what are people saying

• In the tradition of Spurgeon’s famous Lectures to My Students, Jason Allen gives us Letters to My Students: On Preaching. Each of the twenty chapters is a short, succinct treatment broadly covering in summary fashion three crucial areas: “Preparing to Be a Preacher”; “Preparing Your Sermon”; and “Growing in Your Preaching.” Every young preacher (old ones too!) will find practical benefit and encouragement from this helpful book.

  ---

  David L. Allen, Dean of the School of Preaching, Southwestern Seminary

• Jason Allen knows preaching, preaching students, and the “Prince of Preachers.” So there’s no one better equipped to give us a volume that extends this great preaching legacy. Allen helps preachers to start well, practice well, and finish well in the ministry of the Word through text-driven, gospel-centered, and listener-friendly sermons. With the feel of a fireside chat, this book makes for a buffet from which all of us who preach can and should feast repeatedly. Whether you’re running your first leg or your last leg of the preaching race, mine this gem for its potent, practical, and timely treasures.

  ---

  Jim Shaddix, PhD, DMin, W. A. Criswell Professor of Expository Preaching and Senior Fellow of the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

• This is a book written to help men preparing for or just beginning a ministry of preaching. Mission accomplished! I wish this book had been available in the early days of my ministry. If it had been, I would have been a better preacher then, and I wouldn’t have had to learn by a longer and harder way many of the lessons Jason Allen presents here.

  ---

  Donald S. Whitney, Professor of Biblical Spirituality and Associate Dean, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; author of Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life and Praying the Bible

• For almost fifty years now, Spurgeon’s Lectures to My Students has been a constant companion. I have read it, re-read it, referred to it in lectures, and quoted it often in my own attempts to write about preaching. Now, Dr. Allen has done us a wonderful service. His book Letters to My Students: On Preaching is a helpful, current discussion of the sacred task of preaching the Word of God. Should I have fifty more years of ministry, I’m sure this volume by Dr. Allen would be a constant reference. I am glad that those who will have those fifty years will be able to use it as such!

  ---

  Jerry Vines

• All of us who preach have a challenging and demanding task entrusted to us by God. Those who are committed to the pulpit are students throughout their lives. Jason Allen has given to us a masterful, practical, and helpful resource on the essentials of preaching. These principles will enable you to be a better student of God’s Word and a more effective communicator of His truths.

  ---

  Mac Brunson, Senior Pastor of Valleydale Church in Birmingham, Alabama

• The task of preaching—authoritatively explaining and applying God’s Word to God’s people—is both glorious and grueling. It is certainly easier to criticize than to do. And preparing the sermon isn’t even the whole task, for the minister must also prepare his soul. The sheer weight of this stewardship is why I’m so grateful for Jason Allen’s Letters to My Students: On Preaching. This practical and compelling manual explores the various dynamics related to pulpit proclamation—from discerning the call to developing the gift to delivering the message. Whether you stand behind the sacred desk each Sunday or you desire to one day, this book will serve you well.

  ---

  Matt Smethurst, Managing Editor, The Gospel Coalition; author, Before You Open Your Bible: Nine Heart Postures for Approaching God’s Word and 1–2 Thessalonians: A 12-Week Study

• This new volume is not simply another theoretical treatise but is filled with practical principles beaten out on the anvil of personal experience by one of the brightest new lights in Christian higher education today. I hope every young preacher reads and heeds the truths found within these pages.

  ---

  O. S. Hawkins, Former Pastor, First Baptist Church in Dallas; author of the “Code Series” devotionals

• What a great read. Academics tend to forget that most of us who labor in the pulpit need to be mindful of our firm foundation. Jason Allen has not forgotten the call to equip those who labor each Sunday. His writing is clear and his words are very encouraging. I especially commend the preacher’s checklist (chapter 19). Read this and be motivated to sweat in service of the calling and work of preaching.

  ---

  Steven Smith, Senior Pastor, Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas; author of Dying to Preach and Recapturing the Voice of God; coauthor of Preaching for the Rest of Us