The Preaching Donkey Podcast: Recent Episodes
Lane Sebring
When we preach, we need one thing from our listeners in order to get our message across to them: their attention. If they are not listening, the message is not making an impact. This is why building tension in the beginning of your message is so important. It signals to the listener that the message is worth listening to. There are many ways to approach tension building, but in this episode I'm going to show you the best way.
Recently I received a question from a subscriber who asked me about how to move from preaching messages with multiple points to preaching one-point messages. I love this question because it begs another question: Why would you want to preach a one-point message? In this episode, we'll explore how to prepare and preach a one-point message as well as why it can be a great way to go!
Church attendance is in decline overall. But this is not just among those who have left the faith entirely. Even those who are committed Christians are attending church less and less. In an article on his website, Carey Nieuwhof explores why. In this episode, we'll dive into the ten reasons he gives for why church attendance is declining and what we can do about it in our churches.
If you've ever watched a video of yourself preaching, you've probably noticed some things you're doing that are distracting to your listeners. All of us could use some coaching in this area. When I look back through videos of my sermons I notice more distracting tendencies than I care to admit! But there is hope and we can all overcome these by knowing what they are and working to eliminate them. In part two of this series, I want to offer five common distractions I’ve observed in preachers over the years. For each one I'll give simple solutions to correct them so that your messages are as distraction-free as possible!
With each sermon you preach, you should be absolutely crystal clear what you want your people to take away from it. If you are murky about how they’ll be able to use your message, then you can be sure they’ll be clueless. As preachers who want to communicate well, clarity must be a top priority in every sermon. But it’s easy, and sometimes necessary, to focus most of your prep time on your content and not your listeners. This makes it so crucial to think through how your listeners will receive and use your message. In this episode, I want to give you three simple tests that will help you ensure that your sermon is ready to go in terms of its impact on your listeners and their ability to apply it.
TODAY through Monday we're offering BOTH Killer Sermons Academy and Preaching Jumpstart in The Ultimate Killer Sermons Bundle at $200 OFF when you use promo code: BLACKFRIDAY200 at checkout. This takes it from $497 to $297 this weekend only! The Ultimate Killer Sermons Bundle includes Killer Sermons Academy Platinum: our most comprehensive, flagship course on sermon preparation and delivery. It is a complete, end-to-end, proven system to consistently create and deliver messages that captivate and inspire your listeners toward life-change. With the bundle, you'll also get Preaching Jumpstart. This course is perfect if you are new to preaching or looking to develop a repeatable, effective process for preparing and preaching your sermons. It provides a complete, simplified process for writing and delivering life-changing sermons. Find out all the details here: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/offers/WMNRzMnP?coupon_code=BLACKFRIDAY200
It’s more important than ever before to work on gaining and keeping the attention of your listeners while you preach. Capturing and maintaining attention is one of the most difficult things a communicator must do. The reason we have to work harder to gain and keep attention has to do with what competes for the attention of our people every time we preach. Our listeners are so distracted, and we need to know what we’re up against. Some of these distractions are new, and some are as timeless as humanity, but they are all present every time you stand up to preach. In this episode, we'll dive into four things that compete for your people’s attention when you preach - and what to do about them.
So many pastors get burned out and fatigued because they lack balance. They are giving 100% of themselves 100% of the time. This is not sustainable and will lead to an inevitable crash landing. But there are two simple things you can do to keep yourself from burnout: Take a real day off; and have a real vacation. In this episode, we'll explore why it's so vital to guard your time off as a pastor, and even more importantly, we'll discover how to do it.
There are many things that can distract you while you preach. Distractions can easily interrupt your flow, make you lose your train of thought and potentially derail your message. It’s important to prepare for potential distractions ahead of time so that you're ready when they come. All preaching distractions fall into one of two categories: internal or external. Internal distractions exist inside your head. Your mind goes a million miles an hour while you preach. You think about a lot of things in the moment: -you can’t decide what your next word is going to be -you wonder how your message is coming across -you’re not sure if you’ve adequately made your point -you realized you’ve talked yourself into a corner -and on and on All of this goes on in your head while words are coming out of your mouth. It makes it difficult to stay focused on your message. These internal distractions come at you from your own thoughts. No one knows they’re happening except you. But there’s another type of distraction that is just as disruptive. External distractions come from something other than you, and they are largely out of your control. They vary from a crying baby to someone leaving during your message to someone coming in late to someone with an insidious cough. What can you do about distractions when you preach? Whether they are internal or external, is there a way to overcome distractions? While some distractions can’t be avoided, they can be managed. In this episode, we're going to explore five ways to overcome preaching distractions.
