BONUS | Heather Joy Zimmerman on Preaching Resources

Heather Joy Zimmerman shares why the Evangelical Homiletics Society has been one of the most formative influences on her preaching ministry. She discusses the value of a scholarly community devoted to expository preaching, opportunities for pastors and students to grow as preachers, and how meaningful relationships and collaboration can sharpen faithful proclamation of God's Word. 

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Transcript

Zach Wagner 2:33

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the CPT Podcast. I'm Zach Wagner. I am joined as always by CPT President Joel Lawrence. Hello, Joel. Hello, Zach. And then back for one of our bonus segments, such as they are, is CPT fellow Heather Joy Zimmerman. Hello, Heather.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 2:52

Hi, Zach.

Zach Wagner 2:54

Thanks for being with us for this little extended conversation here. And uh over to you, Joel, to give folks some context for what we're doing in these little preaching vignettes.

Joel Lawrence 3:07

Yep. So we've been uh had the opportunity to, as we've had people on the podcast, invite them to share a little bit about uh a resource in preaching that has been helpful and an influence in preaching that has been helpful. And and Heather, with with your with your life story and your vocational trajectory, you're perfect for this conversation. So tell us about uh a resource that has been influential for you as you've developed in teaching and preaching.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 3:39

Yeah, thank you so much. I would say one of the most significant resources for me has been bigger than a book, it's been a whole network. It's called the Evangelical Homilenic Society. So it's an academic society like the Evangelical Theological Society, but specifically for preaching and um for evangelicals. And what I love is first off, it's very denominationally diverse. You have people from all across the country. We're even expanding globally. And the I was first exposed to it by my preaching profer Moody, Dr. Winfred Geely, who encouraged me to join. And I was really anxious about it at first. I didn't know if there's a place for me here, and I was just so surprised by the welcome I experienced. And it was a place that, yes, had academic resources where it's primarily uh teachers of preaching, so homiliticians, but also people who deeply care about the craft of preaching and studying it from an academic angle. And I was just encouraged by the hospitality there, by the lack of pretense that some academic societies, there's all this who's who and trying to size people up. And I was shocked at the hospitality and kindness, and just people there who, in a world where maybe there's less of a commitment to expository preaching, or in other settings where people don't um, outside of evangelicalism, where people don't see scripture as the foundation for the sermon, there's this sweet common love for expository preaching and seeing scripture as a foundation for the sermon that unites people across a whole bunch of different theological lines. And they have an annual conference every year. This year it's going to be at Biola University, and the topic will be on preaching and mental health, which is such an important topic. We've got a fantastic slate of papers. I mentioned this in another segment with you guys. Part of what's so fun about it is they distribute the papers ahead of time. So you're not just sitting there and listening to people read, but you're actually dialoguing and shaping scholarship, and it's a fantastic network of people who care about the academic study of preaching.

Zach Wagner 5:44

And it's its own independent meeting. It's not like a subset of ETS or anything like that. I think that is a common misconception. Yeah.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 5:55

Yeah, ETS does have a homiletics. Section there. Yeah, it's it tends, and I know some great people connected with it, but this is a whole society. And so unfortunately, it does meet another time, so it is hard when you're trying to stay fresh in both the field of biblical studies because they're both in the fall. This one's in October, so to hit CBT and this. It's it is a lot, but it but it's such a great resource and connection point. And I'm actually co-writing a book with two colleagues that I met through there, which was so kind. Quick little plug for older scholars to find a junior scholar and help them learn how to write. And so we're working on a book on preaching women, and that came out of connections we've made there over the years.

