You Forgot What?

OK, so I'm a forgetful person.  I will walk into a room, knowing I was going in search of something but can't remember what I was going in after.  Very frustrating to me and others.

My wife Beth was going through some journal entries I was making while I was a Cadet in training over 20 years ago.  One field training Sunday back then, I was scheduled to preach.  The way it worked back then was that I was assigned months in advance.  I was to submit, one at a time, a proposal for a Bible passage, a Bible Study, a short sermon outline, an extended (I used to day distended) outline, and a manuscript.  After several weeks expired and trees suffered from the paper usage, I was ready (or so I thought) to stand up in the pulpit with my manuscript.  To make matters worse, the field training officer (who was and is still a very nice person) was sitting in the back of the congregation with a grading sheet and the manuscript, giving a grade and constructive criticism on my sermon delivery.

I traveled with my brigade to the location, a two-hour drive away.  For whatever reason,I didn't have my manuscript with me.  No notes, no outline, no sermon.  The adrenaline was flowing as I tried to conceal my oversight from the training officer.  I had a few minutes alone before the meeting, and took a blank sheet of paper.  I folded it in half sideways so that it would fit in my Bible.  From what I remembered of my sermon, I wrote a bullet-point outline in two columns, one on each side of the fold.

When I got in the pulpit, I was nervous, but I felt strangely free.  I was able to step away from the pulpit, look people in the eye or take a small side trip that seemed appropriate at the moment. 

That Sunday morning began what for me has been a regular system for sermon delivery:

• I prepare my sermon in much the same way, except I don't create an extended outline or manuscript.
• I take a piece of graph paper (I like the horizontal and vertical lines for lining things up), fold it in half, and write on the open side of the paper.
• I write only a simple outline - bullet points and subpoints.  Any crucial points or quotes I will write out word for word.  I may also write the words to a prayer chorus on the page.  There are usually no mre than 200 words on the page.
• I write the notes by hand so that my memory can better recall my thoughts from a glance at the image of my own handwriting.  Printing it on the computer doesn't have the same effect.
• I fold the page and stick it in my Bible right where the preaching passage is.
• During the meeting, a thought might come up, or an illustration that ties into what someone else says.  I will open the sermon up and jot down that thought where I think it will best fit in.
• I open my Bible, put the notes next to the Scripture, and I am ready to go.

I am willing to admit that there have been several times since I was a cadet that I have lost my notes.  One time, I got up to the pulpit, ready to preach, thinking my notes were in my Bible, and they weren't.  Too late to do anything else.  I said, "Let's pray."  And God had His way among us.

So my encouraging advice to you is to wean yourself from the manuscript.  And I know you'll be a better preacher.

Like what you are reading? Consider the following: 1. Subscribe to my blog (there is a link for that on this page). 2. "Follow" me on twitter. It's a free account, and a great way to meet like-minded friends. My link is: http://twitter.com/tommccomb. 3. Leave a comment (I love your candid feedback and might use your ideas in future posts) 4. Tell someone else about this blog. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon.

Things I Forgot to Say on Sunday

 

It never happened to you, did it?  You get up to teach a Sunday School class, deliver the announcements or preach a sermon, and you sit down.  Then you remember something that you wanted to say but didn't.  When this happens, my reactions are varied.  Sometimes, I feel like kicking myself, feeling like I missed the best part, and now regretting that it's too late.  Other times, my faith tells me to trust God's guidance, feeling like maybe what I left out was better left unsaid.  

In reality, I need to lean more toward the latter, letting go of the moment and letting God have His way in what I say. 

At any rate, this morning I thought through yesterday's sermon.  I got in almost everything, but wanted to post one of the missing parts.

I was speaking about Faith, Hope and Love from 1 Corinthians 13:13.  I described Hope as a visual attribute, given by God to help us have an eternal perspective and vision as we trudge through life.

As I prepared the message, I intended to challenge my audience to sit down and write out their experience of God's calling in their lives.  Yesterday's audience was mostly people training to be Salvation Army officers, and I wanted to make sure they had documented their experience of the divine call in order to have it on hand when discouraging times come.

