After 13 Years, I’m Moving on from Pro Preacher. Here’s Why.

This one’s going to be a little tough to share, but it’s been on my heart, and I want to be upfront with you. Things with Pro Preacher and the content I’ve been making are going to change.

I’ve been doing ProPreacher.com for over 13 years. I know I may not look old enough to have been at it that long, but I started a long time ago. I was about five years into ministry, serving as a youth pastor at a large church in New Mexico. My daughter had already been born, almost four years old at the time, and my son was about to be born. It was in that season that God started laying on my heart a deep desire to write, to start a blog.

I started the site because I am passionate about preaching. Being a pastor has been my calling first and foremost, something I’ve felt drawn to since I was 16. I’ve pursued pastoral ministry ever since, working at a number of churches across the country. Around that time, I realized I really needed to grow in my preaching. I was pretty bad, honestly, and I had a lot of work to do. I thought, “One of the best ways I know how to learn something is to write about it.” So I did.

I started the website anonymously. I didn’t put my name to it, probably out of a lot of insecurity. I felt like people wouldn’t care what a guy only five years into ministry, in his early twenties, had to say about preaching. And I wouldn’t blame them for thinking that. So I just started writing. Here’s what I’m learning. Here’s what I’m reading. Here’s what I’m studying. I didn’t promote it much or tell anybody about it.

And then, surprisingly, people started showing up.

The search engines started picking it up. Some well-known voices started reposting my content on their websites. Before I knew it, Pro Preacher was a thing. People were visiting, articles were gaining traction, and it eventually turned into my first book, Preaching Nuts and Bolts, and later my second book, Preach and Deliver, focused less on the mechanics of writing a sermon and more on how to actually deliver it.

ProPreacher has been going strong for over 13 years. There was a season where I was doing it full time after stepping away from a church in an unhealthy situation. I went back to school, attending Phoenix Seminary to sharpen my theology and pastoral skills. I had the privilege of studying under Dr. Wayne Grudem, the man who literally wrote the book on systematic theology, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. It shaped my beliefs in profound ways.

After that season, I could have stayed doing full time online content. It was going well. Between my wife’s job and mine, we were making ends meet. But the call to be a pastor has always been something deeply rooted in me, and I missed it. When God opened a door at Arizona Community Church, I jumped back in with both feet. I’ve been there for over six years now, starting as an associate pastor and now serving as theexecutive pastor, overseeing business operations and finance, and preaching and teaching whenever our lead pastor is away.

That’s my heart. That’s my drive.

But I’ve always felt a parallel calling from the Lord to write, to create content, to teach the Bible. And as I’ve been praying about what to do with Pro Preacher, I’ve reached a point where I’d sit down to make a video or write an article and think, “I still love preaching, but that’s not all I want to talk about.”

What’s Changing?

So here’s what’s changing: Pro Preacher isn’t dying. If anything, it’s expanding. I’m going to be talking more about the Bible, more about what Scripture says about everyday life, and whatever else God puts on my heart. It will all stay under the Christian umbrella, all biblically focused. I’ll still talk about preaching and pastoral ministry because that’s what I live every single day, but I also want to share more of what I feel called to preach, not just how to preach it.

You might notice a different style of content and some different subject matters. It’s all going to be grounded in conservative, solid theology, because that’s simply who I am. My old articles and courses will stay on the site, my sermon calendars and preaching resources aren’t going anywhere, but I may change the name of the website. You might see some shifts as I work behind the scenes.

Instead of only talking to pastors, I want to talk to pastors and everyday people interested in what the Bible says. My heart is still the same, passionate about ministry, passionate about preaching, but I want this to be bigger than tips on sermon structure.

It’s a terrible business decision. But I believe it’s a ministry decision that God is pulling my heart toward, and I’m going to lean into that. Rather than sitting back in fear and doing what’s safe, I’m going to practice what I preach, step out in faith, and follow where I feel the Spirit leading.

I’m going to take a few weeks to work on some things behind the scenes, and then come back with new content. If you’re in for the ride, I’d love to know. Drop a comment and let me know you’re sticking around. If it’s not for you, I completely understand. No hard feelings.

I’m only 40 years old. Lord willing, I’ve still got a lot of time and ministry left in me. I’m excited to see what God does with this.

God bless. Keep on preaching. See you soon.