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What does Saving Eutycus (Gary Millar and Phil Campbell, Matthias Media, 2013) promise?
In 172 focussed and engaging pages Millar and Campbell unpack the book’s subtitle ‘How to preach God’s Word and keep people awake’.
What I liked.
Everything.
Though not a sermon, Saving Eutychus is a wonderful example of practising what it preaches (so to speak). Ideas are introduced, explained in straightforward and well illustrated ways, and then their practical usage is demonstrated before moving on.
There is no padding, and, like the best preaching this reader reached the end of each chapter wishing for more. Saving Eutychus doesn’t take the place of larger books on hermeneutics, homiletics, biblical theology, biblical studies, and communication theory, but you’ll want to wade into them all with fresh enthusiasm and purpose after having your appetite whetted by this book.
The authors identify which chapters they principally authored, with Millar’s chapters covering spiritual preparation and the difference between preaching and lecturing; identifying the Gospel imperative in texts (particularly the Old Testament); and the process of ongoing accountable evaluation. Campbell covers techniques in composing written material that can be effectively delivered as spoken word; structure, emphasis and omitting unhelpful material; identifying the big idea; verbal delivery; and a tutorial in preparing and delivering a sermon.
The sheer helpfulness and practicality of Campbell’s ten tips for preaching and Millar’s chapter on preaching Gospel from Old Testament (in which he distills the essence of many books worth of Biblical Theology into a handful of pages) are standouts.
What I’m not sure about.
Nothing major.
Even if you’re not in the habit of writing out sermons in full, which is the book’s recommended model, there’s still so much content that is helpful and constructively challenging.
I was disappointed not to see the works of Sidney Greidanus recognised as a biblical theologian who has done wonderful work in the practical area of preaching gospel from Old Testament texts.
The subsuming of covenant theology into (and to the margins of) biblical theology continues.
I didn’t discern much reference to how systematic theology contributes to interpretation and sermon theme development.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
I’ve been preparing and delivering sermons for twenty-five years and Saving Eutychus taught me, challenged me, encouraged me, and also reminded me of the great goal of effective preaching: it’s not just to keep folk awake, it’s to be the Spirit-empowered means by which God ushers people into His family and grows them to become more like Jesus.

The Kindle edition of Saving Eutychus upon which this review is based was provided by Cross Focused Reviews (in conjunction with Matthias Media) for their Saving Eutychus blog tour.
A positive review was not required.