Having this written testimony of God's revelation to us will be incredibly useful as a way to "fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen."

OK, I trust God, even as I deliver a sermon.  God had something to say, and perhaps it had nothing to do with the challenge I considered delivering.  But now I mention it for your consideration today. 

Have you ever written out what your experience with God's call on your life?  I recommend it - it will be a handy document when times get tough.

Like what you are reading? Consider the following: 1. Subscribe to my blog (there is a link for that on this page). 2. "Follow" me on twitter. It's a free account, and a great way to meet like-minded friends. My link is: http://twitter.com/tommccomb. 3. Leave a comment (I love your candid feedback and might use your ideas in future posts) 4. Tell someone else about this blog. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon.

He Doesn't Know the Territory

"He Doesn't Know the Territory!"  This is a line from "Music Man," one of our family's favorite musicals.  Taylor was one of the "Pick-a-little" girls in a production her middle school put on.  Very fun.

But the quote is good as a warning for preachers too.  You need to know the territory.

Even Professor Harold Hill, who didn't know the first thing about boys bands, spent time getting to know the people of River City in order to present his sales pitch in a way that they couldn't resist.

Preachers need to do the same thing.  That is why, except for a few rare situations, the local pastor is the best one to minister from the pulpit.

For some time in my ministry as a corps officer, I was glad to get a break when a DHQ officer came.  One time, a DHQ guest said to me, "I will either preach or pay for lunch."  At that time, I was glad to preach, so that our corps could save some money.  Other than that, I would have the DHQ guest preach.  I thought they might have something to say to our people.  But I found that they didn't really connect with the people.  It wasn't that the content wasn't good, or that it wasn't well-prepared or well delivered.  But I knew my soldiers better.

Visiting preachers don't connect well from the pulpit because they don't have a relationship with them before the sermon begins.

Many of you can remember, as I do, Commissioner Andy Miller, when he was guest speaking, he would roam the auditorium, not only before the meeting started, but sometimes while the meeting was happening.  He would talk with people, "read" their faces, pray with people and get a sense of the crowd.  He would let the Holy Spirit inspire him as to what he should include in his sermon.  Sometimes, he would use something he learned just a few minutes before in his sermon.  Other times, I am convinced, he actually changed what he was going to preach in order to match what he was sensing among the people.

Commissioner Miller knew the value of connecting with the people before the sermon in order to connect better with them from the pulpit.

Here are a few things I remember that help me "know the territory."

1. Pay attention to news events.  Maybe you switched your sermon just after September 11, 2001, or just after the Haiti earthquake.  If you did, you understood what your people needed to hear.  After all, preaching is about meeting needs, and crisis is a prime time to allow the Bible to apply to uncertainty.
2. Use personal examples.  When I spoke about faithful service, sometimes, I would refer to some soldier in the congregation who was a great example of that.  They aren't perfect examples, and I risked embarrassing them, but it really connected with the congregation that day.
3. Listen to what you hear on Sunday morning.  If someone is going through a crisis, or has a story of victory, maybe it's time to delay the sermon and have a short time of prayer or testimony.  More than once, I have ditched my planned message because God was doing something incredible in the meeting - I just had to step aside.  
4. Address known issues.  Because you have been working with the families, you know what faith issues people are facing.  From your face-to-face ministry with them through the week, you can tailor make your sermons to meet those needs.  Maybe it's an illustration, or a whole sermon.  Other times, you may decide to construct a whole series to help your people deal with today's life challenges.
5. Watch faces.  This is my weakest area, because sometimes I "zone in" to my message and don't realize what is happening as I am preaching, but sometimes, you can see pain or distraction on someone's face.  At those times, be sensitive to what God is stirring in your heart to say.
6. Go with a distraction.  Even in the most peaceful of corps environments, an interruption comes.  Maybe it's a crying baby or a disruptive kid.  One time on an Easter Sunday with a visiting preacher (I wasn't there), a child pulled the fire alarm.  If there is a distraction, understand that even the most focused congregation member is distracted.  If you keep preaching without skipping a beat, you will lose your audience's attention.  My advice:  Acknowledge the interruption, laugh about it, then return to the sermon.  It might even serve as an illustration to something you are already talking about.  I suppose that comedians know better how to deal with hecklers, but preachers need to be nimble (and humble) enough to deal with an interruption with grace.

