Preaching with Clarity to Change Lives

I visit new churches every other weekend so I hear new pastors speak a lot. Here are some of the positives I hear/see.

1. They are passionate to communicate to their people.

2. They are close to the people so the relational connection comes out in their messages.

And here are some of the areas for improvement I hear/see:

1. Many have not determined the key point to the passage so they ramble through many points with no clear target or application. Some think this is good and call it “preaching the passage.” (Verse one says… Verse two says….) A clear speaker doesn’t preach everything in a passage but just what leads to the main theme so he can “bring it home.”

2. Often speakers do not have a “hook” that draws people into the passage. In real estate they say you need to identify the pain people have and present the pleasure you can provide for them. i.e. the pain of not moving to the house they want in a timely fashion and the pleasure they would experience if you helped them sell quickly so they could move. In an evangelistic message, i.e. moving from the pain of loneliness and guilt to the pleasure of forgiveness and relationship with Christ.

3. I hear preachers struggling to find stories in life (or old stories of bearded Christians) to illustrate their points, when they could easily look to the Old Testament, Gospels and sometimes to Epistles to find real biblical stories that illustrate the point.

4. There are not a lot of pilots speaking. Many do not know when and how to “land the plane”.  “If one good point is great, then three good points are better.” Not necessarily. The goal is application, not knowledge to forget.

5. One good memorable application in 20 minutes is better than five muddled points with little application in 50 minutes. I missed the last 20 minutes anyway even though my wife kept poking me.

6. Are people emotionally connecting with your message and application? If so then they will be more likely to remember and apply it. First of all, are you emotionally impacted by the passage so that it flows from your heart and passion?

7. Props are good memory joggers. I’ve seen Ed Young bring a car onto the stage, Bill Hybels bring a swinging door, Gary Smalley use a 4 foot size ear, Dave Ramsey smash a piggy bank, John McGowan used a Starbucks latte, etc.

8. Has this stuff we preach ever changed anyone’s life? Rick Warren often brings people up in the middle of his message to interview to illustrate what God can do.

9. Having people look/read the scripture during the message will help them see the value of looking at it Tuesday morning.

10. Having an outline/points to follow jogs memories and reinforces learning when they take notes. And helps keep me awake. 

11. Is the goal to give the people lots of good teaching or to teach them in such a way that causes them to want to feed “self-feeders” during the week?

12. One pastor  tells the story of a man who came up to him in the 80’s after a message and said, “We really do want to obey God.” Lon wasn’t sure where he was heading. The man went on, “We don’t need you to help us feel guilty very week. We know where we are wrong. We need you to teach us from the Bible how we can walk with God on Wednesday after lunch when a co-worker is giving us a hard time.” Now the pastor asks himself with each message, “What have I given the people to help them walk with Jesus on Wednesday after lunch?”

 

 

13 questions to help pastors move a message from the head to the heart

13 questions to help pastors move a message from the head to the heart

Rick Duncan

Yes, it's all about God, not us. "Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory" (Psalm 115:1). 

So, a preacher who makes much of himself in a message is a narcissistic mess. "Him [Christ - the hope of glory] we proclaim" (Colossians 1:28). 

So, it's all about God. Not the preacher.

But the 19th century preacher, Philips Brooks, said, "Preaching is truth through personality." I believe he's right. I believe that's supported by scripture. Paul once wrote, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us" (I Thessalonians 2:8).

Sometimes a message can be good, solid, and accurate. It can explain the text well. It can impart strong information. 

But the personality of the man can be missing. Preachers dare not forget that even the introverts must be relational, connecting, personable,and warm-hearted up front. 

So, before you preach tomorrow, sit down for an hour an answer some questions.

Why does this passage/truth/topic matter to YOU? 

What is YOUR vision for the people regarding this? 

Where do YOU struggle with this? 

Why do YOU struggle with this? 

How has God helped YOU grow in this area? 

Who taught YOU most about this? 

What are one or two things YOU have been prompted to do to grow in this area? 

How have YOU gained victories in this? 

What is a story about this that has changed YOU, inspired YOU, convicted YOU, challenged YOU, encouraged YOU? 

Where are YOU wanting to take us because we live this way? 

How do YOU see our lives being different if we live new in this way? 

Again, why does this matter to YOU? 

Give your people more of God... through YOU!!!

Answer some of these questions and weave them into your current message. (You'll likely have to delete some current content to do it.)

Again, Philips Brooks said, "Preaching is truth through personality." Your people likely need more of YOUR persona, YOUR personhood, YOUR personality. 

Impart the information well. But don't forget to give the people more inspiration. More motivation. More vision. More reasons to change. More understanding of what's at stake. More of how God's story has impacted YOU.

I am not trying to give you more work to do on a Saturday. (Well, maybe I am!) But I think deleting a little content and giving us more of YOUR passion will move your message from good to great.

Question: How do you think preachers could connect more relationally with their congregations in a message?

4 reasons why you'd better discover and deliver the one big idea as a communicator

Rick Duncan
Aside from receiving an anointing and filling from the Spirit of God, what is your biggest challenge in public speaking? Finding content? Overcoming nervousness? Maintaining interest? Staying passionate? Sharing illustrations?

These are all important factors. But not the most important.

