Meirwyn Walters - Intentional Preaching: A View from the Pew

The author of this insightful bookmy friend Meirwyn Waltersis the son of a preacher who also taught preachers how to preach. Some preachers children would do anything to avoid listening to sermons. Instead, this preachers kid has written a book that provides wise advice for any preacher to follow. Walterss perspective is from the pew. He speaks as a thoughtful and informed listener to matters that many preachers overlook or even ignore.

Born into the home of a preacher and professor of preaching, Walters is not unfamiliar with listening to sermons. He was schooled informally and formally about the task of preaching. As a child, he was regularly given the challenge by his professor father to put together short sermons while the family sat at the dinner table. The family feasted on preaching! Years later, Walters engaged in formal theological studies before heading to law school, where he put into practice pulpit oratory skills arguing cases before juries and judgesand with skill and insight he continues to do so today. As an elder in the church of which hes a member, Walters occasionally preaches, as well as cheers his home church pastors and other preachers with winsome words of encouragement.

This encouraging approach to preaching appears to have been inspired by Meirwyn Walterss upbringing. Im a beneficiary of the immeasurable encouragement that radiated from his father, Dr. Gwyn Walters. When I was a young, inexperienced student interested in preaching, Dr. Walters stood by me and nurtured me in the task of preaching. He then supported me in the next step of further study in the field of preaching. He was there when I served as a pastor and even opened the way for me to teach preaching, which has been my calling and career. Meirwyn Walters comes by this task of encouraging preachers naturally, even spiritually.

I am pleased to commend this book to readers, because Im confident you will benefit from reading it. Walters understands the plight of preachers. Preaching is tough work. He knows about the distractions and frustrations of pastoral ministry. And he knows what listeners needthey dont need a preachers scraps; they need a nourishing feast, a feast from Gods word that will strengthen them as they face their fractured families, belligerent bosses, complaining customers, or screaming school children.

Walters is aiming at helping preachers bring their A++ game into the pulpit every week. The time that a preacher spends in the pulpit is to be intentional, notes Walters. In every helpful chapter of this book, Walters argues that the key to good preaching is to make each of your decisions deliberately, consciously, intentionally, with the goal of communicating with the greatest effectiveness. He assists us as readers to reflect on everything we do as we preach, in order for us to become better at the preaching task. From what preachers wear to how preachers conduct themselves, Walters provides words of encouragement and instruction in the chapters that follow.

Although Meirwyn Walters calls himself just a guy in the pew, this guy gives great advice on how we as preachers can become better at what we do. As disciples of Jesus Christ, were always learnersthats what the word disciple means. If thats the case, then read this book as a learner, ready to develop and grow as a preacher. You may be a young learner or an older one like me. Either way, you will be shaped by the insights from this guy in the pew who wants nothing more than to help you become the preacher God has called you to be. I know, because Im all the better for having read this book.

Scott M. Gibson
Professor of Preaching
The David E. Garland Chair of Preaching
George W. Truett Seminary
Baylor University