It has been an honor, highly prized, to fulfill engagements as preacher or lecturer to seminary audiences, ministerial assemblies, and to guide working pastors in sermon clinics and workshops on preaching. This brief book has resulted from such occasions. It has been a work of love to share some of my experiences, insights, and convictions with so many others intent to fulfill their ministry as preachers. Critical questions, searching comments, and encouraging responses during those occasions of service have helped to determine the lines along which this book has been written. The title and theme are not merely academic, and the stress upon the need for responsible pulpits in our churches is not without evident reason.
