What is an anchor image you've used recently that you found helpful? How did it carry the passage from beginning to end. Examples of these cases really help new folks see what anchor illustrations are and how they work. I'll go first. In a sermon on Psalm 51, I used the image of someone knocking on the front door while you're sorting dirty laundry in the den. What do you do? Hide? What if you could be free enough to open the door and say, "Come on in, excuse the mess." This carried because I was able to come back to the image over and over, the emotional issues related to it, and the concrete action of opening the door. The mess is real. Confessing the mess is hard. Jesus comes in to clean the mess for us. Now, we can be real, confessing the mess but celebrating the one who bore the stench in my place.

I'm looking for a few people who would like to try Claude/Anthropic as their AI model for Preach360 this week. I can take up to five folks. Volunteer in the comments. 👇 And just a reminder: Live office hours today 11:00 AM ET! Bring your questions, this Sunday's sermon, and whatever else you want to talk about. I love Office Hours!

Imagine having a row of theological giants and trusted mentors sitting in your study, ready to look over your sermon manuscript and give you tailored feedback. Yesterday, I met with someone who is exploring how to use AI prompting to access theological works online to provide deep analysis and help for sermon prep. It got me thinking about how we can leverage Preach360 to bridge the gap between deep theological study and the weekly rhythm of sermon preparation. If you want to sharpen your message and dig deeper into the text, you don't have to start from scratch. You can invite your favorite historical or contemporary mentors into your study. For example, when you're wrestling with the Problem movement of your sermon, you want to dig down into the heart of human resistance to the Principle. One of the most prolific authors on the nature of the human heart and the sinfulness of sin is the Puritan John Owen. Instead of just wishing you had time to comb through his collected works this week, you can bring his perspective directly into Preach360. Try asking it a prompt like this: "Based on John Owen's collected works in this area of understanding the sinfulness of sin, how would he analyze my manuscript so far? In this text, what suggestions would he have for how I can more accurately and helpfully identify resistance in this sermon?" I actually ran my own sermon from last week through the John Owen perspective in the Problem section, and it was absolutely unbelievably helpful. I’ll be doing that from now on, no doubt. Customizing Your Study Circle The beauty of this approach is that you aren't limited to one voice. You can curate a virtual circle of mentors depending on which movement of the sermon you are developing: - For counseling the heart in the Response, you might ask for an analysis from someone like Larry Crabb to help expose underlying brokenness and motivational roots. - In the Gospel movement, you might ask how Tim Keller would approach unfolding the beauty of the cross and the finished work of Jesus from your specific text.

What's your text and keyword for this Sunday?

What are the 3-5 top areas where you invest the most time during the week? - Sermon prep/devotion/prayer? - Event attendance? - Care and counseling (visitation, hospital, crisis, etc.)? - Meetings/appointments? - Planning/vision (for seasons, series, events)? - Admin & communication (email, social media, testing, phone, etc.)? - Professional development (reading, workshops, coaching)? - Other?