All clergy are invited to a workshop, Putting Your Signature on Your Sermons: Nurturing Your Brand of Excellence in the Pulpit" on Monday, February 17, at Oak Grove UMC.

When God granted Solomon’s request for wisdom in 1 Kings 3:12, God provided a reason: “Because no one like you has ever been before and no one like you will ever be again.”

Just as artists put their signature at the bottom of their paintings, we preachers put our signature on our sermons, as they showcase our unique voice and vision in the pulpit from week to week.

This workshop equips preachers to claim our unique perspective and personality as divine gifts for the pulpit; identify the signature habits of preparation and presentation that have led to our best sermons; and hone our skills of preaching sermons that are clear, compelling, creative, and challenging.

A mixture of presentation, discussion, and interaction, this day-long workshop will address the following:

• Claim an image to express my role as a preacher
• Identify the best feature of my preaching and from what natural gifts and/or habits it flows.
• Name and honor the best sermon I have ever preached. Articulate the marks of my best sermon.
• Name and practice the specific habits of preparation and presentation that lead to compelling, creative, challenging sermons 
• Decide how I can weave them more intentionally into my preaching life. And share them with other preachers.

Our preacher and workshop leader, Dr. Alyce M. McKenzie, is a prolific author of books for both lay and clergy audiences and an award-winning teacher. She is the Le Van Professor of Preaching and Worship at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She directs the Perkins Center for Preaching Excellence at SMU.

Her preaching and writing focus on preaching the vivid wisdom literature of the Bible, on the role of the imagination in preaching, and what preachers can learn from creative writers.

Her latest book for laypeople is called Wise Up! Four Biblical Virtues for Navigating Life.

Her most recent book for preachers is entitled Making a Scene in the Pulpit: Vivid Preaching for Visual Listeners.