Award Winning Sermons: Volume 3

Award Winning Sermons . . . what are they? How did they come to be? Who is involved? Such questions are fair in light of the claim of the title. The Award Winning Sermons project is an effort by the Sunday School Board to recognize selected preachers who are communicating the gospel effectively. This project provides an opportunity of sharing these sermons through the printed page. Also, the project is designed to encourage pastors to evaluate and improve their preaching week by week. Before 15 sermons were finally chosen, several processes were necessary. First, Southern Baptist preachers were invited to submit a sermon preached to a Southern Baptist congregation within the past year in one or more of five different categories. The categories were: Special Days— Sermons that are biblically based and treat a theme related to special days and occasions, such as Christmas, New Year’s Day, Easter, and anniversaries.Christian Growth—Sermons that help believers mature in spiritual development and experience fulfillment in Christian discipleship.Doctrine—Sermons that help develop understanding of the basic doctrines of the Bible as identified in the “Baptist Faith and Message” statement.Evangelism—Sermons that confront the non-Christian with the claims of God in Christ for salvation and call for a proper response.Biography—Sermons that draw on the life and teachings of a Bible personality to convey a biblical truth needed in our day. Over 300 sermons, representing a broad spectrum of Southern Baptist preaching in 1978, were received from preachers in 25 states. They came from preachers of all ages—from the young student to the one in Oklahoma who is still preaching, and writing out his sermons, at 88 years of age (May his number increase!). They came from pastors in small country churches and from large city churches. They came from Bible professors and from evangelists. They were sent by church secretaries and by friends—friends who felt that the sermon should have a wider audience than the local congregation. From the sermons received 15 were selected for special recognition and publication in Award Winning Sermons, Volume 3. Sermons were selected on the bases of biblical soundness, clarity in development, freshness in application, and forcefulness in appeal. ~ from the Foreword