In late May and early June, I heard several graduation talks. Now I’m convinced that it’s not just ministers who need to start their message preparation by first figuring out (1) the subject of their talk and (2) the response they desire. These commencement speakers had a lot to say, and one was quite clever, but when they were finished it was next to impossible as a listener to figure out what they were actually talking about.
But let’s look at your sermon for next Sunday. After you deliver it, will your people be able to say, “The subject of our pastor’s sermon was clearly __________”?
If their response is, “He’s/she’s in a series on Romans and is in chapter nine”—that’s not adequate.
If they answer, “I’m not sure, but I liked the illustration about the __________” or “the joke about the __________ was really funny”—that’s still not adequate.
And let me add that if you as the speaker can’t answer what your subject was, for sure your congregation members won’t be able to.
Then what will be the specific response you will be calling for? “I want my hearers to…”
The answer has to be more specific than, “I want them to be more dedicated in their walk with the Lord.” There should be a way they can measure whether or not what you called for was accomplished.
If those two matters are fuzzy, your entire presentation will be as well. They sure were in terms of the speakers I heard this last week.
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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.
