* Useful as a text in seminaries The relationship between preachers and their hearers has changed a great deal since the old days of "three points and a poem." Hearers today are interested in engaging their preacher as a fellow traveler on the journey of faith. In fact, for many hearers, this engagement is the source of their trust in the preacher as a spiritual leader. Written by a noted preacher who has been selected ten times to serve on the faculty of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation's annual Preaching Excellence Program and as a presenter at many of their national or regional events, the purpose of this book is to assist preachers in understanding these shifts in what hearers need from sermons and equip them to prepare and deliver sermons under this new "conversational" model.