In 1956, towards the end of Reverend John Ames' life, he begins a letter to his young son: 'I told you last night that I might be gone sometime ... you reached up and put your fingers on my lips and gave me that look I never saw on any other face besides your mother's. It's a kind of furious pride, very passionate and stern. I'm always surprised to find eyebrows unsinged after I've suffered one of those looks. I will miss them.'

One of today's greatest preacher-theologians engages one of the twentieth century's greatest teacher-theologians on the meaning of preaching.
"Preachers, put away every handbook except this one. Forget the 'New' this and the 'post' that. Move beyond 'conservative' and 'liberal'. Above all, beware of rhetoric. This is the real thing. The combination of Will Willimon and Karl Barth was made in heaven." Fleming Rutledge, author of The Bible and the New York Times, and The Undoing of Death.

'Why do so many preachers make the most exciting news in the world sound so boring? That is the question that drives this unusual book. In a series of honest, personal and humorous letters the author also asks, 'What will it take to inspire really great preaching for the 21st century?' Always iconoclastic; sometimes irreverent, occasionally poignant, and unfailingly entertaining, Boyd-MacMillan brings twenty years of preaching experience on three continents to produce an exhilarating roadmap for the preacher in the coming century.

"Michael Quicke offers helpful insights for preachers who want to do more than tread water in the pulpit. His concept of preaching as a 360-degree event is an idea every preacher needs to grasp, and his chapter on the preaching swim is worth the cost of the book. Quicke speaks to his fellow preachers with warmth, energy, and an insight from which we can all benefit. I would recommend this book to any preacher!" Michael Duduit, editor, Preaching Magazine and preaching.com