Book excerpt: Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church offers a practical and theological guide to effective preaching. Guerric DeBona, an experienced and respected teacher of homiletics, uses the metaphor of a ladder to describe the ascent up seven rungs that constitute the strategies of preaching. Beginning with advice on discovering a personal theology of preaching, the author proceeds to unlock the power of the Bible and the liturgy. He then guides preachers in creating a unified homily and in discovering a homiletic method that best suits their own intellect and temperament. Chapters on communicating in contemporary culture and on globalizing the homily for the New Evangelization are vital for coming to grips with the technological age and the often bewildering diversity of today's world. Finally, DeBona challenges readers to recognize and confront their own obstacles to effective preaching. Each chapter ends with questions to assist preachers in appropriating the material. With bad homilies consistently cited as a factor in declining church attendance, Preaching Effectively, Revitalizing Your Church answers a very pressing need, especially in view of the papacy's urgent call to rescue traditionally Christian countries from the brink of total secularization. Book jacket.