Sermon Maker, The [Hardcover]

Calvin Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

Three contemporary, humorous parable of a preacher who struggles with his need to change. Extensive commentary on the stories provides insight from the author into the best way to communicate.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Three contemporary, humorous parables of a preacher who struggles with his need to change

Sam the preacher wonders what has gone wrong with his sermons. Are people still listening? Well-known storyteller and communications professor Calvin Miller combines his fiction writing with his insight into preaching to address the changes faced by today's preachers, especially the fact that contemporary congregations have shifted to a different way of listening. How can Sam recover his passion for preaching?

In this short, entertaining, story-driven book, church leaders will see honest reflections of themselves. But the narrative humor also provides a clever way to stimulate thought and discussion on how preachers and preaching are changing. Some places in the story will lead to laughter, others will cause readers to pause and reflect. But whatever the reaction, The Sermon Maker leaves the reader encouraged and changed.

Extensive commentary on the stories provides insight from the author into the best ways to communicate. Just as the story in the tremendously popular Who Moved My Cheese? impacted readers in the business world who were facing change, so this book is designed as a quick but stimulating story for any church leader who preaches or is concerned about the state of preaching today.

About the Author

Dr. Calvin Miller has served as a senior pastor in Omaha, as writer-in-residence and professor of communications and homiletics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and now teaches at Beeson Divinity School. He is a poet, artist, novelist, and evangelist who has written over forty books including the Singer Trilogy, Snow, Wind, Shade, TheBook of Jesus, and Into the Depths of God. Dr. Miller and his wife, Barbara, live in Birmingham, Alabama.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan Publishing Company (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0310246563
• ISBN-13: 978-0310246565
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #652,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Calvin Miller has written over 40 books of popular theology and inspiration. A former pastor, he is professor of preaching and pastoral ministry at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He and his wife, Joyce, have two grown children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on preaching I've read, August 22, 2002

By 

Darryl Dash "DashHouse" (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sermon Maker, The (Hardcover)

This book is absolutely the best book on preaching I've read. It came at just the right time in my life, and tackled issues in my life that needed attention.

Calvin argues that good sermons don't come from just good preparation or homiletical practice. They come from a life well lived. "Great preaching only grows out of the soil of great lives." He tackles the issues of passion, the draining nature of pastoral work, and the preacher's pride. I plan on re-reading this book often.

If you've ever felt that something is missing in your preaching, but you couldn't quite put your finger on it, this book is for you.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Preacher, Read This Book, Be Inspired, May 25, 2010

By 

Benjamin Potter "Loom & Wheel" (Mulberry Grove, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sermon Maker, The (Hardcover)

At a recent conference I had opportunity to rub elbows with one of my favorite Christian authors--Calvin Miller. A long time pastor, educator and writer, Miller embodies many of the characteristics I want when I grow up to be a real preacher. One of the best things that Miller does is communicate. And he has a desire to see all preachers do that better and better. And so he has created some short volumes to inspire the pastor to be the best pastor he can be. This is the first of those volumes.


One of the great things about reading Miller is that you never know what you're going to get--much like Forest Gump's proverbial box of chocolates. Within the 150 or so pages of this book you will encounter the fictional story of Sam, the beleaguered pastor who is rediscovering how his call to preach can take him beyond the typical mundanity (I know, I know: not a word) of three points and a poem cleverly alliterated for ease in memorization. Sam inspires the minister to re-visit his calling and so refresh his exposition.


The story of Sam is worth the price of admission in and of itself, especially as he interacts with Sermoniel the Angel of Homiletics. But Miller throws in commentary that allows the reader to dive deeper into the why of preaching via the story pattern. And the author puts a cherry on top of his sweet volume by including scholarly endnotes, if only to prove that he did his homework in the writing.


I must admit, I almost passed up this book because of the unorthodox packaging - story on the right-hand page, commentary on the left, with notes at the end of the book - but once I got into the reading, I found it wasn't distracting at all. I also found that this design allowed to read just the story for continuity's sake; just the commentary for clarification; or combine the reading to see how each relates to the other.


My recommendation for this book goes out to pastors who are caught in the grind of weekly cranking out lackluster sermons, to those who are looking for a new take on the old art of sermon-writing that will bring life back to their pulpit ministry, or to ministers who find themselves being weighed down by the monotony of taking on their own "Emma Johnsons" week after week. If you'd like to see your pastor revive the life in his sermons, you might consider gifting him this book.


5 out of 5 reading glasses.


--Benjamin Potter, May 25, 2010

5.0 out of 5 stars Angel's Unaware, Preacher's Unaware, Becoming Aware!, November 25, 2008

By 

Brad Sloan "bradthebookman" (McKinney, TX. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sermon Maker: Tales of a Transformed Preacher (Paperback)

This is one of those books I need to read during seminary although I probably wouldn't have received it's greatness at the time. It is a book I wish I'd read my first week as a pastor, although I probably wouldn't have received it's greatness at the time. But, now that I've pastored a short piece, I'm glad I bought this book and I will read it again! Calvin Miller helps make pastors aware of the gap between a cognitive grasp of preaching and the real world of Sunday through Monday ministry. Highly recommended reading for pastor's and those who teach preaching!