What is your sermon doing? 

A preaching refresher  

Allan Rudy-Froese, PhD, a Linklater voice teacher and Associate Professor of Christian Proclamation at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, weaves vocal exercises and games into his seminary teaching and workshops for preachers, worship leaders, and storytellers. Allan’s research includes the book of Jonah as comedy, swearing (yes, bad words!), and the marvelous nature of the voice in worship and everyday life.

Hosted by Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), Mennonite Church USA (MC USA), and Mennonite Mission Network. Attending preachers, both new and experienced, will gain fresh, practical insights into their preaching ministries. 

Preachers are often asked, “What is your next sermon about?” This is a good question, but sermons also do something. Sermons should move us, change us, bring us to meet God, and inspire us to work for God’s mission in the world. A sermon may be about God’s mercy, but what is it doing? Is this sermon meant to comfort, evoke, exhort, inspire, or build up the congregation? The gospel will be heard with more clarity if the preacher knows not only what their sermon is about, but also what it is doing.  

Dr. Rudy-Froese has studied voice (for actors, storytellers, and speakers) for twenty years. He completed his Ph.D. in homiletics, the art and theology of preaching, at the Toronto School of Theology in 2012 after nearly two decades of pastoral ministry. His teaching areas at AMBS include preaching, storytelling, voice, and leadership. He is also an adjunct professor at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ontario.