Sermon preparation can be vexing. It's important to put in the necessary hard work and deliver a sermon that is worthy of a listen. But when I write about the importance of working hard at sermon preparation, well-meaning people sometimes respond with this argument: "Just let the Holy Spirit guide you! No need for all this work." It is their desire to protect the purity of the process and not tarnish it with technique. They see preaching as this otherworldly exercise that the Holy Spirit superintends. In their view, the work of the Holy Spirit is thwarted when the preacher makes an effort to improve his preaching. In this episode, we'll look at why this is a misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit's role in sermon prep.
Often when I am preparing a message, I'm asking myself, "What is the point I'm going to make in this message?" Granted, that's a valid question. But there is a more important question to ask that goes a level higher than that: What's my objective for this message? To know if you were successful at something you’ve tried, you have to know what you were seeking to accomplish. This is true in every area of life but especially in preaching. This is why I nail down the objective of my message early on in the process of writing it. The objective drives the process from there. In this episode, I will show you how to arrive at the objective for a message and lay out one more vital question you must ask before writing any sermon.
As a preacher you should never shy away from tough topics. If the Bible addresses an issue, you should too. You want to help your listeners have a holistic view of how biblical truth intersects with every aspect of their lives. But the more controversial the topic the more important it is to handle it with care. I have preached on topics ranging from what the Bible teaches about alcohol consumption, to sex and sexual issues, to marriage, and financial giving. Along the way, I have learned a few things about how to approach these types of sermons, and I would like to share with you. In this episode, we'll dive into nine tips for preaching on controversial topics.
As preachers we must guard against a prideful spirit. It is a trap that can destroy our effectiveness and our ministries. But we need confidence in order to boldly proclaim God’s word. A tension exists between pride and confidence. Most of us would say that being confident in our abilities is generally good, but being prideful in ourselves can be detrimental. We know that the Scriptures contain harsh warnings against pride. You can be a confident person without being prideful, but it often seems like a fine line. A closely related character trait to pride and confidence is fear. Fear can be a huge inhibitor. Most of us bounce back and forth between pride and fear. Sometimes we’re prideful of our accomplishments looking for others to notice how awesome we are and validate us. Other times we are insecure in our abilities and fearful of what other people might think. Thus there is an ongoing struggle for what motivates our preaching. We must be motivated by the right things and avoid being motivated by the wrong things. In this episode, we'll explore two motivations we must avoid and how to replace them with something much better.
There are few things more vulnerable than preaching. If you do it right, it is a moment when you bare your soul for the world to see. So it makes sense that you wonder what people think of your preaching. You want to know if your sermon worked. Sometimes you just want someone to tell you that you did great so you don’t feel as awful about your mediocre sermon (we’ve all been there). Most of us walk away from a sermon we’ve preached with this resounding thought: Validate me, tell me how great my sermon was because I need to feel worthy as a person! Categorically positive feedback is acceptable from your mom or your spouse. Everyone needs someone cheering them on. But you have to pursue more meaningful feedback from others if you want to get better. You should seek feedback that actually makes a difference. You want the kind that tells you if your sermons are doing what they’re supposed to do – making an impact. But most people don’t give this kind of feedback naturally. You have to ask for it, and you have to receive it constructively. So, how do you get more helpful feedback on your sermons? We'll discover an easy way in this episode.
In our effort to become better preachers we often learn from the best preachers in our generation. We watch our heroes and take notes gleaning all we can from them. This, by the way, is a good thing. While you should never seek to copy someone else or become them, you can always learn a great deal from studying best-practices. But we have a lot to learn not only from our contemporaries, but also from those who have gone before. One leader and preacher who we can learn a great deal from is Paul. Paul, the Apostle, was not only a top notch theologian who wrote a huge part of the New Testament. He was also a missionary, pastor, church-planter and movement leader. We can gain a lot from watching his life and ministry. In this episode, we'll discover five practical things preachers can learn from Paul.
