I recently received the following letter.

Dear Dr. Mains,

I’m a member of the Search Committee for our church. We’re looking for a new minister. For the first time in my life, I’m having to evaluate the preaching of different candidates, and I confess that I don’t really know what I’m listening for. My suspicion is that I’m not the only one on the committee with this problem. Can you help me?

Sincerely,

L.C.

Quick answer: Of course! I’ll gladly help you!

After listening to a candidate’s sermon, the Search Committee should be able to quickly answer the following questions:

1. What was the sermon subject? Re-said, what was the main topic the minister was talking about? (This is not the same question as “what was the text.”) The committee should soon be able to come to agreement on this.
2. What was the desired response? What did the minister want the people to do or stop doing? Once again, the answer should quickly be clear to everyone on the committee.
3. What practical suggestions did the preacher make as to how to accomplish this objective? Good preaching is not just informational, but transformational. Did the committee feel the people listening were now capable of putting into practice what was suggested?
4. Did the sermon address the time factor? “To pull off the desired response should take approximately (this long).” Ministers have a tendency to feel that people can change much faster than is normal. Did the committee believe the matter of time was fairly addressed?

Regardless of other sermon-related matters, if none of these four questions were answered, you should look for someone else!

If two of the four questions were addressed to the satisfaction of the committee, then this preacher has real potential. Keep him or her on the list of possibilities.

If the Search Committee agrees that more than two of the questions were covered, you have a terrific communicator in your sights. If he or she passes your other tests, make as good an offer as possible, as soon as possible, and pray like mad for a positive response!

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Pastor, when “sermon prep day” rolls around each week, do you face the task of preparing another sermon with a frown on your face? If so, you’re not alone. Many pastors literally dread preparing their Sunday sermon. There just doesn’t seem to be an easy solution. The good news: David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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Given the purpose sentence and the type of response desired early enough in the week, the pianist or organist can prepare arrangements which apply to the theme.

One week, our pastor, Clarence Hilliard, preached the truth: “As a Christian understands the relationship God maintains with him, he can better love himself and his neighbor.” He was saying we are created uniquely in the image of God and are, therefore, people of great importance. The offertory that morning was a combination of “In the Image of God” with a sprinkling of the secular number, “I’ve Got to Be Me.”

The Benediction is usually a time of saying to God how we are responding to what has been said. This can be done through prayers, by asking people in the congregation to state verses of Scripture that relate to the theme, by a responsive reading, or with a solo voice singing a Capella from the back of the hall. The Benediction, like everything else, is planned. It does not just happen.

The Response of Obedience, then, seeks to provide meaningful ways of response for the overflow of hearts that have been touched by the Holy Spirit’s presence on a given Sunday morning. It tries to allow immediate expression either on a private or corporate level, and also attempts to facilitate long-range, life-related commitment. It is patterned in various ways to meet the different levels of response which are present in any congregation.

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No matter what type of Sunday sermon you need to create, David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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At Circle Church, in order to provide a means to offer a Life Response, once post cards were included in the bulletins which asked people either to do one of the following:

1. Remind themselves “a dozen times, while observing society, that as Christians we inherit the role of significance in shaping it.”
2. To talk “to another Christian about our inheriting the role of significance in shaping society.”

They were to check the appropriate box after completing the assignment, sign the card, and mail it into the church office. We received a large return—one came from South Africa, mailed by a member who had since left the States to film a missionary documentary—indicating again that this kind of suggestion helps to tie the truth of a Sunday morning experience to the everyday world wherever people are living.

If the offering is included in this final third of the service, it also can be a fitting way for people to respond directly to God. Rather than a dead time where clothes are adjusted and whispered chitchat is exchanged, it should be germane to the total. Words to the offertory can be printed in the bulletin. PowerPoint slides which emphasize the morning’s truth can be projected on the screen.

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Sunday’s coming. Do you have your sermon ready? Is it relevant? Will it effectively motivate your congregation to walk more in step with the Master? What about that Sermon Series you’ve been thinking about? Or, what will you preach for your Easter Sermon, your Advent Sermon, your Christmas Sermon? David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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There are endless ways to provide suggestions for life response. I believe this one illustration in the previous blog post gives enough of the flavor of what is intended that it will be unnecessary to develop the idea further. Please keep in mind that response can be provided by other methods.

The most obvious way is to sing a hymn, a fitting expression for corporate response. Here again we are not satisfied to limit ourselves to the four or five overly familiar hymns which have been characteristic of the conclusion of services. Rather, we examine the words to discover one which truly expresses a positive commitment to what has been said that morning.

Scheduled periods of silent meditation can initiate reevaluation and personal commitment.

In contrast to this, we often opened up the service to everyone saying, “We have now scheduled ten minutes during which we encourage any who would like to share briefly what God’s Spirit has impressed on you to do so now.” Then we waited as, one by one from all sections of the congregation, they stand to speak. This person had a portion of Scripture, another would give spontaneous testimony, and each of us, whether we had participated or not, would give inward assent to the outward expressions.

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You can learn how to develop highly relevant Sunday sermons that grab the attention of your congregation and help your listeners respond effectively to the deep truths of God’s Word. David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. We offer a wide variety of Sermon Starters and Full Sermons that will give you Sermon Ideas to help you prepare for regular Sunday sermons, Mid-week Bible Sermons, and Sermons for special occasions. We also offer assistance as you create Topical Sermons, Sermons Series, and sermons for special times of the year. We have resources available to help you with Advent Celebrations, Advent Sermons, Christmas Sermons, Easter Sunday Sermons, Patriotic Sermons, and more.

For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Just click here.

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