I attended a banquet one time where the organizers had brought in a famous pastor from a well-known evangelical church to speak about the need for humility in serving Christ. It was a topic that I cared deeply about because I felt that many ministers at that time were caught up in a cult of personality that detracted from their effectiveness as servants of the Kingdom of God.
Just before the visiting pastor was to speak, one of the sponsors of the event stood up and began a rather long introduction of the guest speaker. This well-meaning individual droned on and on, sharing in great detail what the speaker had accomplished. I glanced at my watch a couple of times and noted that three, four, five, six minutes had passed.
Finally, the sponsor of the event reached a somewhat bombastic conclusion and welcomed the guest speaker to the podium. It was hard to tell whether the applause was celebrating the anticipation of what the guest speaker was going to say, or relief that the overlong introduction had finally ended.
After the applause died down, the guest speaker began in a somewhat subdued voice, “After an introduction like that, I can hardly wait to hear what I’m going to say.” As laughter swept across the room, you could feel the tension lift and the minds of the people present begin to refocus on what the speaker would share.
Introductions—introductory remarks—can suck the life out of a banquet speech and, quite sadly, can also suck the life out of a worship service. As pastors, we need to remain aware of how tedious and tasteless such introductory remarks can become. Whether the remarks occur at the beginning of a worship service, or as you begin your sermon, you must very carefully craft every introductory remark to maintain brevity and to pack truly relevant content into whatever you intend to say.
Relevance, relevance, relevance—especially when it comes to remarks before a sermon—you must not detract from the message God has given you by trying to make some tenuous connection with your listeners by way of your introductory remarks.
I have some helpful hints on how pastors should handle introductory remarks that I have shared in a recent Podcast. If you would like to hear my suggestions, I invite you to click the link on this page that will take you to my Sermon-Coach website. Then, on the Sermon-Coach Podcast webpage, click on the link and listen to Podcast No. 188.
We pastors must pay attention to this critical part of our presentations. We must remember that it is not really our job to endear ourselves to the members of our congregation. We are Christ’s ambassadors. Whatever we do must reflect well on Jesus. The spotlight must always remain solely on Him.
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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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