Prominent mega church pastor, Matt Chandler, steps down for an indefinite leave of absence from his preaching role at The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX. This is due to "unguarded and unwise" interactions between him and another woman on Instagram. This comes in the wake of many scandals involving high profile pastors stepping down from their roles - some permanently losing their ministries. But this situation has some nuances that few seem to acknowledge. For far too long, we've seen a lack of accountability in the church. Is this situation different? Did the elders at The Village Church actually do their job? In this episode, we'll explore the statements from Chandler and Patterson, and draw out some lessons we can take away from this situation as pastors and church leaders.
The days leading up to a sermon can be very stressful for a preacher. Your sermon content is on your mind constantly. The responsibility of preparing a sermon can be daunting because when Sunday comes you have to deliver. This is why you need a plan, a guide, a schedule to keep you on track. In this episode, we'll explore the reasons you could benefit from a schedule and how to create one!
Some preachers alliterate their outlines making all their points begin with the same letter. Sometimes just the main points are alliterated, other times the sub-points are alliterated, still other times the sub-sub-points are alliterated. At one point it was taught as a great way to organize your message and really get your listeners to remember. To make it stick, alliterate! was the mantra. But we don’t see as much alliteration anymore - at least not to the extent it was happening in the 90s and 00s. But does it make a difference? Alliterate or not, does it matter? We'll explore the wonderful wacky weird world of alliterated outlines in this video.
Churches rely on the generosity of their members to fund the church's ministries. It stands to reason that pastors would want to avoid doing things that end up reducing their members' giving. But many pastors and church leaders are unknowingly hindering their church's giving. This is according to an article on Carey Nieuwhof's site which we're diving into in this episode. Fortunately, every one of the five generosity killers is reversible and can be fixed. But you have to know what they are first. Let's dive into it in this episode.
The environment in which we preach is not always friendly towards pastors. The trust that a person in ministry might have had three or four decades ago has been eroded. Rather than implicit trust, we are more likely to be met with distrust, doubt and skepticism when people find out we're in ministry. But we still are called to preach the gospel with confidence. How do we do this? In this episode, we'll be diving into an article by Ed Stetzer in which he lays out some ways to communicate with confidence in this climate.
For your sermons to be most effective you should have moments of great intensity balanced with moments of relief. I once preached a sermon on how to change. The sermon was intense because it dealt with the fallen human condition. I talked about addiction, abuse, pain, hang-ups, hurts and everything in between. The general feel of the sermon was intense. It was heavy. When I finished preaching the first of two services that day I could not shake the feeling that the sermon needed some relief. It was too heavy. It was overwhelming in a way that wasn’t productive. You might be thinking, Wait! Heaviness is good. Intensity is good. People need their toes stepped on! That’s just the Holy Spirit working on them! I don’t deny that some intensity is needed. I don’t deny that God can use the heaviness to move people. And I understand the power of his Word to cut through hard hearts and break down barriers. But we are communicating with human beings who need to process the intensity. If your preaching is nothing but intense, then eventually all your words begin to sound the same. If every single word is vitally important, then no words are important. You get the most out of your intensity when it is balanced with relief. In this episode, we'll discuss how to strike a productive balance between intensity and relief.
"Shorter sermons are almost always better." That was the title of one of the first articles I published at Preaching Donkey back in 2014. I felt strongly that a shorter sermon is a more effective sermon simply because there is less room for fluff and filler. Over the years I've adjusted my view, and I want to share my thoughts on this issue. Is a shorter sermon better? Is a long sermon preferable? What are some things to consider? We'll dive into all that in this episode.
Pauses are great. They can add emphasis and give more weight to your point. A well-placed pause is a powerful public speaking tool that you should know how to use. But the wonderful effect of a pause is destroyed by a terrible public speaking mistake preachers make: the audible pause. What’s an audible pause? Well, um, it’s uh, um, I think it’s uh… (Sorry, just had to do that). An audible pause is when you fill in the gaps of your speech with throw away words like “um” “uh” “you know” “like” and others. These throw away words are a huge distraction, and every public speaker must deal with them if they are going to stand out. Rooting out these words is way easier said than done, but in this episode we'll discuss what you can do to reduce and eventually eliminate these words from your sermons and speech in general.
