Customer Reviews

The Jazz of Preaching: How to Preach with Great Freedom and Joy

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Boy, what a really terrific and fun book. I am surprised there are no reviews here yet. It's a fast 130 pages that will give you great new insights into preaching and also a wonderful lesson in jazz. I've never heard Rev. Jones preach, but plan to take some time to locate some of his messages on line. This book was recommend to me because I'm a preacher/pastor (21 years in the C&MA) and a professional jazz pianist (and jazz educator). But even if you are not a musician, this book is a winner. You don't have to know much about music to appreciate his insights.

Jones draws some helpful parallels between jazz and good preaching. Here is a list of just a few of the concepts that he "improvises" on for us: risk, mastery of playing, notes and words, connecting with the audience, jazz and gospel as "story," freedom and spontaneity, play, variety, daring.

Finally, even before I understood spiritual things I was a jazz musician and, at the time, it was the only thing in my life that conveyed some kind of transcendent sense of "spirit" to me. Jones has helped me put some words to that experience and helped me to see how I should be drawing more upon my jazz roots in my preaching.

Keep jammin'!

Jon Mutchler