Every Preacher’s Nightmare (and what happened next)
The moment she got it wrong was one of the biggest preaching moments of her career. A nightmare scenario. She had only seconds to decide what to do.
What she did not do was panic because she knew she didn’t need to. Instead, Yejide stayed in her frame—and preached the sermon of her life.
7 Ways to Become a More Compelling Preacher
In an increasingly unchurched and biblically illiterate society, preaching is the only biblical education many ever get.
Preaching is also a primary factor in many newcomers' decision about whether to return for a second visit.
As a result, the quality of your sermons matters both to your congregation's spiritual growth and to your church's ability to become a spiritual home for those seeking one.
That sounds like a lot of pressure, particularly when preaching is only one part of the job. Fortunately, it is possible to improve and grow in your craft.
How to Make Your Sermon Stick: 4 Tips for a Memorable Message
Want your sermon to be remembered beyond the end of the service? Check out these four tips you can implement this week to make your sermon stick.
How to Keep Sermon Listeners on the Edge of their Seats
Tension keeps us reading, watching, or listening. Think about any book or movie that kept your attention.
There's a need... a desire, wish, want, hope
that's blocked... thwarted, redirected, obstructed, obscured
which creates a question. If? Who? How? When?
Questions create tension...suspense, anticipation, dissonance, uncertainty
that we need resolved....settled, resolved, determined, answered
And this unknown resolution keeps us on the edge of our seats.
What Are You Asking of Your Listeners? An honest Sermon Counts the Cost
Why does it seem like a good sermon isn't enough to cause hearts to be changed?
If the Holy Spirit is really at work and the Gospel is preached with clarity and conviction, how come as soon as we hear the Good News we don't we embrace it and change course immediately?
For the Love of Preaching: Make it playful work!
The vast majority of preachers I work with, including me!, would say their favorite part of sermon prep is exegesis. It’s likely the “new” aspect that’s actually at the root of why we enjoy exegesis. Every time we discover something new, our brains push out a little dopamine and we feel that rush of satisfaction. However, when we run out of “new” because we’ve read the same Scripture verses, footnotes and commentaries over and over, well, uh-oh. But we can infuse newness into every stage of sermon prep, and that’s the key to creating work that feels like play.
Taking Humor Seriously in the Pulpit (A Guest Post)
Humor can do in the pulpit everything it can do in everyday communications, only in service of the gospel:
lower defenses when broaching a tough topic
strengthen us in trying times
unite us in a shared identity
and embrace us in the enjoyment of a moment of laughter at the sheer absurdity of human life and the joy that can shine through the broken places.
On Keeping the Listeners' Attention (A Guest Post)
It’s challenging to hold our listeners’ attention when we have only limited information about them. There are several strategies that will help you engage your listener from start to finish no matter how well acquainted you are with the nuances of their day-to-day lives.
![The Invaluable Role of Writing [Your Sermon] (A Guest Post)](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57cb69766a4963278cf7ed52/1682702556794-LE5ESPLYVCNUMPV27TRA/unsplash-image-AXqMy8MSSdk.jpg)
The Invaluable Role of Writing [Your Sermon] (A Guest Post)
By wrestling through your draft to the point of absolute clarity, you'll build trust with your listener. Because they'll be able to see for themselves—rather than take your word for it—how you reached the conclusion you preach. And this trust will enable them to BELIEVE the Good News you've offered because you've shown, beyond question, how that Good News appeared in the text, what it means, and how its implications matter to their lives now.
This ONE Question Will Keep Your Sermon on Message
My brother is a journalist who has written longer than I have preached. He now teaches journalism at a university. When I was getting ready to teach seminary homiletics the first time I asked him a question that plagues writers of any ilk: "How do you teach writers not to wander and stay on message?"
I thought that since he's a writing professional and educator he would tell me the "secret:" the right set of questions that any author needs to prevent verbal self-meandering.
His response?
"That's what editors are for."
Thanks a lot, Big Brother!
Per last week's post, yes, that is exactly what editors are for. But without an editor what can preachers rely on instead? A very simple question with three principles.