November 9, 2026
Preaching is an important part of sharing the Gospel, and there are always new ways to approach the craft with creativity and imagination. Dr. Heather Henson has written a blog series for the Creativity in Preaching Project that encourages readers to explore creative approaches to preaching, consider fresh perspectives, and discover practical ideas for rethinking how we communicate the Good News.
Heather is an Affiliate Professor and Adjunct in Pastoral Ministries and Preaching at Kairos and leads the Creativity in Preaching project, a Lilly Endowment-funded initiative at Green Lake Conference Center.
In this week’s post, Heather encourages church leaders to invite more people into the pulpit, even those who may seem unlikely or unexpected. She reminds us to trust the Holy Spirit’s work in shaping new preachers.
“The 19-year-old young man stood up at the front of a worship room filled with a little over 100 youth and adult youth leaders. This was his first time preaching in worship at camp. He began reading the passage of Scripture that was assigned to him. However, he hadn’t brought his own Bible into the worship room and therefore had snagged a Bible out of the “extra Bible bin” we keep in the office. It’s a collection of left-behind Bibles that we let people use if they forget to bring a Bible with them to camp. (Sometimes students even find the Bible they left the year before in the bin!).
As he began to read, he realized that there were many “Thee(s)” and “Thou(s)” in this passage. I watched as it dawned on him that he had selected a Bible at random and managed to pick up a King James Bible rather than a more modern translation. Mind you, this was a lengthy passage to read. He slowly looked up at me (I’m usually standing in the back by the soundboard), and when we locked eyes, I couldn’t keep from laughing. He lowered his head and continued reading the passage. He closed the Bible and proceeded to preach a very excellent sermon, full of elaborate illustrations that fit his unique personality well, tying the whole thing together like a complicated puzzle that dazzled the students and modeled well his intelligence and playful nature…”
Read the full Creativity in Preaching blog post here.