Homiletics books generally consider the process of preparing and presenting biblical messages, and commonly do so from the perspective of being true to the exposition of the biblical text(s). Indeed, such is the emphasis in my own book, Biographical Preaching: Bringing Bible Characters to Life (chs. 4 & 5 in particular). At the same time, homileticians often stress the need for preaching to effect change in the listeners (as in chapter 3 of my book). An omission often found in homiletics books, however, is how to prepare sermons with a persuasive goal specifically in view.

I believe that the goal of preaching is ultimately to effect change in the listeners to bring them into conformity with the will and Word of God, to persuade the listeners. The definition of persuasion, therefore, by Woodward and Denton, given above, adequately provides a framework for my modified definition of persuasive preaching:

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Persuasive preaching is (1) the process of preparing biblical, expository messages using a persuasive pattern, and (2) presenting them through verbal and nonverbal communication means (3) to autonomous individuals who can be convicted and/or taught by God's Holy Spirit, (4) in order to alter or strengthen (5) their attitudes and beliefs toward God, His Word, and other individuals, resulting in their lives being transformed into the image of Christ.

Implementing Persuasion

Various organizational patterns are suggested by communication scholars to effect persuasion. For preaching purposes, however, four basic organizational patterns can be effectively used to structure persuasive sermons: problem-solution, refutation, cause-effect, and motivated sequence (Beebe and Beebe, 1994, see ch. 16). Each of these will be briefly explained, and a sample sermon outline presented to illustrate each one.

Problem-Solution. The problem-solution type of sermon will have two main emphases: a statement of the problem, and a presentation of the solution to the problem. Political candidates often use this approach. "The problem-solution pattern works best when a clearly evident problem can be documented and a solution can be proposed to deal with the evils of the well-documented problem" (Beebe & Beebe, 1994, p. 383; see also Lucas, 1995, pp. 180-81, 351-53). Biblical preaching often deals with just this type of issues. Indeed, probably all of the "life situation" or the "felt needs" sermons fall into this category.

An example of this approach is seen in John Ortberg's (teaching pastor at Willow Creek Community Church) sermon on April 12-13, 2003, titled, "Why Promiscuity?" His four section sermon actually fits well into these two broad categories. Under what can be called the "Problem" element, he discussed three areas: [a] "some observations about sexuality;" [b] the questions, "Why? It's just a simple act, involving body parts and nerve endings. It's biological. Why does it have this power?" and [c] "It's not just biological; the Bible says it's spiritual." Under what can be called the "Solution" element, he discussed his fourth area: "To honor God's design for sexuality means to reserve sexual intimacy for marriage" (www.willowcreek.org; 7/17/2003). The persuasive goal for the sermon is for biblical obedience to the sacred commitment of marital intimacy.