Duke Divinity School Professor Will Willimon, an internationally renowned preacher, has completed a seven-volume set of lectionary sermon resources for preachers gleaned from his best material over three decades of writing Pulpit Resource, a weekly preaching subscription service used by thousands in several countries.
Abingdon Press recently published the final volume of the completed set titled Lectionary Sermon Resource, which provides preachers resources for every Sunday of the three-year Revised Common Lectionary cycles. Published in 2017, the first volume of the series treats the Sundays in Year B of the lectionary beginning with Advent in 2017. The full series consists of volumes for lectionary years A, B, and C (two volumes per year) and a separate volume dedicated to Psalms.
In the series, Willimon provides preachers resources for writing sermons such as making suggestions on stoking their imagination, leaving room for preachers to insert their own illustrations, making connections within their congregational context, and speaking the Word in their distinctive voice.
For the past two decades, Willimon has written Pulpit Resource, a preaching subscription service now published by Ministry Matters that is available both in a quarterly printed edition and electronically. It has thousands of subscribers in the U.S., Canada, and Australia.
“In my years with Pulpit Resource, I’ve written more than a thousand sermons with supporting material,” Willimon said. “Along the way I’ve made friends with hundreds of pastors who have invited me into their sermon preparation. Now it is good to have some of this material made available in this series of volumes. It’s a privilege to be part of the pulpit work of a new generation of preachers.”
Willimon, who continues to write Pulpit Resource, is a professor of the practice of Christian ministry at Duke Divinity School and has written more than 80 books, with more than a million copies sold. His most recent books, Stories by Willimon (also Abingdon Press), and Leading with the Sermon: Preaching as Leadership (Fortress Press), were published in February.
He served as the dean of Duke Chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University for 20 years. He returned to Duke after serving as the bishop of the North Alabama Conference from 2004 to 2012.