Rev. Dr. Jana Childers to lead PC(USA) webinar on preaching

Rev. Dr. Jana Childers will share her love of preaching through the Internet when the San Francisco Theological Seminary professor of homiletics and speech communication offers a webinar on Tuesday, March 29, at 11 a.m.

Childers’s 60-minute web presentation is entitled “Preaching to Rattle the Tea Cups and Wake the Dead.” The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-sponsored webinar is available live or may be viewed later at your convenience.

“I’m interested in the question of energy in preaching,” Childers said. “Why do some of our sermons fly and others just dribble down the front of the pulpit and out into the aisles? I don’t think preachers have to leave this to chance. Preachers fall into different energy groups. Understanding the ‘natural genius’ of your own approach to the text can make all the difference.”

Childers, the former dean at SFTS, is author of Birthing the Sermon: Women Preachers on Creative Process among other books and articles. She also serves as “Benedictory” columnist for Presbyterian Outlook.  

The webinar will focus on practical performance skills, which help preachers access new insights and energy for interpreting text. For example, nonverbal communication has tremendous power to tap somatic ways of knowing--ways that complement rational thinking, according to Childers.

“These skills can help preachers do the kinds of things we are always saying we want to do: ‘Get out of our heads’, ‘draw upon our intuition’, ‘tap into our creative side.’ It’s more doable than people often think.”

Besides attention to sermon presentation, Childers will provide creative approaches to preaching the Holy Week lectionary texts.

“If there is any time of year when a preacher hopes her sermons will sail and soar it’s Holy Week,” Childers said. “How is it that so many years those powerful days just seem to slip quietly by? Where has the volcanic, atomic, life-shaking power of those stories gone?”

The cost to subscribe is $29.95 for this invaluable continuing education opportunity. There is a discount available for groups. For those who can’t participate in the live presentation, you will receive via e-mail a link for you to view the Webinar a later time of your convenience.

Contact George Whipple at 800-446-6008 x 756 or gwhipple@pres-outlook.org for further information.

>>To register, click here.