There’s nothing like a good snoozer of a sermon. We’ve all sat through them. We’ve all given them at one point or another (myself included). But what does it take to preach a sermon that makes your listeners fall sound asleep? What does it take to defy everyone’s ability to pay attention? If you aspire to give boring sermons that help your people catch up on rest while you preach, there are five easy steps which I'm sharing in this episode!
As a preacher, it’s easy to focus on your content and not really consider if your listeners are ready to hear it. You’ve been studying your material all week, and you’re totally energized by it. It’s all you’ve thought about for days. You are so excited to finally share these thoughts that are bursting out of you. But your listeners aren’t there yet. They walked into church with everything on their minds except your sermon. They have nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm about your topic that you have. That’s the way it works. You care. They probably don’t. So what can you do? The answer is simple: build tension. You have to make your listeners care about what you're going to say next. You have to make the want and need to hear the rest of your message. Tension is how you do that, and in this episode we'll dive into how!
Why Charismatic Churches are Growing - Lessons for Pastors. Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days For the last several decades, attractional churches have reigned supreme. They've gone by different monikers. Sometimes known as seeker sensitive, modern, etc. The idea in many of these churches, and in evangelicalism at large, has been to make sure churches are as user-friendly and approachable to outsiders as possible. Nothing weird. Nothing awkward. That was the goal. And for good reason. The thought was, "Let's not make the gospel weird and scare away spiritual seekers." Like most well-intentioned movements, there was an unintended consequence. Church became stale, predictable, and altogether forgettable. Many of these churches are experiences declining attendance patterns. But, there is a church movement that is growing and has been for years now - not just in the US, but around the globe - charismatic churches. In this episode, we're going to look into an article by Carey Nieuwhof in which he explains this phenomenon and some lessons we can learn from it. Whether you are charismatic or ever intend to be, there are lessons in here for your church.
Holographic Tech for Multisite Video Preaching (Too Much or Spot on?) Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days I've served on staff at multi-site churches as well as single-site churches. There are unique challenges and approaches to leading a church with more than one campus. When it comes to multi-site ministry, there are basically two approaches: 1) Video preaching at the campuses with one live communicator at a "main" campus; or 2) In-person preaching at each campus. But now there seems to be a third option: Holographic teaching. What? Yes, you read that right. At least one pastor is trying it and we'll look into it in this episode. Is it a good idea? Is it over the top and excessive? We'll dive into those questions in the episode.
BREAKING: Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors | Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days A new report by Christianity Today's Kate Shellnutt details the results of an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention's handling of abuse survivors within its churches. From the report: "Investigation: SBC Executive Committee staff saw advocates’ cries for help as a distraction from evangelism and a legal liability, stonewalling their reports and resisting calls for reform." It's a heartbreaking report that shows abuses and cover-ups going back decades within the SBC and its Executive Committee. In this episode, we'll dive into the report and draw out some lessons we can learn as church leaders and pastors.
TWO Ways to Approach Preaching (One is common but terrible) Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days This week as I was preparing my message for this Sunday, something hit me. It would be so easy to preach this text completely detached from it personally. Hear me out, in any sermon, it would be so easy to stand up, teach through a text, boldly proclaim its claims and call people to obey it - all the while remaining completely unmoved by it myself! Unfortunately, this is all too common. I want to propose a better way - especially for those times when you study a passage and realize you're not living up to it yourself - but Sunday's still coming! We'll dive into all of it in this episode of the podcast!
Four MISTAKES to Avoid when ENDING a Sermon Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days How you begin your sermon is vital. It can mean the difference between your listeners checking out or deciding to pay close attention. The things you say at the beginning of a sermon are what your listeners subconsciously use to build a framework for your whole message. If your thoughts are murky and unclear, you’re laying an unstable foundation. But the way you end a sermon is just as important. If the closing of your message is disorganized and unclear, then your listeners will walk away feeling the same way about your message – that it was disorganized and unclear. When I first began preaching I would prepare relentlessly for the first five minutes of my sermon. I wanted my opening thoughts to be perfect. I would prepare the opening remarks and the body of the sermon with careful detail. But when it came to the end of my message I would just let the sermon kind of close itself. I didn’t have a plan for ending my sermons most of the time. The result was a lot of missed opportunities where I could have had a much sharper impact if I had called people to action or drove a point home. Instead, I just winged most of them. I have learned from these mistakes and I now plan much better for closing my sermons. I want to share with you some of the mistakes I have made because a lot of preachers make the same ones. In this episode, we'll explore four common mistakes preachers make when ending a sermon.
