Faithful Preaching Project Clergy Cohort member, Rev. Maria Vargas, provided her account of the retreat experience:
John 10:22 tells of Jesus being in the temple and includes a small detail which we may not have noticed, John, the gospel writer, tells us that, “It was winter.”
Homiletics Online mentions that we may also face our own personal winters and sometimes we face winter seasons that have nothing to do with the time of year. And although we know that God is not far from us in the winter experiences of life, we certainly don’t welcome these times, but we do find comfort in our faith and in our relationships with other believers that can provide support.
While I’ve been active in organizing support groups in church and in the community (Grief, Cancer & Alzheimer’s), I have joked about the need to organize a pastor’s support group. Spending time with my peers at Mo-Ranch this past week made me realize that that’s exactly what I experienced there – A support group.
A support group is a safe space to share thoughts & feelings and hear from others who may have faced similar issues. Having someone who understands provide listening support is so beneficial, it can help us sort things out, alleviate and unburden ourselves.
Inspired by Dr. McCray’s book Is it a Sermon?, Rev. Dr. Mark Jefferson led us to think of sermon prep as making a quilt and it really made a difference in how I usually approach the task, the ideas just flowed, and I was able to instinctively make it all fit together.
I returned home refreshed and renewed. Truly, the retreat was a sacred space, an unforgettable learning experience that I will cherish. I’m very grateful to be part of this excellent program.
Our thanks to Usama Malik, Senior Associate for Communications and Marketing at Austin Seminary, for capturing these beautiful photographs.