I specifically design these “Preaching Tips” to reach your emailbox on Wednesday because I know you will likely put the finishing touches on this week’s sermon either today, tomorrow, or Friday. At least that’s what I did as a pastor. I want to maximize the possible help that I can offer you by carefully timing the delivery of these “Tips.”

If you’re like me, certain checkpoints along the way to a finished sermon bring a sigh of relief. That’s the subject that I talk about this week in Podcast No. 198. And, by the way, if you want to listen to what I have to say, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once there, you may listen to this Podcast.

By now you probably know that many years ago—in fact, not long after I began my active pastoral ministry—I created a method of sermon development that has stood me in good stead all these many years. I share the various elements of this so often that you may already be familiar with the four key steps: “Subect,” “Response,” “How-To,” and “How Long.”

The first sigh of relief for me comes when I’ve determined the “Subject” of my sermon. I depend on the Holy Spirit to help me decide what the people in the congregation need to hear on any given Sunday.

Sometimes, the “Subject” comes from a need I discern, or a topic that every Christian should hear about, and I can then select an appropriate Scriptural text. Other times, the Spirit leads me to a Scriptural text and the “Subject” flows very naturally out of that text. In either case, the role of the Holy Spirit remains critically important. And, the Scriptural text holds the place of greatest significance in my sermons.

I invite you to listen to Podcast No. 198, so that I may continue to share my thoughts with you.

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I’ve been very heartened by the response I’ve had to my latest book. Because I know that not everyone has heard of it, I want to continue to call your attention to it. In many ways, this book represents the culmination of my thinking about sermon preparation and how to deal with the fact that so few parishioners remember what they’ve heard from the pulpit—even by the time they reach their vehicles in the church parking lot.

I’ve entitled this book The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order the book at Amazon.com by clicking here.

As I implied earlier, this book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, it also gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said. I’m sure you agree that, as ministers, when we share what God has laid on our hearts, we do want the people we serve to remember what we say.

 

 

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

 

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One of the difficulties of serving as pastors is that we seldom have the opportunity to regularly hear other pastors preach. We become very used to the sound of our own voices. We become comfortable with our own style of preaching. We even become quite satisfied with the way we go about preparing our sermons.

Now that I’m in my later years of life, I don’t get asked to preach very often any more. While I enjoy preaching a great deal, still believe I have much to contribute to the Kingdom, and remember fondly my days as a pastor and as a minister on radio and television, I now have the luxury of sitting in various congregations and listening to other pastors preach. In this new role, that of careful listener, I have found a whole new vista open up before me.

Since I have devoted these last years to providing help to pastors who want to improve the effectiveness of their preaching, by carefully listening to others preach I have come to understand so much more about what works and what doesn’t work from the perspective of the person in the pew.

Let me urge you to take every possible opportunity to listen very carefully to other ministers as they preach. If you do, I believe you will discover a valuable resource that can greatly enhance your own preaching.

If you would like to hear more of my comments on this subject, please click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach website. Once there, you may listen to Podcast No. 197. You will be able to hear me unfold more details about this valuable tool of carefully listening to other ministers as they preach.

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Because I believe my new book contains significantly helpful information, I want to continue to call your attention to it. I’ve entitled this book The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order the book at Amazon.com by clicking here.

This book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, it also gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said. I’m sure you agree that, as ministers, when we share what God has laid on our hearts, we do want the people we serve to remember what we say.

 

 

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

 

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A popular cellular telephone carrier launched an advertising campaign a few years ago with the intriguing tag line: “Can you hear me now?” The campaign drew a lot of attention, especially from cell phone users from other service providers that experienced dropped calls, unintelligible transmissions, and other anomalies.

I thought of that campaign recently when I listened to a preacher at a church I attended as a guest. Though he started speaking in a rather even tone, very soon he began raising his voice to the point where his delivery became more yelling and less talking.

As I watched the members of the congregation, I could see some squirming. Of course, I don’t know for certain that the squirming directly related to the shouting from the pulpit. But, I’m fairly certain that the shouting didn’t really help the pastor get his points across.

An important component of effective preaching takes place after you’ve developed your sermon. The manner in which you deliver what God has laid on your heart definitely influences the way that those in your congregation will receive your words.

I discuss some more of my thoughts on this topic in Podcast No. 196. To listen to my suggestions, just click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. From there you can click and listen to what I have to say on this important subject.

I want to continue to call your attention to my new book, The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order this book at Amazon.com by clicking here.

This book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, it also gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve had to say. I’m sure you agree that, as ministers, we do want the people we serve to remember what we say when we share what God has laid on our hearts.

 

 

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Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

 

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It takes a certain amount of determination and even a bit of a strong will to become a pastor. Do you remember those New Testament Greek vocabulary cards? I used to carry them in my shirt pocket and, whenever I had a moment, I would try to burn more vocabulary into my brain. Or, what about keeping the definitions straight in Systematic Theology 201? And, which church father was it who developed the most thorough thesis on the substitutionary death of our Savior?

Most lay people don’t fully grasp the kind of strong will it takes to become a pastor. Of course, that initial training in seminary only represents the beginning. Once we pastors obtain our first assignment and actually begin to minister to actual people, then the real challenges begin.

Usually rather soon in our pastoral ministries, we come upon a situation where someone in our congregation pushes back—hard. While we remain quite certain that we understand what needs to be done and have even mapped out a very sound strategy, our parishioner doesn’t agree. So, what do we do?

If we spend time in prayer, humbling ourselves before the Lord, we soon realize that the best way to handle these difficult situations—the one’s that call for significant compromise—is to learn how to extend and receive grace. Part of our personal spiritual formation as pastors requires us to mature into men and women who can maintain a balance between our most sincere convictions, but also see the other side of issues. We have to learn where we can compromise and where we can’t. We simply cannot make every issue a hill on which we are ready to die.

If you will click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and then listen to Podcast No. 195, you will hear me talk in greater detail about this subject of handling what I call “compromising situations.” And, by that term, I don’t mean situations that compromise your faith or your moral integrity. Rather, I’m talking about situations that can best be handled by compromise—extending and receiving grace.

In order to build a relationship with the people God has called us to serve, we pastors must learn how to allow the Holy Spirit’s power to enable God’s grace to flow through us and touch the hearts of those in our care. That’s not an easy lesson to learn. But, it’s a very important one. If you’ve pastored for any time at all, I’m sure you agree.

Once again, I want to take this opportunity to introduce you to my new book, The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. You may pre-order this book at Amazon.com by clicking here.

This book gives information about how to make your sermons memorable. And, after all, as ministers we do want the people we serve to remember what we say when we share what God has laid on our hearts. Don’t we?

 

 

———————————————

Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.

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

 

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