Joel Lawrence 6:36

So you said it it meets once a year this year, it's at Biola. Is there a during the year, are there cohort groups connected to it at all? Or how how does that work in terms of if people are interested and they want to know a little bit more about what is involvement in this look like? Tell us a little bit about what that looks like for you as you're involved with EHS.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 6:59

Yeah, so I'm actually a communication coordinator, so if they'd want to get to that. You're doing your job. You are really doing your job. Yes, yes. There's some self-interest here too. But genuinely, so it's so the the annual meeting, we do have like Zoom webinars uh occasionally throughout the year. Kind of like ETS doesn't often there might be regional meetings, but it's a much smaller society. The conference meetings are usually about 100 to 150, so it's a really great chance to get to know people more.

Zach Wagner 7:26

That's a good size.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 7:27

And yeah, so that's where I've built genuine friendships over the last 10 years there. And there's um there is also an academic journal. So if you're looking to write or publish on preaching and it's peer-reviewed, they do um, especially for if you're like a PhD student, they do book reviews, so that can be an opportunity to start getting your feet wet in the writing process. And yeah, I think that's that's great. Like that's the main, it's it's not a high commitment level, but there's great opportunities for connecting and networking.

Joel Lawrence 7:57

Yeah.

Zach Wagner 7:59

Um, I was gonna ask, sorry, Joel. Um for folks listening who are like, you know, I I care deeply about this. I work a lot on my preaching craft as a core part of my ministry, but I'm not, you know, a homiletics professor or aspiring to be one. Is there space for pastors who just care deeply about this to um get connected and and and show up and benefit from this?

Heather Joy Zimmerman 8:25

Absolutely. So it's not if if you're just um like there's lots of preaching conferences out there. If you're missing, so that's so what's the difference of this? This is just gonna be a little more academic. So it doesn't mean you're gonna feel excluded, but if you miss your seminary classes on preaching, and you're like, man, I want to get a little more, and we address different topics. So next year's conference is gonna be preaching in rural America. So there's different topics every year. The conference papers don't have to be on that topic, but if you're missing that academ, if you've got that academic itch on that angle of preaching versus just what's the latest trend or the latest hype or that sort of thing, this is a space if you want to write and present. If you don't have a PhD, you'll have to have a sponsor, just kind of like a ETS or other conferences. But I think this is a great space for if someone's a pastor theologian with a PhD who cares about preaching, and you want to know, okay, well, what where can I contribute? This is a great place to contribute and learn and brush shoulders with other people and find younger PhD students or younger scholars that that need encouragement. We do have a student sermon. I should mention too quick, we have three competitions. There's a paper competition, which is what just based on the papers. There's also a student sermon competition. So the deadline, we just extended it, so there are 10 days left. Well, right. The date of the recording, so this may not actually work later. Uh you can cut that apart. But there's a student sermon competition where masters or undergrad students can submit a student sermon, and it'll be evaluated by preaching professors across the country. And then um there's also a a PhD, it's called the um the Scott Gibson Award, and it's for it, it's supposed to be its own paper, so not just a chapter of your dissertation, but it should but you could use that to write a paper for this, where it is evaluating like PhD and possibly demon. You could look at the the cat the actual description there, but doctoral level writing. There's there's a competition there with a cash prize. Highly recommend.

Joel Lawrence 10:24

That's great. Thanks for sharing that with us. Encourage people, uh, if you've not connected to the Evangelical Homilytic Society to do so. And again, Heather, thanks so much for coming on the podcast with us today.

Heather Joy Zimmerman 10:36

Thank you so much.

Zach Wagner 10:39

Thanks for listening to today's episode of the CPT Podcast, a theology podcast for the church. If you enjoyed this episode, would you consider subscribing if you haven't already? You can also help us out by leaving a rating and especially a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. We love hearing from listeners in this way, and it helps others find out about the show. The Pastor Theologians Podcast is a production of the Center for Pastor Theologians. You can learn more about the CPT at our website, Pastor Theologians.com. You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, and follow us on X. This show is produced by Seth Porch and Sophia Luke. The show is recorded and edited in partnership with Glowfire Creative, and editing is done by Seth Creekmore. Hosting duties are shared by Joel Lawrence, Ray Paul, and me, Zach Wagner. Thanks for listening.