As I write this, I am preparing to "guest speak" before a group of people, most of whom I don't know.  I hope to do a little bit of "working the room" in order to be better connected for the message.

What do you do to make sure you are connecting with your audience?

Like what you are reading? Consider the following: 1. Subscribe to my blog (there is a link for that on this page). 2. "Follow" me on twitter. It's a free account, and a great way to meet like-minded friends. My link is: http://twitter.com/tommccomb. 3. Leave a comment (I love your candid feedback and might use your ideas in future posts) 4. Tell someone else about this blog. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon.

How to Find and Listen to Sermons Online

As promised from yesterday, in this post I will give you a head start to listening to free sermons online.

1. Find a podcast reader.  For many, this is iTunes.  I have stayed away from the Apple product because it is too "heavy" of a client to have running on my PC while I am doing other things.  Besides which, I am a fan of open source solutions for computers.  After using a half dozen different podcast subscription software, I finally settled on Google Reader.  This free solution collects all the feeds into one place, and I don't have to download all the sermons just to try them out.  And I don't have to install it on my PC.  If you are looking for different options, I suggest searching for "aggregator," and look at the choices.  Don't look too far - sometimes an email client you already have installed has an aggregator included.
2. Search for sermons.  This means a little bit of work, but it's worth it for the wealth of audio that is out there.  Start with your favorite preacher, author or church, and put the word "podcast" with their name in the search.  And for heaven's sake, don't pay for anything.  Some feeds require registering with a website, which is OK in moderation.  Many Bible Colleges will podcast their chapel services, which is sometimes hit-or-miss in quality, but there are some terrific messages by students, faculty and guests that are worth a little work looking for.
3. Get the link for the feed.  It is usually an internet address that ends in ".xml."  Look for the "RSS" link. It looks like the image at the top of this post.  This image usually links to the feed.  Just put your mouse on the link, right-click, and then click on "Copy Link Location," or something similar.  You have just copied the feed's link to your clipboard.
4. Subscribe in your podcast reader.  Then, in your reader, click on "Add Feed" or "Add Subscription" and paste the link you just copied into the field provided, click [OK], and you're done.  The reader will either bring the links up immediately, or at the next scheduled time to do so.
5. Select the sermons and listen.  From here, you can pick-and-choose the messages you really want to hear.  Sometimes you are listening to a certain preacher, or there is a Bible passage or topic that really jumps out to you.  Download these sermons to your laptop.  I have a folder in "My Documents" called "My Received Podcasts" that helps me keep them organized.
6. Copy some to your MP3 player.  Again, I like the off-brand MP3 players that seem so much cheaper and simpler to operate than the "Big Brother" name brands.  I will queue up dozens of sermons to listen to while I exercise or while I go grocery shopping alone.  Check out the documentation of your MP3 player to find out how to get the audio to your player.  I will jam as many as I can fit on my player.
7. Delete as you go.  As I listen to sermons, I delete them.  This is so that when I return to my laptop, I can find out quickly how much free space I have for new sermons.  Sometimes, I know right away that I'll be bored with a message.  I will delete them before they are completed.  After all, why waste time when there is so much good stuff out there.  At other times, there are sermons that are just fantastic that I decide to keep and listen to again. 

I hope this is helpful to you.  I definitely think that listening to other people preach has helped me improve as I minister from the pulpit, and I hope it will for you too.

Leave a comment and let me know how this is going for you.

