SBTC pastor’s book on Spurgeon underscores the primacy of prayer

As he has mentored pastors at varying times over the past four decades, Keeney Dickenson said he has noticed something often missing from their sermon preparation—prayer.

It’s a realization that spurred Dickenson, pastor of First Baptist Church in Crockett and prayer ministry specialist for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, to write his latest book, Spurgeon: The Prayer-Powered Pulpit of the Prince of Preachers. Gleaning examples from the life of Charles Spurgeon—the 19th century church leader known as the “Prince of Preachers”—Dickenson’s book aims to encourage pastors to make prayer foundational to their sermon preparation, ministries, and lives.

Dickenson said researching Spurgeon’s life deepened his own desire for a Christ-centered life and ministry and underscored the biblical truth found in John 15:5 that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing.

“Spurgeon’s desperate dependence upon God superabundantly compensated for any lack of formal theological training,” Dickenson said.

“ … If the pastor as shepherd becomes disoriented to the ways and the will of God, the flock he leads will quickly do the same. We have seen what we can do for God, but that is nothing compared to what God can do through us.”

In endorsing the book, Tom J. Nettles, senior professor of historical theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote, “This book relentlessly pursues the premise that the preacher must first and foremost be a man of God before he can be of any use to his people. He must be a God-saturated person in his personal life and must inject prayer into every phase of self-examination and sermon preparation if he is to be a vessel ‘unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use’ (2 Timothy 2:21).” 

Donald Whitney, professor of biblical spirituality at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote in his forward to the book, “[This book] is especially for those pastors who have a deep hunger to be godly men, to shepherd the flock of God faithfully, and to preach the Bible truthfully and in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The book is being distributed through Dickenson’s Prayeridigm Publishing label, as well as through other online booksellers.

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