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Preaching

Tips, ideas, articles, and ruminations about the art and craft of preaching.

don’t ignore the runway

By Preaching
Over the past few weeks, I've flown from Denver to Nashville and most recently from Denver to San Jose. On each flight I praised God for the invention of noise-cancelling head phones and asked him to bless the person who donated their's to Goodwill. As one who has flown quite a bit, I don't really pay much attention to the flight itself. It's one reason I love watching little kids look through the window in amazement as the plane takes off or lands. In reality, it is quite incredible to think about the logistics and mechanics of modern flight. When it comes to preaching and public speaking, I have noticed that many speakers don't pay much attention to take offs or landings either. The temptation is to spend all your time and energy focused on the cruising altitude - the body of your message. It is at cruising altitude that our…
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persuasion through credibility

By Preaching
“Of the modes of persuasion furnished by the spoken word there are three kinds. The first kind depends on the personal character of the speaker; the second on putting the audience into a certain frame of mind; the third on the proof, provided by the words of the speech itself.” – Aristotle This ancient Greek guy was on to something. The three modes of persuasion came to be known as ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos = the credibility of the speaker. Pathos = creating empathy with the audience. Logos = facts, evidence, and logic. Whether preaching or giving a business presentation, the credibility (or believability) of the speaker is important. The audience must believe you are trustworthy. If they believe you know what you're talking about, they're more likely to listen. If not, you're in trouble. This is even more important when you're speaking to the same audience on a regular basis.…
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bringing the point home

By Preaching
In preaching and public speaking, one of the greatest challenges a speaker faces is how to make the message applicable to his or her listeners.  In other words, how to move from information to transformation. Over the years, I have learned to "think ahead" when it comes to preaching.  As I'm researching and writing my message, I try to think ahead to the different types of people who will be in the crowd and the different aspects of life each of them faces. To jumpstart your move to application, you might consider thinking through how your message applies to one or more of these areas: People stuff.  How does your main point affect their marriage?  How they raise their children?  Handle employees? Conflict and tension.  Does your main point or passage help resolve a conflict or give perspective to a particular tension?  Is there an immediate step of action they…
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passion breeds passion

By Preaching
Effective preaching and teaching is about more than transmitting information; it's also about inspiration. In the world of SEO (search engine optimization), the mantra is "content is king."  In other words, search engines love fresh content -- an indication that a site is alive and worth indexing.  A static site that never changes probably isn't drawing much traffic. In preaching and teaching, content certainly matters.  Truth matters.  God's Word never changes.  But how the truth is delivered matters, too. Passion breeds passion.  If I'm not passionate about delivering my topic, why should the audience be passionate about applying it?  A passionate communicator will lead the audience to be passionate as well. But don't be misled.  Passion isn't all about delivery, though passion should seep through the manner in which we communicate.  Passion is also conveyed by our energy level and the excitement that is heard in our voice and seen…
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you never know who you are preaching to

By Preaching
As a preacher and communicator, I am a big proponent of knowing who you are speaking to.  As John Stott reminded us, we who preach live in "two worlds" -- the world of the Bible and our own world.  Fred Craddock taught us that good preaching flows out of a preacher who knows his God and his people. Therefore, I try to craft my messages with my audience in mind.  I think through different life situations and scenarios.  Before I head for the stage, I usually look around and remind myself who is in the room. But I never know everybody.  This was brought home to me once again this past Sunday. After our first service, a young lady and her mother stopped to thank me for the service.  As they spoke, the young lady began crying -- and I mean really crying.  Like sobbing.  The mother apologized and then…
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