Smith interviews Dr. Tony Evans on his commitment to expository preaching.  He discusses his personal mindset in both study and in delivery of sermons as well as why expositional preaching is so needed in the church today.  This is 2 minutes of pure gold.  Enjoy the video!

© Scott for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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by Joel Southerland

John Maxwell is set to release a new book entitled Everyone Communicates, Few Connect very soon. I was able to read an excerpt from the book before its release. The opening paragraph of chapter 1 says it all:

“According to experts, people are bombarded with 35,000 messages a day. Everywhere we go, everywhere we look, someone is trying to get our attention….Our world is cluttered with words.”

For the preacher, those are chilling words. We have the Truth that we need to communicate to people. What we communicate changes lives, influences eternity, determines destinies. We can’t afford NOT to communicate!

How does that affect us this Sunday? It means while we are studying the Word of God this week, it is also worth taking time to study how we can make the message connect with the audience. We can have the greatest points and exegesis in the world, but if we don’t connect, we won’t be effective.

How about putting some prep time into connecting before Sunday’s sermon? Spend time praying and planning for your sermon to instantly and eternally connect with those who hear.

(We’ve got some great stuff on the way that will be an extremely practical help to you on this.  Stick around.)

Question: What do YOU do that seems to help the audience connect with YOU and/or your sermon?  Comment below…

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In this episode, Smith and Southerland interview Pastor Brad Whitt about his amazing filing system that allows him to categorize and file everything:  illustrations, old sermons, digital audio files, books and even old preaching tapes.

And he can retrieve any of it by simply typing in a keyword or Scripture reference.

Mentioned in the show:

• The Paper Tiger (Free trial!)

• Evernote

Download the mp3

Have you used something similar?  Anything you would like to ask or add? Leave your comments.

© Scott for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Posted by Joel Southerland
We’ve been preaching that you need a predictable melody in your sermons in parts 1 and 2. 

But there are also times you really need to break it.

I’m a child of the 80′s – when Ronald Reagan and Rock ‘N Roll were king!  I have repented since, but I grew up listening to Aerosmith, Def Leppard, and other bands with cool fonts.

I remember once that a new station was launching in our area and to kick off the debut, it was going to play one song all day, 24 hours straight.  What song in the early 1980′s would they possibly choose to play all day and all night?  Of course, “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.  I thought, Wow! Twenty-four hours of a great song!

I tuned in early that morning and every chance I had I listened all through the day… “I love rock ‘n roll ♪ so put another dime in the juke box, baby ♫ I love rock roll ♪ so come and take the time to dance with me…” ♫ (YELL!)

Great song, great music, one problem… it got old.  By that afternoon I needed something different.

Sometimes we pastor – and our listeners – need a change up in our melody.  Even if the preaching has been connecting, do something to give them a little break from the norm.  It’s good for them and good for you.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Alternate your outlining style. Alliterate then don’t. Use six points one night instead of three.

2. Have a guest speaker. Use a young preacher in the church.  Use a denominational or parachurch speaker.  Often, a guest speaker’s change of rhythm (except the young preacher-boy protege who copies you) will cause folks to respond to things you have been preaching all along. You’re not necessarily looking for a better message but a different rhythm.

3. Preach a topical sermon. There I said it.  Do it (then get forgiveness and move on).

4. Use a “prop.” Do something crazy.  I used a remote control car one time on speaking of the power of the Holy Spirit and I ran it all over the church.  People still talk about it and it broke my preaching rhythm in a good way.

5. Do a character sketch monologue. Instead of preaching a predictable Christmas sermon, write out the Christmas story from the perspective of Zacharias telling the story after-the-fact.  Do the costume and everything.  Go all out.  Your people will love it and it will give them some fresh perspective.  (If you’ve never don this before, it will feel awkward at first, but I’ll bet your people will ask you to do more of them in the future.)

There are many other things to do – but just do them when you feel as if you are in a rut or your people are needing a little variety. Then, when you go back to your singing the next Sunday, it will be beautiful music.

Action Steps:

• Write 3 positive things you that you do stylistically that contribute to your own melody.  This will force you to think about your own “melody” in a way that you probably haven’t before.
• Write 3 ideas that you could do over the next quarter to “change up your tune” a bit.

Let us know your answers to the above!

