Expositors Collective

Recorded live at the Expositors Collective training event at White Fields Church in Longmont, Colorado, this session features Shaun Sells teaching the core principles and habits of inductive Bible study. Designed to equip Bible teachers to handle Scripture with accuracy and integrity, Shaun’s message lays out the essential path of observing the text carefully, interpreting it responsibly, and applying it faithfully.

Shaun shows why the message must come from the passage rather than the personality of the preacher, how poor observation leads to poor interpretation, and why interpretation is the stage where most problems arise. He introduces practical tools like the 7-Letter Rule, demonstrates how to use word studies without drifting off course, and urges teachers to read widely so they grow in wisdom and depth. Throughout the session, Shaun emphasises that the way we study the Bible shapes who we become, warning teachers to guard their hearts from becoming more like the Pharisees than like Christ.

The training concludes with a reminder that patient, honest inductive study fuels clear and confident proclamation of the Word, serving both the teacher and the church.

About Shaun Sells
Shaun has served in ministry for nearly thirty years, including twenty four at Calvary Chapel Cheyenne, where he was youth pastor, assistant pastor, and senior pastor for eighteen years. His leadership began in the unexpected transition after the founding pastor stepped away, forcing him to learn the breadth of pastoral ministry firsthand. That experience produced a long standing desire to help pastors grow without facing those same burdens alone. Shaun now serves with Poimen Ministries, investing in the health and strength of pastors and churches around the world.

In this conversation, Lance Ralston reflects on more than forty years of pastoral ministry and Bible teaching. He describes how he began by leading a small group of men through Scripture, and how those early days shaped the habits and convictions that still guide him today. Lance shares lessons learned over decades in the pulpit, including what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what younger preachers often need to hear.

A major part of the episode focuses on the emotional lives of preachers and congregations. Lance explains how the fall affects human emotions, how the new birth begins to renew them, and why understanding this matters for anyone who teaches the Bible. He and Mike discuss how emotions can support faithful preaching, how they can get in the way, and how both preachers and hearers can grow healthier patterns of emotional life.

Lance also speaks about one of his great passions: church history. As the host of Communio Sanctorum: History of the Christian Church, he offers a wide view of the story of Christianity and highlights a few of his own preaching heroes from across the centuries. His love for leadership, historical context, and clear Bible teaching comes through in every part of the conversation.

About Lance Ralston

Lance Ralston is the founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Oxnard in Ventura County, California, a fellowship he and others began in 1982. The church has met in several locations over the years and moved to its current Eastman Avenue facility in 1998. Lance and his wife Lynn have been married for more than thirty years and have three adult children and a growing number of grandchildren.

Lance teaches the Bible expositionally, working systematically through both Old and New Testaments. He has taken his congregation through the entire Bible four times and is currently partway through a fifth. His teaching often includes historical background that helps listeners understand how Scripture speaks to life today.

He is the author of Marriage: As It Was Meant To Be. He also has a long-standing interest in leadership and enjoys training younger pastors and ministry leaders.

Lance hosts Communio Sanctorum – History of the Christian Church, a multi-season podcast designed to make church history accessible and engaging. Season 1 contains 150 episodes covering the story of the church from the first century to the eighteenth. Season 2 explores selected eras and themes in more detail.

In this session from our Longmont, Colorado preacher training weekend, Shane Angland walks through the heart of expository preaching and explains why faithful handling of Scripture is vital for every pastor, teacher, and communicator of God’s word.

Shane gives a clear and practical framework for understanding what expository preaching really is, why the Bible itself models this approach, and how we can move from careful study to Christ centred proclamation. He highlights the importance of establishing the text, understanding context, tracing themes, and applying Scripture honestly and courageously.

Drawing from passages like Deuteronomy 31, Nehemiah 8, Luke 4, and Acts 8, Shane shows that expository preaching is not a modern invention but a biblical pattern. He also discusses the character and posture required of preachers, reminding us that humility, diligence, and dependence on the Spirit are essential to handling God’s word faithfully.

Whether you preach weekly or occasionally, or simply want to grow in your understanding of Scripture, this conversation will help sharpen your approach and strengthen your confidence in the Bible.

Topics covered:

• What expository preaching actually is
• Why explanation and application belong together
• How the Bible models exposition
• The movement from exegesis to theology to preaching
• Why preaching must be text centred and audience aware
• The benefits of preaching through books of the Bible
• How expository preaching shapes the church and the preacher
• The character traits needed for faithful exposition
• William Tyndale’s historic prayer for true expounders

About Shane Angland

Shane is currently a teaching elder at Ennis Evangelical Church in Ireland. He has served as a missionary in Ukraine and is a Th.M. graduate from Dallas Theological Seminary with an emphasis in historical theology.

In this episode, longtime Bible teacher and commentator David Guzik joins us to explore the continuing value of Study Bibles and the importance of clarity in biblical teaching. Drawing from four decades of ministry, David reflects on how careful editing, thoughtful commentary, and pastoral intention can help readers engage Scripture more deeply and confidently.

Key Highlights:
• Why Study Bibles Still Matter – How they guide believers toward understanding and application
• A Lifetime of Biblical Teaching – What decades of exposition reveal about clarity and faithfulness
• The Art of Editing for Clarity – Distilling commentary without losing depth
• Making Scripture Accessible – Encouraging everyday readers to grow in biblical confidence

Resources Mentioned:

In this rich and reflective conversation, Tim Brown, Heath Hardesty, and Brian Daly answer questions from attendees and discuss the spiritual dynamics of sermon preparation. Together they explore how worship, prayer, and delight in Scripture form the heart behind preaching that reveals rather than merely informs.

Tim shares how Psalm 29 inspired his allegory comparing sermon preparation to the formation and venting of a storm – a vivid picture of how preaching can humble, refresh, and awaken new vision. Brian speaks about cultivating intimacy with God so that the preacher delivers a word received in worship, not a performance shaped by pressure. Heath reflects on the joy and labour of study, reminding us that the best preaching flows from delight in the Word rather than duty alone.

Drawing on imagery from Moby Dick, Heath Hardesty describes how the harpooner’s stillness before the strike mirrors the preacher’s call to quiet readiness before God. It’s a striking reminder that the power of preaching is found not in frantic effort, but in calm, focused communion.

The episode closes with encouragement to treasure the abundance of biblical tools available today, and to let the preacher’s soul be shaped first by the voice of the Lord before speaking to others.

Outline

The Storm and the Voice of the Lord

• Tim Brown’s Psalm 29 allegory: sermon preparation as the formation and venting of a storm.
• Preaching as revelation that births new desire and exposes pride.
• “Preaching helps people see with their ears” – Haddon Robinson.

Worship and the Preacher’s Soul

• Avoiding “drizzling” on listeners by preparing the heart in worship.
• Brian Daly on preaching from intimacy and dependence, not routine.
• Heath Hardesty on delight and labour: studying as worship.

Stillness Before the Strike

• The Moby Dick metaphor: the harpooner’s stillness as a model for prayerful focus.
• Learning to be still before God, letting Him shape the message.

Tools for Deeper Study

• Blue Letter Bible, Logos, The Bible Project, and E-Sword.
• Encouragement to explore design patterns, word studies, and accessible commentaries.

Final Reflections

• The joy of seeing the beauty of Christ in Scripture.
• Preaching as overflow from worship, not just output from study.

Resources Mentioned