Preaching

July 31, 2019

“Your story of the car was the best preaching advice I ever received! It did more for me than any of my seminary preaching courses. I’ve also used it as I’ve mentored other budding preachers.” I was sitting in Starbucks waiting for my friend to arrive when I saw Jim and Susie at the counter. They moved from the area some years ago and are now living in North Carolina where he pastors a church behind the Outer Banks. They were up for a short visit and happened to stop in while I was there. After ordering, they saw me, came over and sat down. It was good to see them again, a wonderful young couple who faithfully proclaim and live the Gospel. I was not expecting the accolades he gave.

When God called Jim into ministry from teaching in the public school, he started out with the Lay Speaking Class I happened to be teaching for our district. I only had one preaching class in seminary, but it laid the foundation for nearly fifty years’ of standing before God’s people, Bible in hand, proclaiming its truths and pointing to Jesus. What I taught in those classes was simply stuff I had learned in that single class. 

Preaching is really pretty simple, which is not the same as easy. Doing it right is hard, but doing the right things is not. I compare preaching to getting in the car for a drive. Most of the time when we get in a car, we have our destination already in mind. We don’t often hop into the front seat and go “wherever.” Sermons are like driving; if you don’t have a clear destination in mind, you wander, and everyone gets lost. I used to tell my budding preachers to study the text, then figure out exactly where it leads you. Get your destination set, then go for it, no side trips, no distractions; just go to the destination. 

You have to get people on board, which is what the introduction is all about. It may be a short story or the lyrics to a song—perhaps even a video, but once you get the congregation on board, go straight for the goal. Too often, preachers take sudden and unexpected turns, and the congregation (which contrary to traffic law isn’t belted in), gets chucked out the door as the preacher rounds a bend a little too fast. Every so often, the preacher needs to stop and give people who’ve fallen out a chance to get back on board. 

If the goal isn’t crystal clear to the preacher, it will be total mud to the congregation, so I would tell these young preachers to put their sermon into a single sentence with subject, verb, and predicate. If they couldn’t do that, their goal wasn’t clear enough.

I haven’t taught that class in years, and it was a pleasant surprise and affirmation when the first words out of Jim’s mouth rolled back the calendar some two decades. I am thankful today that along the way, something I said hit its mark and continues to do so in a new generation of preachers.