“Now, listen carefully!”

July 28, 2015 by admin

I once heard a preacher end her sermon by saying, “As I bring this sermon to a close, it is my fondest hope that some of you will take to heart what I have said. And, that others of you will wake up refreshed.”

I suspect she used this closing to interject some humor into her sermon. But, she may well have felt a certain amount of frustration that some of her congregation came to church so tired that they saw the preaching time as an opportunity to take a quick nap.

It’s a reality that today people often come to church far from ready to worship and hear a message from God through the person preaching. That fact requires we who minister to make certain we purposefully inject some “life” into our sermons. I talk about this in some detail in Podcast 120.

If you would like to consider what I have to say about this topic, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Then, you can point your web browser to the Podcast link and listen to this particular Podcast.

I think you will find what I have to say quite helpful. At least that is my sincere prayer. I am committed to helping pastors preach more effective sermons. So, I truly hope that I will be able to help you.

I continue to receive many positive comments about my latest book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is now available at Amazon.com by clicking here.

This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.

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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Be Sure to Include Emotion

July 21, 2015 by admin

Even if you have served as a pastor only two or three years, you’ve already preached a significant number of sermons—probably well over 130 or so. And, if you’ve been in ministry as many years as I have, well the number of sermons simply becomes staggering.

As we prepare our sermons, one thing that we ministers don’t always think about is the need to make certain we include the emotion of the Scripture text on which we will base our sermons. I know that it took me a while before I recognized that the mere recitation of facts alone did not necessarily move the people in my congregation along the pathway of their spiritual formation. But, once I began to include the appropriate emotion found within the passage of Scripture I had chosen, suddenly the people began to experience a much more accelerated spiritual growth.

Certainly an overabundance of emotion can become a stumbling block for many. But, finding a good balance between concrete information and heartfelt emotion can give a sermon new life and vitality.

If you would like to hear more about this particular subject, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach website. Once there, you can listen to Podcast 219. In that Podcast, I explain a bit more about how important emotion can become in crafting a life-transforming sermon. And, I offer some very practical suggestions as to how you can draw the emotion from the Scripture text and place it appropriately in your sermon.

We want to help the people God has placed in our charge to grow in their walk with Him. Therefore, we should no shy away from anything that will help us accomplish the nurturing role that God has given us in the lives of His children.

This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.

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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An “Aha Moment”

July 14, 2015 by admin

In the course of helping our congregations continue on a forward pathway toward ever-improving spiritual formation, we pastors need to craft our worship services and sermons with certain elements in mind. Those elements will open up the opportunity for our congregants to have an occasional “Aha moment” that will open up new possibilities for encouragement in spiritual growth.

Looking back over nearly 60 years of ministry, I can see in my own life those times when something happened in a worship service that turned on a spotlight inside my mind and heart. At those times, I felt drawn closer to the Lord and greatly encouraged to follow Him with deeper devotion. I’m not talking about a purely emotional experience. Certainly emotions may well have been involved, but I’m focusing much more on a deep connection with the supernatural Presence of the Holy Spirit who ministered to me in a very special way.

I want to encourage my fellow pastors to consider whether they are making an effort to inspire such “Aha moments” in the worship services and sermons for which they are responsible. That’s why I’ve made this particular topic the focus of Podcast No. 218. If you would like to take a few moments to explore with me the possibility of opening up your worship services and sermons as vehicles for “Aha moments,” then I ask you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once your browser takes you to that site, please click the link to listen to this Podcast.

As pastors, we are instruments of God’s grace to our congregations. He has called us to minister in His behalf to those He has placed under our shepherding care. I am convinced that you join me in wanting to become as skilled as possible in using the gifts God has given us to serve Christ and His Kingdom in the most effective possible way.

This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.

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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Sensitivity to Stress

July 7, 2015 by admin

Everyone has some type of stress in his or her life. Sometimes the stress comes from a very serious event in one’s life. Sometimes the stress comes from home situations or work situations. Sometimes just living each day produces a certain amount of stress.

As pastors, we need to become more aware of the impact that stress has on the lives of the people in our congregations. We also need to become more aware of the effect that stress has on our own lives and ministries.

In Podcast 217, I spend time talking about the stress I’ve faced in my life of late and how God has ministered to me through a variety of sources, including through people in the church that I attend. I offer some thoughts that I hope will help pastors evaluate how keenly aware they are of the stress that may exist in the lives of the people they serve.

If you would like to hear my thoughts on this important topic, please click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach website. At that site, you can click a link to listen to this particular Podcast.

The relevancy of the church in our current society has a great deal to do with whether or not we pastors develop a sensitivity to the stressors that influence the way our people think, feel, and act. We cannot begin to offer positive solutions from God’s Word until we heighten our awareness of what these folks are experiencing in their daily lives.

This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.

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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