A good way to get people’s attention is to show them something you’ve brought with you to the pulpit.

“This is a small replica of one of the lions that guards the entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. If you have been to China and seen these lions I’m talking about, please raise your hand. I know this is small, but here’s a big picture up on the screen,” etc…

“I had never seen one of these little games before. The idea, of course, is to swing the ball into the cup. I’m obviously no good at this, but the children in the plaza down in Oaxaca, Mexico were amazingly skilled,” etc…

“This is an ostrich egg. The reason I’m showing it to you is…”

“I purchased this piece of pottery some 30 years ago. I was in Venezuela, where I saw it in the market. I paid more for it than I probably should have. But bartering was not something I was all that skilled at doing. Anyway, I’m showing it to you because…”

Well, you get the idea. If you are having trouble figuring out how to quickly grab the attention of your congregation, consider what kind of a visual might help. And it doesn’t have to be at the start of your sermon. Just about any time you introduce a “show-and-tell” you’ll have people’s attention.

One caution—the reason for the visual needs to fit nicely into where the sermon is going. Otherwise, it’s little more than a gimmick.

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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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Recently, I was guest pulpit supply at a location where I’ve ministered several times previously. My bottom-line message was about the need to better understand and attract Millennials to the church. Like many congregations, this one was graying and needed to address this issue. I was also prepared to give some practical illustrations as to how to go about doing this.

As I worked on the sermon, I decided to do something different. I felt I could better handle the topic if I approached the presentation by way of an interview rather than a sermon. So I called a member of the congregation and asked if he would feel comfortable asking me questions, which I would supply. I would still use a text from Scripture, but I just wanted a different format for the presentation, including allowing time for a maximum of two or three questions from the congregation at the end of what I had to say.

The truth is, the morning went quite well. I had even better attention than normal, and no one seemed all that upset that we had attempted something different.

Different? Well, not really.

Way back in the Scriptures, I recall Jesus being comfortable with the give-and-take of fielding questions. Our Lord was a great preacher/teacher. But He wasn’t limited to just one form of communication—lecture or preaching. Maybe all of us who tend to think of ourselves exclusively as preachers should get out of the rut we have gotten ourselves into.

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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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When it comes to basic matters related to the ministry, I am not a procrastinator. It’s more natural for me to be ahead of time rather than late. So when a pastor asked me for advice on overcoming procrastination, I was somewhat at a loss as to what to say.

Trying to get a better handle on where he was coming from, I asked if he could be more specific. On what aspects of his work was he usually behind? His answer was that it was his sermon preparation.

Now, I procrastinate when it comes to things like filling out my income-tax forms. Sometimes I procrastinate in regard to completing projects around the house. But I had a hard time identifying with this person’s problem of procrastination as it relates to sermon preparation.

Then my wife reminded me about my early years as a pastor, and my all-too-many late-Saturday-night sessions. That was pure agony with me asking myself repeatedly, What is it I’m really trying to say? All too often I didn’t know the answer by Sunday morning service time.

Each of those session was like an exquisitely painful torture! So what changed things? It was coming up with the idea of early on in the sermon-preparation process figuring out two things:

1. What’s my sermon’s “Subject”?
2. What’s the “Response” I’m calling for?

If early in the week I knew exactly where I was headed with these two elements of the sermon, I had a great jump start on everything else. I could then usually figure out how to help people with the “How-Tos,” or suggestions for putting into practice the given desired response.

Anyway, that was a turning point in my ministry. And, it eventually made it possible for me to handle the rigorous schedule of six radio broadcasts a week plus the five half-hour television programs I was doing weekly, as well.

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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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