Dec/092
Preaching Tips and Tricks
Here’s three quick preaching tips.
1. Mention something early in the message, and bring it back towards the end. Comedians are masters of this.
2. A random fact every now and then will make you seem more believable to your audience. Quote a statistic reference something odd from history, even in passing. Don’t do this too much, or you’ll just come across as a know-it-all.
3. When make you make a serious point, pause and let it sink in. The pause is a powerful tool. Too many times, speakers move on to the next thing, when a pause would drive the point home better.
What would you add? Share some of your helpful tips in the comments.
Nov/090
Creating Memorable Messages
At last months coaching network, we did a little project. I asked the guys to take 2 minutes and write down the key points or illustrations from any sermon they could ever remember. Then we wrote the points or stories up on the board.
The list was pretty evenly divided between memorable statements (a lot of them from Andy Stanley, who creates memorable message statements better than anyone else) and stories or illustrations. I think this is important, because some people connect better with information and other people connect better with stories or props.
I believe a good message needs to either have a memorable statement or a compelling story. Great messages have both. Work hard to make the main point memorable…agonize over your word choice and see if it passes the memory test. Search hard to develop a story, illustration or prop that will drive that point home. Make sure you at least have one of the two in every sermon.
Here’s a little chart of some messages we’ve heard or done.
Oct/090
Teaching Priorities
About a year ago, I took about 10 people off to a cabin to finalize our teaching calendar for the upcoming year. Which is now the previous year. Before headed off, I had prayed and thought and researched, eventually writing out nine teaching priorities for the year. Here were those priorities and how we did.
- Finances and money management. This is something that we want to talk about regularly, but hit in a series every 18 months or so. Back in February, we did a series called Bailout. We learned that February is not the best time for a money series, but the series was great.
- Marriage and Relationships. We’re beginning a series called Storybook Sex this weekend, which walks through the Song of Solomon.
- A Bible book or section of a book. In addition to chapter-by-chapter through the Song of Solomon, “Break Free” walked through ten chapters of Exodus and “Uncomfortable” walked through the life of Abraham
- Something controversial. We like to keep people on edge so I wanted to do at least one series that some would consider controversial. We landed on “Stupid Christians”. We also answered some pretty controversial questions during the “Questions” series…things like divorce and drinking.
- A blow out three year celebration. We hit this during the “Contagious” series which covered the purpose of the church. He had streamers, a marching band, and an old-school pot-luck lunch where we baptized about 40 people.
- At least 4 big Gospel presentation days (we present the Gospel a lot, but I wanted at least four days where we tell our people to invite). We did that with Easter and Break Free, but probably could have done a better job here.
- At least one message on volunteering and serving. We always talk about volunteering, but during “God at the Movies” we did a big volunteer push.
- At least one message on inviting, challenging people to write the name of at least one person they will invite. We actually ended up doing a whole series on this called “Contagious.”
“It’s the End of the World as we Know it” and “Faith and Doubt” were two other series that we did earlier in the year, and both of those were great. It was encouraging to me to look back on my teaching priorities for the year and see how our team followed through.
Sep/090
Service Order
Over the last three years, we’ve changed up our typical service order a good bit. What we’re doing now is probably pretty simple, but I’m loving it. Here’s an overview of a typical weekend service at Oak Leaf Church.
Opener - usually a cover tune, sometimes a very upbeat worship song, sometimes a generic video, sometimes a special video. if we do a cover song, it ties to the topic. We try to start light and get “more spiritual” as we go along.
Welcome – a pastor (or volunteer) comes out and welcomes everyone, tells guests what to expect, introduces the topic/series, and introduces the worship leader.
Worship – usually 2-4 songs. starts with high energy. We don’t worry too much about tying the songs to the series…sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.
Giving talk - we used to do the time of giving at the end, but we moved it here to keep it connected to the worship set. someone comes out and says what is about to happen and spends a couple of minutes talking about giving. sometimes it’s a principle, sometimes a verse, sometimes a story, and sometimes a video. We’re intentional with this part of the service.
Bumper video – during the bumper video, we pass the buckets. This usually lasts a minute. If we don’t have a video, we just put some verses or the series graphic on the screen and play some music. The band clears the stage at this time as well.
Message - hopefully, this part is self explanatory. at the end of the message, I will invite anyone who made a decision to follow Christ to go to the next step table and pick up a next step packet.
