What I Wish I’d Known Before I Started Preaching
I trust you are as capable as I was at finding your way and learning the lessons about preaching that you need. But learning by trial and error takes a long time, and I wish I hadn’t lost so much of mine. Alas, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. So I’m sharing the main challenges I faced along with what I wish I’d known: suggestions to make this preaching life easier—no matter how many years you’ve been in the pulpit!
You Should Experience This Preaching Blog
Adults (and kids—have you noticed?) don’t like to be told what to do. When we’re told we should do something, it make us feel defensive and shamed, like we don’t know what we’re doing, like we’re expected to do better or be better than we are. Moreover, shoulds can feel like yet more things to add to an already overburdened day. making us feel defeated and exhausted before we even try—even if we know engaging those activities is likely to do the opposite! How do we avoid this dynamic in our sermons?
The Simple but Misunderstood Key to Keeping Listeners Engaged: How to "Show" Rather than "Tell"
It’s often hard work for adults to get literal when it comes to using the five senses. We tend to leap from image to meaning so fast we don’t recognize what we did. But that leap fails to draw our listeners in, to make them feel something. And the more your audience feels, the greater the impact of the story and your sermon.
On Preaching and Patriotism: A Work in Progress
July 4th is the USA’s Independence Day, and this year is especially significant because it’s the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. You might not be a U.S. resident, but you probably face the same questions in whichever country you call home. People around the world blur the lines between national observances and Christian holidays, making preaching on or around those days tricky. Below is an approach to preaching and patriotism to help you preach the gospel so people can hear it.
What Your Parishioners Wish They Could Tell You (A Guest Post)
Ever wonder what your listeners are thinking week to week? Consider these three suggestions from a life-long parishioner to ensure your messages connect at a soul-level.
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?