Preaching Tips
Preparing for Worship –Preaching Tip for Sept. 27, 2015
Part of giving a great sermon is NOT giving a great sermon. Are you sprucing up for a performance? Or are you in prayer asking God to speak through you? Part of preparing for the preaching moment is the prayerful moment. In fact, one could say that prayer should outweigh…
Break the Ice –Preaching Tip for 20 September 2015
If your congregation is stiff and grim, DO break the ice with something funny. But… beware that your funnybone doesn’t offend someone. Jokes that are in bad taste leave a bad taste in the mouth, whereas a well-played crack can make everyone crack up, relax, and tune in better!
In music we call it “expression.” –preaching tip for 9-13-15
Not everything has to be loud! Vary your tone. Use inflections. Sometimes even vary your speed. It’s not interesting to hear 20 minutes of monotone. Make it conversational. Let your voice tell the story.
Wagging fingers 9-6-15
Do you have a “wagging” finger problem? Or a lagging finger problem? Some preachers spend so much time finger wagging that they forget to add in God’s grace and forgiveness. Others forget that God’s grace comes with repentance. Somewhere between a wagging finger and a lagging finger, there is the…
Selah! 8-30-15
Leave spaces and pauses in your sermon for people to think, to comment, to answer, to participate! If you talk like a train engine heading for the station, not only can no one else get a word in, but the metaphors and the meanings will have rushed by so fast…
Preach to the children too! 8/23/15
When you preach, preach to the WHOLE congregation, the children too! If you want your kids to be part of the Body of Christ, if you want them to feel they are a vital part of worship, then make sure when you preach that you include them too. If you…
Don’t be aloof –preaching tip for 8-16-15
Don’t be aloof! Sometimes pastors seem to swoop in like circus performers…. do their thing (accent on the “their”), and then swoop away again having no real contact with the people in the room. Your “sermon” is not just the 15-20-30 minutes you stand in a pulpit and preach. Your…
Don’t read it! –8/9/15
Don’t read it! If you want people’s attention, you need to look at them, speak to them, engage them. You can’t do that if your nose is stuck in your manuscript. Practice stepping away from it. Trust the Holy Spirit, and preach without notes!
Music –8/2/15
Music can be an integral part of your sermon. Sometimes an experience of Christ and a right theology can be internalized and embodied many times more than hearing it in words. It’s important to make sure that when you use music as a part of your sermon that it serves…
Preaching Tip 7/26/15
Let the children come…. If you want your young people to be in church, your teens, your young adults, then don’t take them out when they are young! Instead, create your sermons in a way that even the kids can participate. You can reach 6 and 66 year olds with…