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I just finished reading Communicating For a Change by Andy Stanley — an excellent book on preaching/speaking and sermon prep. I’ve been preaching full-time for almost 13 years, and this book has changed the way I prepare and deliver my sermons (well, I should say that I am beginning to put the principles into practice — it won’t happen overnight). This old dog is trying to learn some new tricks.
The basic premise is that we preachers put too many points in our sermons and try to cover too much ground. Stanley suggests that you focus your entire sermon on one point, and hammer that over and over again. The people listening to you are much more likely to remember what you said if you focus on one point than if you gave them 5 points (alliterated, of course). There is much more to it, but that’s a quick overview.
The first half of the book is just a story illustrating how one preacher learned the system. I found this section to be little more than filler — and you won’t miss anything if you skip it. But the second half of the book explains the process, and is very practical. I wish this book had been available when I was in college, or at least when I began preaching.
If you want to be more effective in your preaching and speaking, get this book. I give it my highest recommendation.
I went to Rick Warren’s seminar on preaching a few years ago. He said Orange County had the highest number of PhD’s in the country but he discovered that preaching with impact had to be done with a very simple message–even to guys and gals with a PhD. Jesus told stories. He made his point without complicated outlines. Anyway, thanks for tip on the book.
I learned a model of preaching in school that really amounted to preaching 3 sermons connected by a common theme (each point could have been its own sermon). I have for the most part ceased doing this. In our congregation, I post my sermon notes in the bulletin, and use my sermon as the base for our small group questions on Sunday evening. Because of this, I know that people we be spending time reflecting on the sermon and its application in their lives in a small group setting, which is exciting for me. I have found I can put more content in a sermon this way (but to too much more)
Does this mean the death of PowerPoint?
I sure hope so…