In Depth:  Martin Salter

Martin Salter

A number of years ago I had the privilege of hearing American pastor and author Gordon MacDonald speak about application in preaching.

At the time Gordon would have been in his eighties, and had been a pastor for many decades. He encouraged preachers to think about the different seasons of life and their accompanying challenges, and what this means for the application of their sermons. Here are some of the things he drew out related to the different seasons of life:

the pastor's toolkit

Martin Salter

A number of years ago, I was given a piece of advice which has proven very helpful in my own sermon preparation. The advice was this: turn your ‘points’ into applications.

Let me explain what I mean.

the pastor's toolkit

Martin Salter

'Friends, I’m sure you’ll agree that once a robust postmillennial eschatology is established, the implications for ecclesial and missional praxis become self-evident'... said no preacher ever – hopefully!

One of the challenges for many preachers is how we package up all the stuff we’ve learned into digestible communication. It’s easy for an excited preacher to forget that most of the people in front of us haven’t read Calvin’s Institutes and (weird I know) probably don’t want to!

Martin Salter

I once heard a talk criticised for being ‘all foam, no beer.’

Obviously, no one wants a pint that is 75 per cent foam and 25 per cent actual beer. And so, a talk that’s all foam and no beer is considered lacking in substance, body, and nourishing goodness.

the pastor's toolkit

Martin Salter

'Good morning everybody. Please keep your Bibles open at the passage we’ve just read. John chapter 14 contains glorious truths about the gospel. Our first point is...'

Many sermons begin like this. It’s not wrong, but do you notice the assumption here? In opening the sermon this way, the preacher has assumed that everyone in the room is fully engaged, interested, and ready to listen. Yet the reality is many are not.