Book Review: The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching

Introduction and Overview of McDill's Text

Preaching is speaking the truth about the word of God. In the second edition of his now-classic text, The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, Wayne McDill revises the original to make it relevant to the next generation of preachers and to the general public interested in the fundamentals of delivering the good news. Just as scripture itself needs to be continually revisited to remain relevant to contemporary believers, so too do Christian commentaries and guides like The 12 Essential Skills. McDill's primary audience is aspiring preachers, but anyone—Christian or not—can gain essential wisdom from this text.

The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching is divided into four sections, plus two prefaces (one from the original edition and a new preface to the second edition), an introduction, a conclusion, and appendices. The book offers a concise overview of the core skills McDill presents as keys to great preaching practice. Conveniently, McDill also sub-divides the book into the titular twelve skills, which are pragmatic and practical rather than philosophical or theological. It is therefore assumed that the reader is already engaged in critical analyses, exegeses, and biblical correspondences to develop the core material for sermons or Bible studies.

A cogent introduction opens the text brilliantly, mentioning basketball great Michael Jordan as well as legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman. By anchoring The 12 Essential Skills to popular culture, McDill establishes the tone and theme of the text. This is a book geared not for an academic or scholarly audience but for the general community of believers. Mentioning exceptionally talented individuals like Perlman and Jordan allows McDill to distinguish between those who are born with innate gifts and those who still must work hard and practice to perfect their skills. On this note, McDill presents the core argument of the book: great preaching may begin with a calling and perhaps a gift, but to truly elevate the material and inspire the congregation, one must hone and develop skills through hard work.

In the introduction, McDill also provides an outline and general overview of what the book contains, as well as guidance on how to read and get the most from it. He notes that the book focuses on the well-established key-word method of developing sermons, which both Hamilton (1992) and Stackhouse and Crisp (2014) explicate in their similar texts on presenting the New Testament to diverse congregations. McDill also discusses the keynotes of rhetoric and notes that the objective of preaching should always be maximizing audience appeal. Finally, he tells the reader plainly that the book is about how to prepare an expository sermon—as opposed to a narrative or inductive one—and is not about sermons in a sociological or historical sense.

Expository sermons are sermons that communicate the meaning of the primary source by discovering what the original writers meant and the theological underpinnings of the passage. The text speaks for itself as the word of God; however, the preacher essentially translates the spiritual essence of each passage for a modern listener. McDill claims, "we are all gifted and can develop the skills appropriate to those gifts" (p. 6), establishing an inclusive and encouraging foundation for what follows.

Section One: Text Analysis Skills

Section One of The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching addresses text analysis and includes separate chapters on diagramming the text structure, noting the text details, and asking research questions.

In "Diagramming the Text Structure," McDill discusses the first essential skill, which involves deliberately creating conceptual and mind maps that organize one's ideas by visualizing the relationships between various biblical concepts, themes, motifs, or key words. The author's approach includes stories and anecdotes that deftly illustrate what he means by text diagramming, as well as the problems that arise when preachers omit this essential skill. Observational ability is required throughout the entire process of textual analysis, along with both inductive and deductive reasoning. Expository sermon preparation hinges on the preacher's ability to carefully analyze, scrutinize, digest, and then relate the text.

According to McDill, most modern preachers focus too heavily on deductive reasoning—looking first at general truths and only thereafter at the particulars. To exercise inductive reasoning, McDill advises readers to start with the details first and move outward from there, using the same type of thinking that a scientist would employ (p. 13). Too much deductive reasoning can cause a preacher to overlook critical details that render a text more meaningful. The author concludes this first chapter with seven reasons why inductive reasoning is an essential skill.

The second essential skill, "Noting the Text Details," involves a more diligent analysis of details that might otherwise be ignored with a cursory reading of scripture. This skill follows logically from Chapter One, in which McDill laid the foundation for inductive methods of textual analysis. Noting the details entails practicing the art of deep reading and taking into account intertextual and contextual variables. This is also the stage at which the preacher might delve into history and culture to show how each detail in the text can pertain as much to current times as to biblical times. Rather than basing a sermon on bias or "what we already think we know," the preacher approaches the text with fresh eyes and an open mind (McDill, 2006, p. 14). Noting the text details helps preachers actively avoid biases in their work.

