Around 280 professionals, students, and church leaders attended the once-in-a-decade conference. Dr John Wyatt was the main speaker of a programme that included 15 other thematic seminaries.

Why not take the year-end as an opportunity to seek God’s heart about your church, your ministry, and your part in His plans? 

It is true that life change is God’s business and I can’t force it; but let us never grow comfortable with people drifting away from Christ.

The nature of God’s character should flow into our ministry, which will then characterise our connection with the church.

Let’s preach in light of 1 Thessalonians 1 and dare to believe that we are participating in the transformation of lives for eternity.

Keep your relationship with Jesus right at the centre of your priorities: that is the foundation for all Christian leadership.

Perhaps, we would do well to ponder the spiritual attack against the Holy Spirit. I suspect that we would find our hearts drawn to Christ in the process.

Preaching is about exegesis and communication,pastoral care, leadership and discipleship, but it should be preeminently about prayer.

Many of us still live under the spell that says we get saved by faith, but then will grow by self-stirred effort. 

Whatever may be going on around us, Psalm 107 suggests what should be happening inside us.

We must have a more God-given, global and eternal perspective so that what we preach stretches and challenges the small, me-focused world of our listeners.

You may love preaching and want to preach every week, but I think it would be wise to schedule a break here and there. 

We worship by giving our everything to God, because he first gave his everything for us. Worship is so costly. It cost God everything.

If you are asked to preach, prepare. Prepare humbly. Prepare prayerfully. Prepare as if “apart from me, you can do nothing”.

There are various ways in which we can start to lean on a powerful crescendo too much, and thereby weaken our preaching.

God is a good communicator. That conviction is critical for effective preaching, but so many build a preaching ministry without this conviction in place.

Perhaps we would do better to be astonished by the profound crop of the good soil instead of trying to count every sprout as part of the harvest.

Whether you have been preaching for a couple of years or half a century, there are hidden explosives that can do untold damage to your ministry.

It is not about me but Him. It is not about my responsible effort but my response to Him. Spending time with the lover of our souls is no chore but a privilege..

We can so easily think it is enough to hear, to read, to know, to understand, even to believe … but Jesus said that we need to actually do what He says.

The last time I preached the whole Bible in a single message, what text proved pivotal?  It came from Leviticus.  

Every Psalm points to God’s character, which is an excellent focus for your heart.

Whichever approach you take, be sure to keep diving in, looking to know Jesus more and growing in your appreciation of God’s heart towards you.

Deuteronomy never lets us settle for an outward conformity. In relationship with God the core issue must be the heart.

Being around Christians and using Christian language is not enough. Without a vital personal relationship with Christ, they are merely running on the fumes of Christianity.