The uniqueness of two pastors (one seasoned and one newer to his pastorate) writing a book together on preaching itself makes Preach a worthwhile read. Mark Dever and Greg Gilbert offer an extremely pastoral approach to heralding the word of God to both believers and unbelievers among a local gathering of worshipers.

The book has three parts. Part One considers the theology of the preaching task, in which the authors make a strong case for exposition as the needed main diet of preaching for every congregation. Part Two examines the various tasks involved in preaching, including how to decide on a topic and schedule, individual sermon preparation, sermon structure and delivery, and how to review sermons for improvement. Part Three offers one sermon manuscript from each author with a critique by the other.

The book is grounded in theology proper. God's voice is central to their philosophy of preaching, for “words are enormously important to the God who made the universe” (p. 13). The writers are careful to show that man's preaching must be God's word and is a picture of the gospel itself: “For one person to speak God's Word while others listen is a depiction of God's gracious self-disclosure and of our salvation being a gift” (p. 21).

The first section reads as a biblical theology-based apologetic for expositional preaching. For example, a discourse on the creative power of God's word moves from Adam to the Messiah in Isaiah 11 to Paul in 2 Thess 2:8 to Rev 19 and back to Matt 8 (pp. 19-24). Similarly, the authors trace the concept of God's word as the basis of the believer's relationship with Christ through Adam, Abraham, the nation of Israel, and finally to Christ (pp. 19-20). All this demonstrates that those preaching the gospel are conduits of the voice that spoke in Eden and that the spoken word, first from God and then through his servants, is a whole-Bible theme that gives preaching its foundational importance.

Dever and Gilbert tie the preaching of theology to life (note the double entendre of “Practice” in the subtitle). Their case for the centrality of preaching moves from revelation to preaching to personal living and then to the life of the church. Into a church culture that leans toward dumbing down sermon content and shortening sermon length, the two pastors write,

We would argue . . . that the center of a church's main public service-the most attention-demanding element in the service-ought to be the sermon. In fact, the sermon should be the one thing that shapes everything else in the worship service. The form of the service, from its songs to its Scripture readings to its prayers, should flow from and be shaped by the text of Scripture that's about to be expounded. (p. 45)

Pleasantly, this work distinguishes between preaching as method (exposition) and a singular preacher's style of communication. This allows those without a high church or more formal or liturgical style of preaching-that is, those with more expressive communication styles-to embrace this work as helpful to their tasks as expositors too.

Preach is replete with insights into the role of preaching in each author's congregational church life and many examples of the application of Scripture to kingdom living. The authors' exhortations to seek out criticism of one's sermons are beneficial to the building up of a pastor and congregation (pp. 134-35).

As I find this work to be so pastorally beneficial, I wish to limit my criticisms to two. First, the authors seem unaware of their cultural biases. Having both been members of the same sound evangelical congregation, they assume an equivalent experience on the part of the reader. Their charge, “Brothers, never be afraid to address non-Christians directly in preaching” (p. 59), works in their shared setting on Capitol Hill. However, the congregation of an honor/shame-motivated culture where I serve would find such direct address to be arrogant. Similarly, toggling a preaching schedule back and forth between the OT and NT books, and different genres of Scripture, has found success in the authors' congregations, but may not always be the best strategy for growing young believers in the faith.

Second, the authors do not seem to find exegesis of original languages necessary. Certainly these two shepherds would not suggest that those without skills in the original languages could not preach the text well. Yet pastors need to be encouraged to invest time in the languages when their schedules are full of funerals and counseling.

Preach is a solid tool for preachers and will help readers think through the place of preaching in their own overall ecclesiology. One should, however, supplement this work with more exegetically focused preaching volumes when using it in a college or seminary homiletics course.

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