The Power of Testimonies

As pastors, we spend significant time each week developing sermons. In those sermons, we intend to properly represent God’s instructions for those in our congregations. We have a sincere desire to help our parishioners in the development of their spiritual formation.

Sometimes, there emerges different ways to prompt spiritual growth other than through preaching. While it’s hard for us to imagine that anything could prove more powerful than our proclamation, the truth is that God often uses the testimony of laypeople to encourage the spiritual development of those who listen.

I make this point rather strongly in Podcast 233. Believing that I have some helpful words to share with my fellow pastors, including you, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and listen to this particular Podcast.

I truly believe that as you listen, you will hear my own testimony of how God has used the testimony of laypeople in my own spiritual encouragement. And, I believe that such a use of testimony has far too long been neglected in most churches. After you listen, see if you agree with my assessment.


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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“Are there any non-Christians present?”

It would be quite unusual for a pastor to be so bold as to pose the above question to his or her congregation gathered for worship. Since we always want visitors to feel welcome, we would not single them out in this way—not that all visitors would be non-Christian, nor can we assume even all those who regularly attend have acknowledged God’s work of salvation in their lives.

We pastors simply would not want to cause embarrassment or confusion for those who have yet to become a part of God’s Kingdom. Yet, we sometimes need to be reminded in designing our worship services and, especially in preparing our sermons, that non-Christians might well be present.

I have provided such a reminder for you, as my fellow pastors, in the form of Podcast 232. In fact, I discuss some strategies that I have intentionally used to help non-Christians feel more welcomed and more comfortable when I invite them to come to church.

Because I believe you will benefit from what I have to say, I’m extending this personal invitation for you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and, then, listen to this Podcast. By the way, all Podcasts are now FREE and offered to you without any obligation whatsoever.

An awareness of how God might use our services and our sermons to draw someone into the Kingdom should also make us willing to examine if there is anything we might do to remove any unintentional barriers we may have erected. These barriers are the kinds of things that make non-Christians feel that they don’t understand what’s happening, or that’s there is some kind of special knowledge that churchgoers must have.

After all, at some point in our lives, we, too, were outside the Kingdom. We want to make certain something we do or say does not impede the work the Holy Spirit may be doing in someone’s heart and mind.


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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Gifts of the Spirit

Eventually, every church gets around to talking about spiritual gifts. Usually today, it has to do with discovering a process that will transform a church into a more focused, missional team that can have a greater impact for the Kingdom of God.

If you’re like most pastors, at one time or another, you have preached a sermon on spiritual gifts. You may have even chosen one of the various instruments that will help the people in your congregation identify their spiritual gifts. The idea behind this strategy is to help people discover how God has equipped them for service in His Kingdom.

”Service” is a key word in this endeavor. God has given spiritual gifts to equip His children for service to Christ and His Kingdom. So, what do you suppose I might have to say about this subject?

I actually have a somewhat different take on the subject of spiritual gifts than most other ministers. Not that my views are heretical, you understand. Nor are they in any way in opposition to the teaching of Scripture. In fact, I believe that my view on this subject can help parishioners put this important subject in a whole new light.

I am pleased to be able to share my feelings about the subject of spiritual gifts in my latest Podcast—Podcast 231. If you would like to hear what I have to say, I invite you to click the link on this page and go to my Sermon-Coach.com website. Once there, you can select this Podcast and explore this topic with me.

I really think that I have some insights on this subject that will prove helpful to you in your ministry. We do want the people in our charge to understand how God has equipped them to serve as His ambassadors in a very needy world. I believe that my thoughts will add a bit of a new dimension on how to accomplish this goal.


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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Evaluate Off-Site

As pastors, we realize that the members of our congregations talk among themselves about what we’ve shared during our weekly sermons. At least we hope that’s what happens. We earnestly desire our congregants to discuss and evaluate what we’ve said. If they do so, perhaps some of the truth we’ve shared from God’s Word will take hold in their hearts.

But, we also realize that there is a time and place to perform such an evaluation. That’s the subject of my Podcast 230 for this week: When and where should the people in my congregation talk about my sermon?

If you would like to listen to this Podcast, I would suggest that you click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and choose this particular Podcast from the menu. As you listen, you will realize that I am mostly talking to members of your congregation. But, I suspect you will both appreciate and affirm what I have to say.

We pastors don’t want to preach in a vacuum. We want honest and respectful evaluation. But, we do not want to foster a culture that routinely “roasts the pastor” by evaluating too harshly what we’ve shared. After all, we pastors are human, too.

The responsibility of leading a congregation along a straight pathway toward ever-more-effective spiritual formation is an assignment from the Lord that we pastors do not take lightly. We also realize we cannot do this without the help and support of those to whom we minister.

Perhaps you will want to share the content of this Podcast with some of the key members of your congregations. I think they will benefit from hearing what I have to say.


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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