Half of All Pastors OVERWORKED & Need TIME MANAGEMENT Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days A recent survey finds over half of all pastor say they're overworked and struggle with time-management. This is a topic I'm passionate about because I think churches can do so much better when the pastor is in a healthy place. In this episode, we'll dive into this issue and I'll give you some things that I have found to be helpful with overwork, overwhelm and time-management.
One of the most difficult tasks we have as preachers is making our messages stick with people. We all want our listeners to walk out the door and take action on what they've heard from God's word. But this is not an easy task. People are distracted and there are many things competing for their attention when we preach. One way that we can help this problem is by making our points stick in people's hearts and minds. In this episode we're going to talk about how to do just that!
Simple Vs. Deep: Which is Better for Sermons? Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days When it comes to preaching, information transfer is not enough. We must aim for transformation in our listeners. But how to do preach messages that result in the transformative life-change we're seeking? Some say you gotta be super deep. Others say keep it really simple. So which is better? Which approach leads to life-change? In this episode, we'll dive into this question and explore the best way to preach messages that are geared toward life-change in our listeners.
A recent Pew Research study finds post-pandemic church attendance in America is plateaued - What this means for pastors. Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days We are now solidly two years into the pandemic. With most restrictions lifted and churches back in full pre-pandemic operation, one thing is still lagging behind - attendance. A recent study shows that attendance patterns have plateaued over the last six months with very little increase even as churches are back in full swing. What does this mean for church leaders? What can we do about it? We dive into all of that in this episode.
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days Developing your skills as a preacher is a lifelong endeavor. You never "arrive" and that's part of what makes preaching such a challenging, but incredibly rewarding task. This is why I love talking about how to find your voice as a preacher. Your voice is the only one God gave you. My voice is the only one God gave me. However, as preachers, it's tempting to try to fit someone else's voice into our own. This results in us being a less effective version of (insert your favorite preacher here). In this episode, Mike Ash discusses how to find your voice as a pastor and how to best serve your listeners with what God has equipped YOU with. We dive into a plethora of other topics as well including sermon prep, preaching teams, research and study and the various trends and waves in evangelical Christianity over the last few decades. There is a lot packed into this one, and I know you're going to enjoy it.
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days When it comes to fulfilling your church's vision and impacting your community, you won't get far without funds. This is why giving is so important to churches. But the method in which we receive donations has changed over the last few years - especially in these last two years of the pandemic. In most churches, we've seen a shift from a long-standing tradition of in-person, pass the plate style giving to some form of digital giving online. There are many benefits to this shift and some cautions. We'll get into all of it in this episode.
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days It would be fair to guess that someone in your church or someone you know has been going through a deconstruction process. What is deconstruction and why does it seem like everyone is talking about right now? And what's the difference between deconversion and deconstruction? And how does this affect our ministries day to day as we're leading our churches? In this episode, we will dive into all of these questions and aim to get a better understanding of what's going on in our culture right now.
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days
When it comes to sermon length, how long is too long? How short is too short? Do people care how long the sermon is?
Someone should look into this! Well, they did. By "they" I'm talking about a recent survey conducted by Grey Matter.
They discovered what congregants think about a variety of factors affecting preachers from the length of sermons, to asking for tithes and offerings, to dealing with social issues.
There is much in this study for us to discover as preachers. We dive into all of it in this episode of the podcast!
