Order entries by date field I have a channel section with a handle named 'events'. 

In my field layout for this section I have a field named eventsDate, which is a Date/Time field.

I also have a plain text field called 'eventsHeadline'. 

What would be a good way to output the 'eventsHeadline' entries ordered by 'eventsDate'?
Read the article about ElementCriteriaModel in the official Craft docs on how to query elements in general and the craft.entries article about the parameter available to modify the object returned.

Example code for your events list:

{# Get events from `events` section in desired sort order #}
{% set allEvents = craft.entries.section('events').order('eventsDate desc') %}

{# Loop through `allEvents` and print the list #}
{% for event in allEvents %}
    &lt;li&gt;{{ event.eventsHeadline }} - {{ event.eventsDate|date('F j, Y') }}&lt;/li&gt;
{% endfor %}