Linked with this skill is the third: "Asking Research Questions." Like scholars, preachers need to be researchers who spend far more time preparing a sermon than delivering it. The most important aspect of expository sermon preparation is research, which grounds sermon content in factual evidence from the primary source texts. Whenever possible, the preacher should read numerous theological commentaries to see what other authors have said about the passages in question. Through a systematic analysis of language and historical context, the preacher is more likely to transform a simply good sermon into a great one. This is also the stage at which the preacher should be conducting serious scholarly research, using libraries and online databases to learn about the geography, culture, historical figures, and anything else relevant to the text.

Section Two: Theological Interpretation

Section Two of The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching comprises three chapters covering skills four, five, and six: "Naming the Text Idea," "Bridging from Text to Sermon," and "Writing Sermon Divisions." Taken together, these skills fall under the sectional rubric of theological interpretation. One does not need to be a theologian to be a great preacher, but one does need to develop a theological mindset in order to prepare and deliver a proper expository sermon.

Theological interpretation begins with the fourth essential skill: naming the text idea. In this chapter, McDill means searching for the core theme of each text or passage. Doing so requires poring over the text and meditating on its meaning. Only when the meaning has been "unlocked" is it possible to proceed with the rest of sermon development.

The fifth skill, "Bridging from Text to Sermon," is one of the pivotal skills because it involves transmitting what has been written in scripture in a way that is unique and meaningful for the congregation. Bridging is what makes no two sermons alike, even when they address the same themes or passages. Just as there can be multiple bridges across the same river, there are potentially infinite varieties of bridges between text and sermon. McDill therefore offers methods for correctly building an "interpretive bridge," depending on the content of the text and the intended theme or mood of the sermon. To bridge means carrying the original text's meaning from one side to another, linking the source text and its contextual variables with variables familiar to the modern hearer.

"Writing Sermon Divisions" is skill six. Division statements are transitional words and phrases that guide both the source text and the sermon. Just as an effective expository essay contains transitional phrases connecting one paragraph to the next, so too is an expository sermon organized accordingly. Transitional phrases increase eloquence and anchor meaning. McDill notes that division statements need to be practiced routinely, as they may not come naturally to all preachers. An effective sermon division is like an interpretive bridge in that it links disparate elements based on their common themes, while also helping construct the overall outline of the sermon.

Conclusion and Final Assessment

The worksheets and step-by-step guidelines are what really make McDill's (2006) book The 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching stand out among other similar books. Therefore, McDill's work deserves to be on the bookshelves of all students of the Bible, theologians, and particularly those dedicated to transforming academic knowledge into practical action. The twelve essential skills can be honed across one's lifetime, and yet all aspiring preachers can already begin to deliver sermons based on the advice McDill offers.

Preachers sometimes talk about expository sermons without truly understanding what they mean, and end up either boring their congregations with too much exposition or moving too far off-topic for the sermon to be genuinely anchored in biblical truth. What McDill presents is a sensible balance between the academic rigor of textual and historical analysis and the equally important arts of persuasion and storytelling. Preaching is both art and science, and, like art and science, it can be learned.

The conclusion of The 12 Essential Skills opens with an anecdote and then carefully wraps up the main body of the text. McDill reiterates the importance of planning, using scripture to substantiate his claims—for example, showing how Christ planned his own ministry carefully. The needs of the congregation depend on careful planning and preparation, as well as ongoing personal and professional development. Not only does ongoing training ensure that one's ministry remains current and strong, but it also ensures that the preacher remains humble and responsive, willing to change and grow. McDill also offers additional suggestions for sermon preparation in the conclusion, such as committing oneself fully, implementing systematic procedures, and following step-by-step guidance as presented in books like these.

It is a myth that one needs to be born with a specific gift or talent. What McDill shows is that anyone who is called to the lofty goal of shepherding a congregation has the power within to preach earnestly and effectively. From this book, one can learn how to cultivate the invaluable twelve skills McDill outlines, with worksheets and exercises for practice and stories to reflect upon in preparation for ministry.

References

Hamilton, D. L. (1992). Homiletical handbook. B&H.

McDill, W. (2006). The 12 essential skills for great preaching (2nd ed.). B&H.

Stackhouse, I., & Crisp, O. D. (2014). Text message: The centrality of scripture in preaching. Wipf and Stock.