Making Your Way to the Pulpit is a book for beginning preachers, for preachers who will never have a seminary course called "homiletics" (the art of preaching), for preachers who studied homiletics with William Hethcock and want a review, and for all preachers who are looking for a tested, reliable approach to sermon preparation. In short, this is a book for those who preach regularly or occasionally and would like a clear guide for making their way to the pulpit. At the School of Theology (SofT), University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, the Rev. Dr. William H. Hethcock directed field education from 1979 to 1985 and taught homiletics from 1985 until his retirement in 1997. After retiring, he continued to teach homiletics on semester contracts at the SofT and the Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). He remains active as a teacher, speaker on the subject of preaching, and preacher.
Assimilating the work of other scholars, Hethcock developed his own process for approaching sermon preparation on a weekly basis. This book summarizes and describes the Hethcock method. When followed, his process reliably gets the preacher to the pulpit with a biblical proclamation that resonates with individuals in today's congregations.