Lessons on Theocentric Preaching in a Modern World from Fleming Rutledge

The Call to Preach God, Not Ourselves

If you care about preaching that takes God seriously, you owe a debt to Fleming Rutledge—whether you know it or not.

This week on

Crackers & Grape Juice

we have a conversation that

Jason Micheli

and I had with Bishop Will Willimon and Rev. Tony Robinson about the one and only, the Rev. Fleming Rutledge. To say Fleming has influenced my preaching is an understatement.

From her theocentric preaching style to her razor-sharp use of language, Rutledge's sermons never flinch from the hard truths—sin, salvation, resurrection, and the cosmic battle between good and evil. The conversation traverses her Southern roots, her unapologetic embrace of proclamation over persuasion, and the way her preaching cuts through the noise of modern, therapeutic homiletics.

In her latest book, By the Word Worked: Encountering the Power of Biblical Preaching, Fleming writes:

“My own ministry of preaching has taken me to pulpits in many different denominations over the past thirty years. More to the present point, I have been in the pew in various locations far more often than in the pulpit. As I have traveled around, I get the impression that most congregations don't seem to have a sense of the biblical doctrine of the Word of God. They don't expect anything life-changing from the sermon. There is no excitement about the sermon, no anticipation. In the Episcopal Church, it is the liturgy and the communion service that keep people coming, if they come at all. It hasn't always been that way. For fourteen years I preached at an Episcopal church in New York that was quite the opposite. People-largely young— came because they expected an event of the Word of God. As they found that happening, they found one another as well. Once you've preached in an atmosphere with this sort of synergy, you aren't satisfied with anything less." This kind of expectation keeps us preachers fresh. This expectation is the work of the congregation, and it should create excitement from Sunday to Sunday. For the preacher, it is always a sobering, even scary responsibility-but you are carried and borne up by the promise of God that you are to be used as a vessel for God's living Word.” The Word Worked: Encountering the Power of Biblical Preaching (Baylor University Press, 2024), 17.

Fleming’s words here cut to the heart of what we explored in this episode: preaching not as explanation or encouragement, but as proclamation—an event of the living Word of God.

Give it a listen—and join us in giving thanks for one of the boldest voices in the church today.