“Practice makes perfect.” That statement is certainly true for those who wish to learn how to play musical instruments. It is also true for pastors who want to learn how to improve their skill in developing sermons. Most pastors do want to develop and preach sermons that will have the most impact in helping improve the spiritual formation of the members of their congregations.

Yes, I know that pastors do get a lot of practice. After all, most pastors prepare many more than fifty-two sermons each year—especially when you consider homilies at weddings and funerals, sermons at nursing home visits, and other talks that pastors often must deliver. But, is this practice focused on using a systematic method that will increase the effectiveness of those sermons?

In Podcast No. 203, I give a very practical example of how I would employ the “Sermon Coach Method of Sermon Development.” Using a real world example, I walk you through the steps I have used for over 50 years in ministry.

If you would like to listen to this Podcast, simply click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once there, you can listen while I explain, in a very practical way, some of the thought process I use in developing sermons that listeners will remember and be able to apply to their lives.

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For quite a few weeks now, I’ve shared with you about my new book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is scheduled for release in early May. In the meantime, 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.

 

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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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Film critics represent one of the banes of the motion picture industry. Producers of films gather the financial resources to create motion pictures based on story ideas that someone has presented to them. They find a writer to craft a screenplay that will give flesh to the story idea. They arrange for a Casting Director to choose the actors who will play the various parts. They hire a Director and arrange for a crew to film the project. It takes a great deal of work to make a movie.

Once the studio releases the movie, then the film critics jump in and offer their reviews. In many cases, bad reviews will doom a movie before it has even reached the real intended audience.

Imagine what would happen, if some sermon critic wrote a review of your sermon each week. Does this idea terrify you? Or, does the thought that your hard work in preparing and delivering a sermon might receive a sincere review energize you?

Having prepared and delivered sermons for nearly sixty years, you won’t be at all surprised that I have some very serious and deliberate thoughts about the idea of critics writing reviews of my sermons. I am happy to share those thoughts in Podcast No. 202.

If you would like to hear 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 can listen to this Podcast and decide whether or not you agree with what I’ve shared.

Do I think this idea of having sermons critically reviewed has merit? Or, do I think that such an proposal is the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard? You will want to listen to this Podcast to find out.

My whole emphasis at this point in my life is to help my fellow ministers become the best preachers they can possibly become. Why? Because the better a minister can preach, the more effective his or her communication of the truth of God’s Word will become. As a result, the more likely it will be that his or her hard work will bear spiritual fruit in the lives of the members of a given congregation.

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For several weeks, I’ve shared with you about my new book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is scheduled for release in early May. In the meantime, 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.

 

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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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I have the privilege of visiting quite a significant number of different churches each year. This gives me the opportunity to hear a wide variety of preaching styles from the various ministers. These opportunities often remind me of a question I received from a student when I taught preaching at Wheaton College Graduate School many years ago.

About half way through the course, this student stayed after class to ask me, “What’s the best preaching style?”

Now, I may have been tempted—just for a moment—to reply, “Why the style that I’m teaching you, of course.” But, my better judgment prevailed and I carefully explained to the student that there were actually many different preaching styles. “What’s best,” I told him, “is the preaching style that helps you effectively communicate God’s Word to your listeners.”

I develop this same theme with greater detail in Podcast No. 201. If you would like to hear what I have to say on this important subject, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once on that site, you will be able to listen to this particular Podcast. To do so, you must sign up for a “FREE Membership” to the site. All it takes is your name and email address.

It is my sincere hope that you will find the information I share in this Podcast very helpful, as you strive to develop the most effective style for your own preaching.

Once you have done your very best to prepare a thoughtful and challenging message, you surely want to communicate it to the members of your congregation in the most effective way. I believe I can help you do so. In fact, that’s what my Sermon-Coach.com website is really all about: helping pastors create effective, life-transforming sermons.

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For several weeks, I’ve shared with you about my new book entitled 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.

 

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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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Someone once said that the pastorate is one of the loneliest professions. I don’t know whether or not you resonate with that statement. It’s been my experience that there certainly are times when a pastor feels very much as if he or she has to slug it out alone.

As a result, we pastors tend to think that we must function alone—set apart from any other human assistance. This is no more true than it is when we sit down to prepare for our weekly sermons. In fact, many ministers would just as soon lock themselves in a room with the Holy Spirit and a few good references and hammer out their sermon with no input from any other human.

Over time, ministers begin to develop a sense of pride that they’ve gone it alone in their sermon-preparation process. They also may begin to believe that no lay person can ever really understand what it’s like to be a pastor. Both of these suppositions are fraught with potential problems—even with potential disaster.

Truthfully, we pastors do not “go it alone” when we prepare our sermons. We all rely on the Holy Spirit. We also rely on any number of books to give us background information, contextual help, even nuance of interpretation. In fact, many pastors delight in filling their personal libraries with as many books as they can squeeze onto the shelves.

Over more than 50 years of ministry, I’ve found that some of the best references I’ve had available came from the input I gathered from the members of my congregation. Or, when I worked in radio and television broadcasting, that I gathered from the members of my staff.

I talk about this idea of seeking help from the congregation in Podcast No. 200. If you would like to listen to my thoughts on this topic, please click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and listen to this Podcast. I believe you will find my comments helpful and encouraging.

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I confess that with lots of practice, I’ve become quite proficient with the Boom…Boom…Boom… of the drum I’ve been beating regarding my latest book. Because I’ve been told that repitition will provide encouragement for people to receive a message, once again I’m going to urge you to purchase and read this book.

I’ve entitled the 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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