Fortress Press

Good sermon illustrations are among a preacher's most persistent needs. However, Carlos E. Wilton argues that asking where to find good illustrations is the wrong question. In Illuminating Sermons, Wilton offers practical wisdom about how preachers can curate their own materials that extend beyond sermon illustrations.

Using museum curation as a lens, this book presents the foundational habit of holy wonder to help preachers recognize short textual materials--metaphors, stories, quotations, and poetry--that shimmer with the possibility of inspiration. The book casts an imaginative vision for preachers to develop lifelong disciplines of attention, creativity, discernment, and personal organization as they acquire, store, and deploy materials that illuminate rather than illustrate.

Illuminating Sermons provides an accessible approach for preachers to develop and sustain a practice to curate their own sermon illuminations. This easy-to-use approach makes the book ideal for seminary students in homiletics, preachers, and lay ministry educators who desire an innovative approach toward sermon preparation and development.