PHIL-E invites clergy and lay leaders to seek new ideas and experiment with the practices and theories of preaching for compelling 21st century ministry. The Lab welcomes participants who are looking to refresh their preaching practices, want to explore preaching through conversations with leading homileticians across North America, and are committed to learning, experimenting, and reflecting within a community of ministry peers.
In 2025-26 PHIL-E is hosting a local and a national cohort, each with 10-12 clergy leaders. Together they will engage in monthly book discussions with authors, experiment with fresh approaches to preaching in their ministry context, and meet to evaluate and innovate preaching practices.
This year PHIL-E participants will meet with:
Donyelle McCray, associate professor of homiletics at Yale Divinity School; author of Is It a Sermon?: Art, Activism, and Genre Fluidity in African American Preaching (Westminster John Knox, 2024).
E. Trey Clark, assistant professor of Preaching and Spiritual Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary; author of Black Contemplative Preaching: A Hidden History of Prayer, Proclamation, and Prophetic Witness (Baylor, 2024).
Sunggu Yang, associate professor of Theology and Christian Ministries at George Fox University; author and editor of Arts and Preaching: A Handbook for Practice, Volume 1 (Cascade, 2025).
Eunjoo Kim, Charles G. Finney Chair, professor of Homiletics and Liturgics at Vanderbilt Divinity School; author of Preaching Jesus: Postcolonial Approaches (Rowman & Littlefield, 2024).
Jerusha Matsen Neal, Associate Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School, author of Holy Ground: Climate Change, Preaching, and the Apocalypse of Peace (Baylor University Press, 2024).
Dr. Richard Voelz, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship at Union Presbyterian Seminary, author of From Pulpit to Public Square: Faithful Speech beyond Church Walls (Westminster John Knox Press, 2025)
Dr. Casey Sigmon, Associate Professor of Preaching and Worship and Director of the Pause/Play Center for Preachers at Saint Paul School of Theology, author of Engaging the Gadfly: Reflective Online, Hybrid, and In-Person Preaching in a Digital Age (Cascade Books, an imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2025)
Dr. Sarah Travis, Associate Professor at Knox College, Canada, author of Remembering the Body: Preaching That Affirms Sexuality (Cascade Books, imprint of Wipf and Stock, 2025).