Closer – sometimes, I just pray and dismiss everyone. sometimes, there’s a closing element or a song. If it’s a song, it will tie into the message pretty well.
Apr/091
Memorable Messages
During an all staff meeting, I asked our staff how we could make our sermons and messages sticker. In other words, what makes a message memorable? Here’s some of their responses.
1. Humor and personality make it easier to connect and pay attention.
2. Audience participation. One time, we asked people to text in things during the service, and that was a memorable experience.
3. Personal stories. People connect and relate to personal stories. Emotional connections, not informational connections, are more powerful.
4. Aha sermon illustrations. Smashing plates, building a bunker, and giving a tattoo…everyone remembered these illustrations and the points that they represented.
5. Props. Jesus illustrated a point by causing a fig tree to wither up. I can’t really do that, but props and object lessons are often pretty sticky.
What would you add to this list?
Dec/081
Teaching Calendar
A couple of months ago, our team went away to lay out the teaching calendar for all of next year. We will make a few adjustments throughout the year, but we know where we’re going on the weekends from now all the way until Easter of 2010.
We use Google Docs to keep track of everything. Not only do we lay out the series titles, we put in the key Scriptures, the big idea, announcements we know we need to make and any notes. This document is shared across all of our staff (and a few key volunteers) so everyone can see the big picture. This system works great for us and it’s my job (Michael, Lead Pastor) to keep this document up to date.
Feb/088
How Long Do You Teach?
My staff gives me a hard time, because they think I talk too long. But since the sermon yesterday was via video, there was no way I could go long. 33 minutes flat.
So I decided to do a little research. I looked at my podcast times and realized that I clocked in an average of 41 minutes. I thought it was closer to 35. Then, I looked at the last 10 podcasts of some of the guys I listen to on a regular basis.
Andy Stanley = 41 minutes
Steven Furtick = 49 minutes
John Piper = 46 minutes
John Burke = 37 minutes
Perry Noble = 52 minutes
All these, plus me, averaged together equals 44 minutes. So while I might teach a little too long, it’s technically shorter than average. What about you? Average your last 10 message lengths together and let me know how long you teach.
Jan/082
How to Be a Better Teacher
My two primary jobs at Oak Leaf Church are teaching and leading. I don’t think I’m the best teacher out there, and I’m always trying to get better. When we survey our people, way more than 50% say that the primary reason that they attend is the teaching. I’m convinced that people come because of an invite or some kind of promotion, but they primarily stay because of the teaching.
1. BOOKS. I would recommend two books that will give you a good starting point. The Revolutionary Communicator and Communicating for a Change.
2. LISTEN TO OTHER TEACHERS. Listen to other great communicators. There are tons of podcasts out there….subscribe to some of them. Don’t just listen for content – listen for delivery. I regularly listen to Perry, Steven, Mark, and Rob. I think Adrian Rodgers was one of the best preachers ever. I also mix things up and listen to new people. During the month of January, I’m trying to listen to a different message every day.
3. LISTEN TO COMEDIANS. These guys and girls know how to engage an audience and can hold peoples attention for a good bit of time. Listen to them and see how they deliver. Brian Regan, Jim Gaffigan and Mitch Hedberg are some of my favorites. You don’t find many wasted words with comedians. Also watch other public speakers…politicians, artists, professors, etc. You can find a lot of famous speeches online.
4. LISTEN TO YOURSELF. When you teach, make sure you go back and listen to what you said. Even better, watch yourself. Nearly every Sunday night, I watch the video from Sunday morning and critique myself. I listen to what I said, how I said it and watch my mannerisms. Coaches ruthlessly break down game film…I think we should do it too.
5. ASK OTHERS TO LISTEN TO YOU. I actually do this in advance as we’re preparing messages. I ask people on our team for input on the sermon. Between services, I’ll ask a couple people if they think I should do something different.
Aug/070
Team Planning
No matter how you write your messages, I recommend getting your staff or some kind of team to help you process. In a few weeks, we’re doing a series called “Issues,” where I’m going to talk about abortion, homosexuality, drinking, divorce and porn. Tough topics to tackle.
Last week, four of us on the Lead Team got together for a focused meeting on content for these messages. Everyone came prepared with a one page “report” and then we just talked. I took lots of notes and we had lots of discussions. It will really help me as I prepare for these talks. Even if you can’t do it every week, try a big old content session with some people for an upcoming series of messages. You’ll appreciate the perspective.
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