When we are giving a presentation / message / talk it's important to establish and then relentlessly communicate one compelling big idea. All the other ideas we share should flow out of that one. When teaching a paragraph from the Bible, we have to study the passage so thoroughly that we discover what the one big idea was for the original audience. Then we are ready to teach the idea - the truth - to our people.

Why is this so important?

1. The big idea makes us relevant.

Once we discover the big idea we can communicate it in a compelling way that actually connects with our audience. We must seek to understand and care about the hurts, fears, and hopes of our listeners. Once that happens, them we can "marry" the big idea to the real needs of our people.

2. The big idea keeps us focused.

If we don't uncover and communicate the one big idea, then we will simply be stringing together a bunch of unrelated, rambling comments about the text. And we will doing a real injustice to the Spirit's inspiration through the author of the text. Scripture doesn't violate the principles of literary structure. Paragraphs in good literature have a subject and a complement - one big idea. There were not two or more big ideas in a paragraph for the original audience and there are not two or more big ideas in a paragraph now.

3. The big idea helps us study.

Once we know the big idea, we can find content, illustrations, applications, and supporting texts that truly support the one point we are seeking to make. Identifying the big idea will make it easier to eliminate the material we will inevitably find that won't help us make the point.

4. The big idea gives us passion.

Once we know the big idea and connect it to the needs (felt or unfelt) of the audience, our passion will grow. We will care. We will clearly see that what we are saying matters to the people in the room. Scattered, rambling communication lessens passion. Focused, pointed communication increases zeal.

We want to hit the hearts of people with a sniper-like rifle shot of truth, not the scattered buckshot approach of a running homily method of communicating.

Finding the big idea and connecting it to the people in relevant ways is sometimes easy but often tough for me. I need the prayers of God's people to communicate God's word in clear, practical, and relevant ways. Please pray for me and for anyone you know who seeks to communicate God's truth.

Question: Apart from gaining the anointing and filling of God's Spirit, what do you think is the most difficult task in communicating?

Yes, God really does change lives!

For multi-site churches, one of the struggles I see campus pastors having is how to connect emotionally with the people at the service. Somehow giving announcements alone does not endure the people to a pastor.

For new church plants and for any church we share what the Bible says but often don't show how these truths have actually affected someones life. And life change is our goal, correct?

I want to suggest adding an element in the service I'll call a "Changed Life Interview" or "God stories". This is a time when the pastor interviews a person in the congregation who has seen God change their life. It could be how they came to Christ, how God intervened in a circumstance, how God answered prayer, how they had the opportunity to share their faith, how they did the godly thing at work and God protected, etc.

A 3-4 minute interview like this helps people:
1. See that God is at work today.
2. Trust God to do it in their life also.
3. Makes us all real, especially as people learn to share from their weakness, not their strength.
4. Connects the pastor with people and changed lives.

Large churches sometimes do this on video so they can edit it and keep it on focus. But a smaller church needs to show itself personal and intimate. This can be very effective. The pastor should coach the interviewee, if possible do a practice interview. When I've done this I get to know the person's story, tell them what questions I am going to ask and coach them on what to talk about.

An interview format keeps the pastor "in control of the time and stops rambling". This is a way to interview missionaries also and youth coming back from a retreat where God worked or people who did a service project in the community where a God impact happened, etc.

The result will be people excited about how God changes lives and will encourage steps of faith by others.

Marty Shoonlaber http://chosenrebel.wordpress.com/ is an experienced churh planter from Chicagoland having planted Newsong Church in Bolingbook, IL.

Future Mega Church Planter Asks How to Stay Fresh in the Pulpit

17May

Tuesday is for Preaching

One of the men that I trained as a church planter in the early years of our own church plant has been marvelously successful from a numerical point of view. He and his original partner now pastor a growing multi-site mega church that for the first nine years boasted a 40%+ conversion rate. I still remember a somewhat anxious phone call about two years into his church plant. Our phone rang and he asked me, “Marty, how do you stay fresh in the pulpit? I have told them everything I know, and then some. How do you stay fresh?”
I told him then, what I have written about elsewhere, that a great pattern is to follow the 5-5-5 plan. I was reminded of that conversation when a read a recent quote by Tim Keller. Dr. Keller said, “No matter what you do, your first 200 sermons will be terrible.” Looking back through some of my early messages, I have to agree!
Here’s a few more ideas:

1. Get away for an annual prayer retreat to plan your preaching calendar.
2. Preach through books. It will keep you from avoiding, even subconsciously, those controversial passages that often get overlooked. Your people need the whole counsel of God, not just the easy, or familiar, or favorite passages of your personality and experience.
3. Don’t do original /new exegesis on Lord Supper Sunday’s. Take the messages between Lord’s Suppers and weave them into a devotional around communion. This will give you a break from the hard work of exegesis and force you to do some deeper reflection on the greatness of the cross and the atonement.
4. Develop the men around you. When you are teaching others how to work through a text, your own feet are held to the fire of accountability.
5. Read John Piper’s Supremacy of God in Preaching, annually. Seriously. It is short (about 110 pages), inspiring, challenging and every year you will learn something new.
6. Read, Bruce Mawhinny’s Preaching with Freshness. A recently revised (2008) and creative book that will help you draw all of your experience into your preaching. Really a great book to help the preacher live a “whole” rather than compartmentalized life.