Clear Preaching
You worked hard on that sermon. Did they actually hear it?
Clear Preaching is the podcast for preachers who are serious about closing the gap between what they meant to say and what their congregation actually heard. Hosted by Dr. Jonathan McClintock — preacher, pastor, sixteen-year homiletics instructor, and developer of the four-domain Clear Preaching Framework — each episode delivers practical, framework-driven teaching on the discipline of preaching with clarity.
Through solo teaching episodes, conversations with preachers and scholars, and real sermon analysis, Clear Preaching helps you develop clarity at every stage of the preaching process — from the moment you open the text in your study to the moment you close your Bible in the pulpit.
Whether you are stepping into the pulpit for the first time or have been preaching for decades — if you believe the message you carry is worth delivering as clearly as possible, this podcast is for you.
Episodes
27 episodes
Ep 27: How Much of the Bible Are You Preaching?
Here is a question that sounds simple until you sit with it for a minute.What do we preach?Most of us have a quick answer. We preach the word. And of course we do. But here is the follow-up question that might not be so comfortabl...
Ep 26: Touching a Generation I Will Not Live to See_PART 2_Interview with Jerry Jones
"I learned to preach like I learned to swim. I fell in the creek and you gotta swim."In Episode 26, Jonathan sits down with Jerry Jones — author, professor, and one of the most respected voices in Apostolic preaching — for a con...
Ep 25: The Stories Behind the Sermons - An Interview with Jerry Jones
Where does a sermon actually come from?In this conversation, Jonathan sits down with Rev Jerry Jones, whose messages have shaped a generation — and asks the question most of us never get to ask: what was the genesis of that message?<...
Ep 24: The Call of the Preacher — How Do You Know?
There will come a season in your ministry when you are not sure.The work is hard. The fruit is thin. And somewhere in the middle of a Tuesday you are going to catch yourself asking the question out loud: Did I actually hear God on th...
Ep 23: We Can Only Go As High As Our Character Is Deep | Darin Sargent Interview
"We can only go as high as our character is deep."In this episode, Jonathan sits down with Darin Sargent — author, coach, and a friend of nearly thirty years — for a conversation that goes past sermon mechanics and into the thin...
Ep 22: More Than Words Count
A preacher who has been married five times can preach the greatest sermon about the home you've ever heard. The exegesis flawless. The structure airtight. Every word of it true.And it won't land.Not because the message is wrong — ...
Ep 21: Ride the River — Structure, Spirit, and Preaching Without a Manuscript (Interview with Pastor Joel Urshan)
What happens when a preacher stops trying to control the sermon and starts trusting the structure the Spirit is building?In this episode, Jonathan McClintock sits down with Pastor Joel Urshan who has spent decades navigating that exact q...
Ep 20: Why I'd Teach You Exposition Before Anything Else
Here's a conviction I hold with everything in me: if you're a developing preacher, learn to let the text speak before you learn to do anything else.In this episode, I make the case for mastering textual, expository preaching first — befo...
Ep 19: Four Approaches to Preaching
Most preachers develop one approach to sermon preparation and use it for everything.The way they were trained. The style they've always used. The method they admire in someone they respect. And they preach that way every week — regardles...
Ep 18: Whitefield and the Power of Preaching
Last night I watched a movie and came away stirred in a way I wasn't fully expecting.A Great Awakening — released this past April by Sight and Sound Films — tells the story of the unlikely friendship between George Whitefield an...
Ep 17: The Preacher and the Church
We've spent a lot of time on this podcast talking about the preacher and the text, and the preacher and the Spirit. This episode is about the preacher and the people — because preaching was never meant to happen in isolation.Here's the t...
Ep 16: What Gives Preaching Its Authority?
📋 Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment — 24 questions, 5 minutes. Find out which area of clarity (Thought, Structure, Language, or Delivery) is costing you the most: https://clearpreachin...
Ep 15: The Spirit and the Preacher
📋 Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment: https://clearpreaching.com/assessment 🎓 Join the Clear Preaching Academy:
Ep 14: Illustration Blindspots - The People in Our Congregations We Are Ignoring
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Half of churchgoers say their pastor doesn't...
Ep 13: The Pre-Loaded Congregation - The Spiritual Formation Challenge
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------You spent twenty hours in the text. You wres...
Ep 12: How Do I Decide What to Preach?
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Every week, preachers sit down to prepare a ...
Ep 11: What Actually Is Clarity in Preaching: And Why Is Everyone Suddenly Talking About It?
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------"Clarity" has become the word everyone in pr...
Ep. 10: Illustration and Application
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Most preachers know they need illustrations....
Ep 9: Don't Let AI Preach
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------AI can write your sermon in 90 seconds. It c...
Ep 8: Simpler Than You Think: Simplifying Sermon Preparation
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Sermon prep doesn't have to feel like chaos ...
Ep. 7: The Three Movements of the Open
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Most preachers spend the least preparation t...
Ep. 6: The Foundation: Keeping the Sermon Textually Honest
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Most preachers have sat with a rich biblical...
Ep. 5: Domain #4 - Clarity of Delivery
Every preacher has a clarity gap. Find yours. Take the free Clear Preaching Self-Assessment at clearpreaching.com/assessment------Episode 5: Domain Four — Clarity of Deliv...