Kent Anderson: How I Preach

February 16th, 2015| Topic: aBeLOG, How I Preach | 0

Kent Anderson: And this is How I Preach …

[Kent Anderson has been in ministry and involved heavily with the field of homiletics for several decades. And he is a charter member of the Evangelical Homiletics Society. Not to mention his enthusiastic activities of authoring and blogging (check out his blog here). He’s been a fixture of preaching in evangelical circles all over Canada, and is now settled as President of Northwest Baptist Seminary, Langley, British Columbia. Here’s Kent ….]

Kenton C. Anderson
President and Dean of Northwest Baptist Seminary
Professor of Homiletics
Director of the Centre for Ministry Excellence
Northwest Baptist Seminary, Langley, British Columbia

Current gig (preaching, teaching, etc.) and years at it:
19 years at Northwest Baptist Seminary, Langley, British Columbia.

Who or what made you want to preach:
I grew up in the church and was given some early opportunities at youth services and such.
I quickly noticed that people responded well to the preaching that I offered and affirmed my gifts.
I believed that if God had gifted me, I needed to make the most of it for his glory.

Who are you most indebted to for making you the preacher you are (besides God)?
I have benefitted from many people.
Donald S. Hills was my first homiletics teacher.
Pastors I interned under were important: Bruce Mateika, Ian Bowie, John Greb, and David Fairbrother.
Grant Lovejoy and James Heflin were important in my academic studies in homiletics.
From a distance, I was encouraged and influenced by Haddon Robinson, Calvin Miller, and Eugene Lowry.

Most used English Bible version:
New International Version and the English Standard Version.

Software/hardware that you use for preaching prep?
Logos.
MacBook and iPad.

One word that best describes how you prepare to preach:
Assimilative.

One word that best describes how you preach:
Integrative.

What tools/aids for sermon prep can’t you live without?
I am not sure there is anything beyond the Bible that I could not live without.

What does your workspace look like when you are prepping?
Tidy.
I actually do a lot of my prep outdoors—taking long prayer walks—after I have done my exegetical work.

Illustrations: Where do you go for them and how do you store them?
I find them in life.
Occasionally through web searches.
I have little interest in canned illustrations.

Tell us your sermon-prep routine.
I spread my preparation out over two or three weeks.
And I work on multiple sermons at any given time.

Average numbers of prep hours per sermon?
8–12 hours.

What’s your best time-saving trick?
No tricks. Just hard work.

What time of the day are you most effective?
Anytime.

Any props used regularly in sermons? Powerpoint? Handout?
Rarely. I use PowerPoint much less than I used to.

No notes/some notes/extensive notes (manuscript)?
No notes—extemporaneous.

Who critiques your sermons, besides yourself?
My wife.
Sometimes my students.

How has your preaching improved over time?
I have grown in my attentiveness to the craft.
I am more integrative.
I am also more conscious of the presence of God in my preaching.

What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?
I have probably been a little more intentional about integrating head and heart, heaven and earth.

What do you listen to while you work?
Does it sound too arrogant to say, the Holy Spirit?
I don’t listen to music while preparing because I love music too much and would find it too distracting.

Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?
Best I can tell, I am a pretty good mix of both.

What are you currently reading?
In Search of Deep Faith by Jim Belcher.
Preaching By Ear by Dave McClellan.
Various assorted novels.

What do you wish you had learned when you were in seminary?
I have no complaints about my seminary experience.

Exercise routine? Sleep routine?
Up at 6:00 am.
Thirty minutes of core and aerobic exercise.
In bed by 10:30 pm (most days).
I cycle and walk most days.
I play golf in the summer.

Spiritual disciplines?
Prayer, worship, service, guidance.

What you do when you aren’t involved in preaching-related activities?
I do a lot of church and seminary leadership and administration.
I also do lots of fun stuff, reading, sports, music, and the arts.

Fill in the blank. I’d love to see _______ answer these same questions.
John Koessler, of Moody Bible Institute.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
If people are recognizing your gifts, just get going in a God honoring direction and ask God to redirect you if it isn’t what he wants.

[For the archives of this series, How I Preach, see here.]