Preacher In A Hard Hat: A Guide To Preaching For Pastors And Everyone Else
Preacher in a Hard Hat: A Guide to Preaching for Pastors and Everyone Else. Chalice Press, 2006. Paper, 118 pages.
This is the rare preaching book — written by a Catholic for a cross-denominational readership. Schmitmeyer is a parish priest in Cincinnati who also serves as an adjunct professor of preaching at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. Although some of the language reflects his own liturgical tradition, it is nevertheless a book that has something to offer to a wider audience.
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Preacher in a Hard Hat is not a book to learn about how to preach. What is useful in this volume are the author’s insights about how to listen to people to prepare you to preach. The book is filled with stories of his own experiences in ministry and examples of how actually listening to them becomes foundational for effective preaching.
The homilies are well-written — even poetic at times — but reflect a tradition where preaching is not primary in worship. Nevertheless, they offer some useful examples of integrating the insights gained in pastoral ministry into the act of preaching.