Apply Backstory Preaching’s foundational sermon prep framework to crafting sermons throughout the Easter season.
About this Event

Crafting Easter Sermons You Can’t Wait to Preach
A Five-Day Intensive on Preaching Throughout the Easter Season
The Rev’d Dr. Lisa Cressman, Backstory Preaching
with the Rev’d Dr. Carolyn Sharp, Professor of Homiletics, Yale Divinity School
March 10-14, 2025, 11:00-12:30 pm EST

Apply Backstory Preaching’s foundational sermon prep framework to crafting sermons throughout the Easter season you believe in and can’t wait to preach. In this process, rooted in prayer and practical tools, you will discover a framework you can rely on week after week to prepare sermons more efficiently and with more joy. You will discover how to experience sermon prep as a spiritual respite, versus as a purely academic exercise. We’ll explore:

The Scriptural themes of the entire Easter season
New ways to approach scripture to unlock fresh insights—no matter how many times you have encountered a text
Strategies to keep your exegesis focused so you do not spend hours down unnecessary rabbit holes
A filter to ensure your sermon offers one clear message of Good News
A variety of new perspectives through opportunities to workshop sermons with classmates

In daily workshops, you will apply the 5-step process in real time. This workshop will give you the structure and guidance you need to finish your Easter sermon by Friday. Confident in—and finished with—your sermon, you will be free to tend to the services and activities of Holy Week. Please plan on 1-2 hours of independent sermon prep daily beyond our time together.

The Rev’d Dr. Lisa Cressman is an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and retreat leader of more than 30 years, serving congregations in Indianapolis, Minnesota, and Texas before becoming the Founding Steward of Backstory Preaching. Launched in 2016, Backstory Preaching is the first and only online “conference center” where Episcopal/Anglican and Mainline Protestant preachers can thrive in the craft, process, and spirituality of their preaching. She is the author of The Gospel People Don’t Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages (Working Preacher Books, 2020), Backstory Preaching: Integrating Life, Spirituality, and Craft (The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, 2018), and Craft an Effective Sermon by Friday, and a guest preacher, preaching instructor, and keynote speaker. She is a Certified Daring Way® Facilitator, and she holds a BS in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.Div. from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, CA., and a D.Min. in Practical Theology from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, IN. Her hope for you is simple but profound: that you would preach with your whole life.