Ten Distinctives of Emotionally Healthy Preaching

I spent a good part of this week reflecting on more than twenty-five years of preaching as  I spoke this morning at a Preaching Rocket conference here at New Life in NYC. Others, like Andy Stanley, have done an outstanding job describing the craft around preaching. My task was to consider the unique applications of emotional healthy spirituality to the preaching/teaching task. The following are the ten questions to which I return over in preparation my own sermons and work with our NLF Preaching Team:

1. Am I contemplatively grounded in God
2. Am I centered in myself?
3. Am I allowing the text to intersect deeply with my family of origin?
4. Am I preaching out of my vulnerability and weakness?
5. Am I allowing the text to transform my spiritual journey?
6. Am I surrendering to the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension process?
7. Am I taking sufficient time to think through clear and pointed applications?
8. Am I thinking through complexities and nuances?
9. Am I drinking from the well of “community exegesis”?
10. Am I connecting the message to people’s long-term spiritual formation?

Within the next two weeks we will post this 45 minute talk on the emotionally healthy spirituality website and link it on my Facebook page. What might you add to this list?