Improving evangelistic skill in the development and delivery of expository sermons by the pastor of Vansant Baptist Church, Vansant, Virginia

The director implemented a project that examined the process of sermon development and biblical communication to advance strategies for an expository preaching ministry. The director implemented a descriptive study through a cross-sectional survey, non-experimental research design. The primary purpose was to collect exploratory data to examine the feasibility of a project-created sermon tool to guide sermon development in expository preaching to communicate biblical truth. The project director distributed a project-made, on-line survey to collect perception data from the members of Vansant Baptist Church.;The director applied a ministry skill enhancement model. However, through examination of biblical and theological foundations and current preaching movements, the director developed a conceptual framework (Stark, 2015) to extend the model, and then a sermon tool. The modern Christ-centered preaching movements, ministries of Timothy Keller, Mark Dever, and the 9Marks movement guided the project's intentions for biblical communication to unbelievers. The director identified expository preaching as the means for developing and growing faith in human lives for the current project. An expert panel examined the sermon tool for content validity of effective biblical communication, and then recommended an additional skill the director applied.;Pilot data collected informed the study's data collection and survey development. The director delivered a series of ten sermons implementing the sermon tool, then distributed an on-line survey to a sample of participants (N=25) that measured the perception and precision of participants to identify biblical truth through the evangelistic skill applied.;Descriptive analysis revealed discrete differences in the quantitative data across predictor variables or groups. Summary mean data revealed a consistent trend in high mean scores and discrete variability between the eight skills, indicating confidence of expository preaching with an evangelistic sensitivity can function as a valid means for communicating biblical truth in a post-modern, post-biblical context. Further study should extend to evaluate the sermon tool, and increase the sample size for greater precision in the project's findings.