© Joel for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Posted by Scott Newton Smith

The showdown.  The “early service.”  You know… the get-it-over-with crowd.  They sat there, droopy eyed and lifeless.  They had barely survived the song service.  The music guy, bless his heart, had done the best he could.  Just before I went up, he glanced at me as if to say, We’re fallin’ back, Cap’n, troops are demoralized.  We gav’er all we had.

I took the pulpit with a twitch in my eye and a bit wider stance than usual. Anticipation was rising in me.  Moisture began to form on the back of my neck.  (Click “play” now below for effect and keep reading.)

Download audio file (western.mp3)

They looked at me — or through me — I couldn’t tell.  I had been here before… and had been beaten before.  But not this time.  I was ready.  When I drew, it would all be over.  They’d be hooked.  I’d be sure of it.

What was my secret weapon?

It wasn’t anything I took with me into the pulpit.  It was something I took with me into the study.

It was an assumption.  It was the assumption that they would come into the service with no desire to listen. It was the assumption that they expected me to be boring, low-key and dry, that they would tune me out before giving me a chance.

So, I did my sermon development with the mindset that I have to help them listen.  I have to make them listen.  I have to provide irresistible, interesting content.

That one mindset trick alone boosts my creativity every time by at least 50% or more.  While it doesn’t always guarantee that every sermon will be a zinger, I always at least get better ideas faster and with greater ease.  I always start thinking outside the box more.

I work harder than most might, but it’s because I’m going for a bigger expected payoff in audience interest.  The result will tend to be far better than just passing the sermon time hoping the congregation will be spiritual enough to grab a nugget or two, rather a life-changing message that grabbed their attention and therefore, gripped their heart.

How ’bout you?  Do you have a mindset that helps you boost your creativity when preparing for delivery time?

If they don’t listen, is it their fault or ours, preacher?  What do you think?  Leave your comments below.

© Scott for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: attention, Delivery, Preaching

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posted by Joel Southerland

One of the secrets to making preaching “go the extra mile” is making sure there is something in your sermon that is memorable.

Now, don’t get your hopes up if you’re thinking that I’m about to tell you how to get them to remember all three points, every illustration, every Greek word you define, and the title.  Sorry to burst any potential bubbles – they’re not going to remember all that.  They can’t.  It is too much information. You can’t either. Most who read this cannot remember the points to their sermon three weeks ago!

But that is not the way sermons work anyway. Sermons preach for change right now.  They are preached for decisions in the hour. Yes, we hope those decisions last for a lifetime, and they often do, but rarely will they know to attribute it to a Spirit-inspired sermon.

So, what do you do?

Here is how I approach preaching.  I want them to have something that they can go to work the next day and look at the guy or gal next to them and say, “Let me tell you what my Pastor said yesterday!” I don’t care if it is an explanation of the text, a current event news story, a funny or sad illustration, or anything in between.  I just want them to remember something.

Because, if they remember something, it will trigger the meaning of the entire message if the sermon was constructed properly.  And herein lies the blessing:  if they have something they are telling someone on Monday about your sermon on Sunday, they are functioning as evangelists!

Before you preach your next sermon, look it over.  See what is going to really stand out.  What is “remarkable,”  that is, what can they easily remember and remark about?  What can they repeat that will remind them of the big idea of the sermon?

When you begin to hear statements like, “Pastor, I was telling my friend what you said,” you will know you are multiplying your ministry and preaching effective sermons.

© Joel for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
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Reverends, we must be more reverent to the Reverendettes!

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 Download audio file (SRM01.mp3)

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In this episode, Smith and Southerland walk backward to the beginning point for creating powerful, high-impact illustrations.  We give 2 audio examples of our own attempts from live sermons.

An illustration (as used in a sermon) is "a concrete analogy of an abstract spiritual truth."  An illustration appeals to the imagination of the listener because it, by its very nature, contains imagery.  That’s why illustrations are often given in the form of a story — a favorite technique of Jesus Himself.

A good illustration has a high "correlation factor" to the abstract principle that it illustrates.  We discuss how to insure that the picture you paint in the concrete analogizes well (man, we hope that’s a real word) with the principle that you’re illustrating.  It has to correlate as much as possible. 

Mentioned in this show:

• 12 Essential Skills For Great Preaching by Dr. Wayne McDill

© Scott for The Sermonators: Preaching Effectiveness & Time Management for Busy Pastors, 2008. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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