The Mentorship
Transform your preaching ministry from the inside out
August 16, 2026 – May 18, 2027
A 10-month Preaching intensive Tailored to your needs, challenges & goals
100% of participants recommend the mentorship to other preachers.
“Transformational!”
“Will revolutionize the way you approach sermon preparation.”
“Amazing community!”
“Worth both your time and your money.”
“Helpful and outstanding in quality.”
Preaching is hard.
It's personal and corporate. Spiritual and technical.
It's where your backstory, your call, and your experience of God and the world collide every week in the most public of venues.
No wonder it's a struggle.
But what if you had individualized support to help you:
understand your backstory and identify your individual needs
explore what's getting in the way of thriving—in and out of the pulpit
integrate new tools/techniques with your spirituality so they become part of your lifestyle
...so you enter the pulpit with confidence, courage, & joy.
We get it.
As a preacher, it's your job to be closely connected to God.
The problem is...somewhere in the daily demands of ministry—and the relentless deadlines of preparing sermons week-to-week—your spirit is drained in the process.
Sermon prep becomes a chore you have to do.
Preaching feels less like joyful proclamation and more like a frantic scramble to come up with something—anything—to say this week.
And your personal experience of scripture feels so out of sync with what you're preaching, you feel like you're only going through the motions—like a spiritual automaton.
“I really, honestly did not have a good plan, and my preparation time was done in isolation… it was heavy, it was draining, and it was not joyful. But with the Mentorship, I gained a supportive community, developed a rhythm, and now prepare more efficiently with joy, with focus, and less stress. My congregation now gets the main idea… and they are able to connect their Sunday to Monday - that’s the joy.”
A word from our Founding Steward,
Lisa Cressman
Lisa Cressman, Founding Steward of Backstory Preaching, shares what you can expect in the Mentorship.
Preach with More impact. Live with less Stress
Experience sermon prep as respite.
Approach the blank page with confidence.
Preach sermons that stay with your listeners.
Finish sermons in your work hours rather than on personal time.
Establish rhythms you can sustain for a lifetime of ministry…without burning out yourself or your loved ones.
“I was a pretty good preacher, but I wanted to be a good preacher, full stop… not just articulate, but also compelling. With specific and consistent feedback from my mentor and my cohort, I pushed past my comfort zone - and it showed. One Sunday, my husband said, ‘I don’t know if you realize it, but your preaching has gotten really good,’ and I told him, ‘Well, I do. It’s Backstory Preaching and the Mentorship.’”
Be good news so you can preach good news.
Our Dual Focus Makes this Online Mentorship Unique:
Spirituality
You’ll dive deep into your identity as a Christian — your backstory. Your backstory is made mostly of ordinary moments of extraordinary love from God. Without cultivating awareness of that love, preaching can feel like another item on the ministry chore list.
Explore your experience of the gospel.
Examine the mindsets that help and hinder your preaching.
Identify places where fear and shame are holding you back.
Discover the transformative benefits of cultivating wonder, joy, and curiosity as you engage Scripture.
Craft
You’ll also practice the craft of preaching using both original techniques and tried-and-true methods.
Learn how to find a dozen ideas from a single passage of Scripture
Apply new writing strategies to enhance your message
Bring attention to small tweaks to strengthen your speaking skills.
Collaborate with skilled preachers in master classes.
Give and receive constructive feedback to make sermons stronger.
Most importantly, learn how to prepare and preach effectively every week with less stress and more joy so you can “Be Good News to Preach Good News.”
The result? Deeper faith & a new foundation that will strengthen the rest of your preaching vocation.
“The Mentorship has helped me identify what I actually do that engages listeners (and what doesn’t engage listeners). 360s and working with my mentor have given me new tools to experiment with to engage and hold the attention of my listeners.”
Who is this for?
This mentorship is for any preacher who desires depth, clarity, and community:
Bishops, priests, pastors, and deacons
New grads and seasoned veterans
Bi-vocational clergy balancing life and ministry
Anglican, Mainline Protestant, and Roman Catholic voices
Lay and ordained preachers seeking spiritual and craft renewal
What You Receive:
10 months of individual + small group mentoring (Aug–May)
Participation in Sermon Camp with your Mentorship cohort
One-on-one mentor sessions
Bite-sized, weekly mentor lessons for quick integration
Small group online collaboration
Detailed sermon appraisals
Materials to develop your voice & perspective
Membership in The Collective+ for ongoing preaching resources
What our graduates have to say
"I had reached the point in my career where the tools I had learned in seminary had been exhausted. Now I enjoy sermon writing again. My connection to Scripture has never been stronger. The way I look at the intersection of my sermon writing process and my personal spiritual practice allows me to speak with a language of the heart that has freed me to enjoy preaching again."
—The Rev. Robert Van Ess
“It’s one thing if you go to a conference… but over several months I learned it, I practiced it with lots of encouragement and support, and now it’s just part of my lived experience. The Mentorship gave me the confidence to try some new things in my preaching, and now people are noticing and they’re asking me about it. I was worried about the time and energy, but it has given me so much more energy than it has ever taken.”
—The Rev’d Gretchen S.
“After nine times through the lectionary, I was experiencing a profound sense of déjà vu. Thanks to the instruction of the Mentorship and the mentoring from the very good mentors, I'm now approaching sermon texts with excitement and a sense of discovery. I'm almost always done with my sermon by Thursday, enjoying a full day of Sabbath on Friday, and hearing from parishioners that there's new energy and engagement in my preaching.”
—The Rev’d Lindley D.
“Setting aside time for the Mentorship program has been a game changer for me. I loved having access to the Collective Plus program and the chance to collaborate weekly with other preachers, with the help of mentors - that time has just been invaluable. Now, there’s this sense of freedom that comes with preaching, and sometimes, I’m a week ahead, but don’t tell anybody.”
— The Rev’d Danielle B.
“One thing that has changed during the Mentorship is that I’ve taken a lot more risks in the moment of delivering the sermon. With encouragement from my mentor and colleague, I’ve learned to let go of such a tight grip of control and say yes to the insight or instinct that I’m sensing and receiving from God. My congregation has noticed too—they’ve said I’m bringing more of me into my sermons without even speaking a word about myself.”
—Pastor Julie W.
"I was spending all of the little cracks in my day, my weeknights and weekends working on sermons…rather than spending time with my family. Thankfully, I discovered Backstory Preaching. It has helped me streamline my preaching preparation process and get back a lot of those hours in my preparation. After doing the Mentorship, I was able to create more effective sermons in a lot less time…So Backstory Preaching has improved both my preaching life and my family life. And I cannot recommend it enough to any preacher."
—The Rev. Courtney Jones
“My mentor listens so attentively that I have been able to access new dimensions of my preaching voice... I think after the mentorship ends, I will just be beginning to reap the rewards.”
Investment Options
Valued at over $9000
offered for just 3990
$399 deposit upon application + 9 monthly payments of $399 (August - April)
Applications open May 31!
100% of Mentorship graduates recommend the program!
“I have been preaching for 15 years, and rarely felt confident I was delivering effective sermons. By the end of the Mentorship, I can say with confidence I am an effective preacher...
Please don’t let the time involved or the cost get in your way of applying. The Mentorship is worth both your time and your money, because it changes sermon development from a chore to an opportunity to spend time with God.”
