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As someone who’s grown up in church, I’ve heard quite a few sermons over the years. I’ve seen that often the person speaking can make or break a meeting and many times will be the deciding factor (other than relationships) for whether someone returns the following week. Engaging students who have been sitting in class all day can be even more challenging than preaching at a church on Sunday morning.
We should always be looking to become better communicators of the word. I’m thankful for several experienced preachers who have poured into me and I want to pass that knowledge along to you. I’m still learning and growing in this area, but as you begin to prepare messages for your fall semester I wanted to give you seven quick tips from what I’ve learned in my past 5 years of preaching.
I saved the best one for last, so you’ll want to stick with me until you’ve got them all.
Be Confident
Remember that you are the person God has chosen for this moment. If your pastor has given you this responsibility then they believe in you. There have been times that I thought a sermon didn’t go well afterwards, but because I had gone into it with confidence knowing that God had chosen me for the moment I still got good feedback.
Stick To One Point
You’ll have other little nuggets and tidbits throughout your message that will be helpful, but overall you want to drive home one main point. When I first started preaching I tried to cram as many things into each message as I could, but college students have short attention spans (remember how I mentioned they’re in class all day?). Think of your message as an amazing entree, not a buffet. Stick to one main point, make it memorable and repeat it throughout your message.
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Make It Personal And Be Yourself
Students connect more with you when you share personal stories and give them a glimpse into who you are. They connect more with your message when you find ways to personalize it for them. So, share personal stories that illustrate what you’re talking about and then give examples specific to your audience of how they can apply it their lives, relationships, daily activities, etc.
Don’t try to be so much like other famous speakers that you lose who you are. You can learn techniques from them and try to improve as a speaker, but don’t try to be just like them. Audiences connect most with someone who is genuine and authentic.
Practice
Not everyone has time for this, but especially when you’re starting out preaching it can go a long way. Use a timer and preach to yourself several times in the mirror. Walk around and move in the same way you would during your talk until you feel comfortable.
Go For The Heart
Often I hear people preach on how to live out our faith, but they only focus on the outward actions. Dealing with issues of the heart is what affects our actions. So, it’s important to go after the issues of the heart and then give practical examples of how that affects the way we live.
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For example, I have preached on personal finances and in that sermon I talk about being generous. Now, generosity is a heart issue, but in order to do the action of being generous a deeper issue that needs to be addressed is trusting that God will take care of our finances when we are generous. If we can’t trust God with our finances then we’re less likely to be generous. Trust is the real heart issue that needed to be addressed in that sermon.
Give Them A Chance To Respond
Your preaching should elicit a response. At the end of your message it should be clear to your audience what action you want them to take. This could be encouraging them to think differently (like the above example with trusting God) or to start implementing an action (like reading the Bible daily).
Whatever it is, make sure it’s clearly communicated and then give them a chance to physically respond as an outward declaration that they want to change. I typically have everyone close their eyes and then ask anyone who wants to respond to put their hands out in front of them.
Spend More Time Preparing Your Spirit Than Your Mind
A pastor recently told me that this was the most important change he’s made in how he approaches message preparation. People have to draw from your well, so it’s vital that you invest time in prayer. Pray as if all your preparation is useless unless the Holy Spirit moves.
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Well, there’s my 7 quick tips. I could go on all day, but I hope these can help you take your preaching to the next level. I know that God wants to use you to communicate the power of the Gospel and lead people into deeper relationship with Him!
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