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Like what you are reading? Consider the following:

1. Subscribe to my blog (there is a link for that on this page).
2. "Follow" me on twitter.  It's a free account, and a great way to meet like-minded friends.  My link is: http://twitter.com/tommccomb.
3. Leave a comment (I love your candid feedback and might use your ideas in future posts)
4. Tell someone else about this blog.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you soon.

Other Voices

 

This is the 3rd in a series called "Making a Better Preacher."  

A long time ago, while I was in Salvation Army training, a friend of mine (Todd Thielke) introduced me to a tremendously helpful habit.  While he was on morning details, he wore a walkman (remember those?) and listened to sermons on cassette tape.  Technology has come a long way, and I mean in a very good way.  

More and more churches and preachers have chosen to "reach out" via the internet to find a congregation beyond the walls of their churches.  While it may be a long time before the typical shut-in has internet access and an mp3 player, it has meant a lot to missionaries who want a link with home, and members of the congregation who are traveling.

Now, it is a wonderful resource for preachers, and I'll tell you why.

1. A new perspective.  By listening to other preachers, I learn a different take on passages of scripture.  For instance, I have avoided preaching on Genesis 22 - not because it's a bad passage, but because I am still trying to get my arms around God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.  By listening to other sermons, I have heard how others have approached this difficult topic.
2. New illustrations.  I can't tell you how many terrific stories there are out there that illustrate Bible principles.  Listen, and your imagination will be fed.  So maybe you won't use the same illustration, but listening to others will open your eyes to more in your life that you can use to bring theology to life.
3. Preaching style.  Let's face it - there is more to preaching than just homiletics. Maybe there is a way that a challenge is delivered that impacts you.  Perhaps an invitation you hear is really fresh and convicting?  Listen to others, and your preaching style will grow.
4. Terrific Sermon Series Ideas.  As I mentioned, I "borrowed" an idea from Mars Hill for Lent one year, when Rob Bell preached a series called "Out of Egypt."  There are some fantastic ideas that will give you a platform from which to build your own series.
5. Feed Yourself.  If you are as busy as I am as a pastor, you don't have much time for outside Bible Studies or fellowship groups.  Listening to sermons can challenge you and make you grow.

Tomorrow, I will talk about how to get started, and how you can get a lot of resources for free using the internet.  See you then.  And keep listening!

Making a Better Preacher Part 2 – Read, read, read

Like any good preacher, I am striving every day to get better.  In fact, I try to utilize as much of my day to improve in anticipation of the next time I’m in the pulpit.

Bill Hybels once said that a leader must spend 50% of his time leading himself.  If you fail to do this, there will be a time at which one of three things will happen:

1. Maybe your people will stop growing.  This is because you can only lead them as far as you have gone yourself.
2. Another possibility is that you will be placed somewhere else.  Your people start thinking, “We’ve heard all we are going to hear from this preacher.”
3. The third possibility is that your people – the hungry ones anyway – will find somewhere else to get nourishment.

One way that I make sure that I am learning and keeping myself  fresh is to read.  Harry Truman once said, “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”  Sure, like you, I have a hard time carving out reading time, and I have a couple of shelves of books that I have been meaning to read when I get the time.
When I think about reading to prepare myself for preaching, I have a few thoughts:

