Verbum and Preaching, Part 1: A Brief Introduction

This post is by Jason Stellman, Adult Education Specialist here at Verbum.

Hey everyone, my name’s Jason Stellman. I’m the new Adult Education guy at Verbum.

The reason I’m writing is that I’m planning to start a new series of posts on homiletics and preaching. Until a couple years ago, I was a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and my conversion to “the dark side of the Force” caused something of a stir in certain conservative Protestant circles. (If you’re interested, you can view my resignation letter here, my appearance on The Journey Home here, and my address at last year’s Defending the Faith conference in Steubenville here.)

For the past two decades, I’ve been teaching Scripture and theology on a regular basis, predominantly in official, ordained capacities both in broad evangelical and staunch Calvinistic contexts, and more recently to Catholic audiences. My career as a teacher of Scripture to everyone from poor African villagers to European university students to wealthy American suburbanites has enabled me to learn a bit about how to communicate deep truths to diverse audiences with credibility and understanding, in ways that are simple, clear, and engaging. It’s our conviction here at Verbum that the tools we offer can and should be directed toward our clergy, with a special desire to help priests with their weekly preaching ministries.

All that to say, I have a few ideas marinating in my head for how Verbum can help meet this serious need. So stay tuned for more posts and videos on preaching, as well as opportunities for you all to get involved in our efforts to get Verbum into the hands (or onto the screens) of as many Catholic priests and preachers as possible!

Share
Written by
Aric
View all articles
10 comments
  • Welcome home, Jason!

    Thanks for your effort in helping us be better instruments of the Lord.

    God’s blessings on you and your ministries.

  • This is exciting news. I’ve been a Logos user for more than 10 years. The Homiletic services that I currently find useful are outside of Verbum at this time. I use both Connections from Jay Cormier and Homily Helps from St Anthony Messenger Press. Although good there is a weakness in that the exegesis of the people hearing the Homily isn’t addressed. It is often difficult to include both the message of the Sunday scripture and catechesis in a 7 minute homily with attention directed to the present needs of the congregation who is going to hear it. The converts from other Christian denominations seem to have a fresh perspective on these things that I don’t always see myself.

  • Hello Jason,

    Unfortunately, we need more then just good preaching from the pulpit. We need to catechised as part of the homily. Have you heard of this?https://www.wewanttobetaught.com Maybe a hook up between Verbum and what they are trying do may be a good start.

    God Bless,

    Pete

    • Pete. I totally agree. In fact, one might argue that “good” preaching includes catechesis (I think Jason was going to argue just that).

      I hadn’t heard about this site specifically, but it seems like Verbum already largely achieves this – using the current lectionary to discover relevant topics for catechesis. Stay tuned, and let us know if we address this effectively.

  • Don’t forget seminarians. All of the preaching and catechizing potential as clergy, but even less discretionary spending money.

  • Welcome to the Dark Side! Your opening remark reminded me of a meme I saw on FB where Darth Vader is knocking on someone’s front door, saying, “Hi. If you have a few minutes I’d like to talk with you about the Dark Side”, ala JW or Mormon. Funny.

    Anyway, they have a good man in you. Since I don’t know a whole lot about their theology, I suspect there are theological terms I am not aware of. If someone wanted to learn more about Evangelical Theology, what specific search terms should I do a search on in my collection? I have the Capstone Plus.

    Thanks, and looking forward to your posts on preaching and homiletics. In fact, VERY interested. I’m heading in that direction with my Masters.

  • While priests and homilies are one market, there is another major market that is hungrier for tools – the lay ministers running priestless parishes, religious education, and spiritual formation programs.Also, please remember that not all Catholics are new converts e.g. Hahn, Shea, Ray … there need to be solid resources for the birth Catholic especially to aid the priest in reaching the Spanish, Chinese, Lebanese … immigrants to their parishes.

  • Jason, I’ve been following your personal blog for quite some time and I’m excited to see you are now involved with Verbum. Congratulations! I am looking forward to the value you will bring to Logos and our Catholic community.

Written by Aric