1. Make a plan.  Sure, there are lots of books on your shelf, but there are many great books that are being published constantly.  Make a list of books that you want to read, in order of priority.  In other words, I put the “most important” or “most urgent” books at the top of the list.  Now, if something new comes along, the list shakes up a lot.  But then I have a plan so that the list of titles doesn’t seem so overwhelming.
2. Keep a book with you.  You never know when you might have a couple of minutes – waiting for an appointment to come, being delayed in the airport, or any number of other situations.  If you have a book with you, you can maximize the use of that time.
3. Save your money.  I once had an obsession with new books.  I couldn’t go into a bookstore without buying something.  Then the new books sat gathering dust next to the old ones, adding to my self-imposed and paralyzing guilt about not reading enough.   Now I am a recovering book-a-holic, and the twelve steps have been good to me.  Here are a few tips:  Go to the library.  Share books with a friend.  Go to the thrift store.    Read a blog.
4. Clean out your bookshelf.  Like alluded to before, there are some titles on my shelf that I will never get to, nor should I.  My plan is to get rid of books that will not help me, or are less important than the ones I really should have time for.  Maybe there is a book that has meant a lot to you, but it’s time to pass it on and let it impact someone else.
5. Mix it up. I love leadership books, but they alone will not give me the depth I need for my preaching.  Sometimes some good current fiction will give you the inspiration you need for the next powerful illustration, and will keep you current with people in your congregation who read.  Don’t go nuts, but make sure you are getting a variety of reading.
6. Make notes.  As I read, my imagination gets jump-started, and typically I come up with a terrific analogy or sermon series idea.  Sometimes, a concept you have been wrestling with in your Bible reading is unlocked while reading something else.   If you have a pen and notebook handy, you will be more likely to capture that idea for future use.

So maybe I’ve given you some food for thought about reading.  But my encouragement to you is to turn the TV off and grab a book.  You will be a better preacher for it.

Making a Better Preacher Part 1 - Plan Ahead

Believe me, I have a long way to go in my preaching.  But there are a few things that have helped me improve along the way. 

One technique that helped me was to plan ahead.  Planning helps me because one of the most difficult parts for me about preaching is deciding what to preach about.  Don’t get me wrong – there is no shortage of material – but sometimes settling on one topic or passage is difficult.  Early in my career, it was just another reason to procrastinate, which is a problem I will address in a later installment of this series.  I found that taking a few hours planning once or twice a year was fantastic in setting the pace and settling the “What Should I Preach?” question.

So maybe you are having the same struggle – Sunday’s coming, and you don’t have a clue which direction you are going in.  So let me share with you some techniques that have been helpful to me.

1. Use the church calendar.  This means that you plan in advance for things like Lent and Advent.  Those two seasons alone take care of about 10% of your church year.
2. Find a lectionary online.  A lectionary is a week-to-week set of scripture passages that are designed on a three-year cycle to give a church a well-balanced diet of Bible.  This not only gives you passages in advance, it also follows the church calendar.  For example, Good Friday will include passages on the crucifixion, etc.  In addition, it avoids a common trap that preachers can fall into – only preaching from their favorite passages.  The Salvation Army's Southern Territory publishes a quarterly guide called "The Word and Worship Resources for Salvationists" that has a plan already developed that you can use.
   
3. Follow a devotional book.  In one congregation, we used “A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People.”  This gave us one year of sermon passages in advance, and also tied in everyone’s personal devotions to the Sunday messages.
4. Check the program calendar.  There are some Sundays that are special Sundays – Men’s Sunday, Women’s Sunday, Gospel Arts Sunday, Corps Cadet Sunday; that all lend themselves either to a themed meeting or the beginning or ending of a series.
5. Tie in with current trends.  Paying attention to the world outside can help you develop a sermon series that draws in visitors to your church.  Andy Stanley of North Point Church recently preached a short series called “He’s Still Got the Whole World in His Hands,” which addresses the uncertainty of the current economy and what our faith has to say about it.
6. Borrow from other churches.  Sites like www.sermoncentral.com have examples of nice series with catchy names that you can start with.  I used the concept of “Get out of Egypt” one year for Lent, which was borrowed from Mars Hill Community Church in Grand Rapids, MI.
7. Make manageable series.  Don’t preach a sixteen-week series on the chapters of Romans.  You will get tired of it, and your people will too.  Breaking it up gives some much-needed variety.  Usually a three-eight week series is a good length.
8. Share the plan.  I like to share my preaching plan with staff and volunteers who are responsible for designing the service, selecting music, etc.  I have used Google Docs online to create and share my plan so that the planning group can see it at any time, including updates as I change my mind or direction.  Sometimes, up to 18 months of plan has been available this way.

Maybe you have some planning tools that you use – I’d like to learn from you if you have a winning idea.