In this episode, Lantz Howard of Champion Hope joins me to discuss how to be calm. In a season of chaos and stress, as leaders we must manage ourselves well. Self-management and self-leadership include training ourselves to be calm even in times of stress. As 2021 is coming to a close and 2022 is right around the corner, putting into practice what Lantz reveals in this episode will serve you and your ministry well. Find out more about Lantz Howard's work at https://www.championhope.com/ https://www.championhope.com/links/
According to a recent article in Christianity Today, worship songs do not last as long as they used to. Thirty years ago a worship song would be song in church for a decade or more. These days, that time is cut my two-thirds or more. Why has this changed and what does it mean for the way we select songs for our congregations? In this episode, we'll dive into all of the fun surrounding music, worship styles and song selection in church. CT article: https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/december/worship-music-lifespan-shrinking-faster-study-tanner-ccli.html
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days
A recent Barna survey revealed that 38% of pastors want to quit ministry. Many of them would if they had any other way to make a living.
What has led to this trend? Why are so many pastors burned out, tired, frustrated and wanting out?
There are many facets to this, and we'll dive into all of it in this episode.
Article referenced: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/november/pastor-burnout-pandemic-barna-consider-leaving-ministry.html
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days
When you finish writing a sermon, it's important to make sure it's completely ready to go before you preach it.
But this can be complicated if you don't what to look for or how to determine if your sermon is complete.
In this episode, I'm going to give you three simple questions you can ask yourself before preaching any message to make sure it's 100% ready to go!
The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast by Christianity today has been the best podcast to come out in a long time. In it, host, Mike Cosper, profiles the story of Mark Driscoll who rose to prominence as the leader of Mars Hill Church, President of Acts 29 and #1 New York Times Bestselling author.
The podcast holds nothing back in telling the story - the good and not so good parts of the journey and ultimate fall of Mark and his church.
Listening to this podcast has been a journey for me in itself. I admired Driscoll in my formative years of ministry. He was different, but in the end proved to be the same as so many pastors who have fallen.
From the first ten episodes of the podcast, I have drawn out three important lessons that I believe are important to share with you.
Grab your FREE 21-Day Guide to Creating Killer Sermons: https://preachingdonkey.com/21days
It is important to evaluate every message you preach. Intentional evaluation can keep you from repeating distracting mistakes and help you know what's working in your sermon delivery.
But, many preachers avoid evaluation altogether because there's not enough time or it just feels like a negative process.
In this episode, I'll show you a simple, yet effective, way to quickly evaluate any message and gain the insights you need to make the next one better!
Grab your FREE 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist: https://preachingdonkey.com/checklist
When you have prepared your sermon well, it's important to make sure you are just as intentional about the delivery.
How you preach your sermon can either make your hard work come to life or leave you and everyone else wondering what just happened!
In this episode, we'll explore some important must-do's of sermon delivery.
Just as important as what people see on the screens when you preach, is what people have in their hands as you preach.
Your handout, bulletin, listening-guide - whatever you call it - should be intentional.
There are three main ways to structure what's on the handout. In this episode, we'll explore all three and I'll let you know which one I think is most effective!
When it comes to sermon prep, slides and other supporting media can often become an after thought.
But what your listeners see on the screens in the room while you're preaching can make a big impact on your sermon.
It's important to be intentional about your slides, how they're designed, and what they display.
In this episode, we'll explore some best-practices and some things to avoid in your sermon slides.
One of the most neglected aspects of the sermon prep process is also one of the most important: rehearsing.
By "rehearsing" I don't mean memorizing like the lines of a script. Rather, you want to rehearse so that you fully internalize and understand the message BEFORE you preach it.
Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a rookie, in this episode I'm going to make the case for why every preacher should rehearse and give you steps on how to do it.
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
One of the things I've discovered over the years is the power of a good preaching team.
What is a preaching team? If you're not familiar with this idea, it can seem more complicated than it is.
A preaching team is simply a group of trusted people that you select to help you formulate your sermon at different points of your message preparation process.
Utilizing your preaching team is a vital part of the sermon prep process, and in this episode we will dive into exactly how to form a team and best use it when you write your sermons.
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
Just as important as outlining is in the sermon prep process, so too is building out that outline with the right content.
A skeleton with no muscles and skin is not very useful. An outline by itself is left lacking as well.
This is why in this episode we will spend some time looking at how to build out the content in your sermon specifically around your bottom line and points.
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
Outlining is a crucial part of the sermon prep process.
Just like a body needs a skeleton, a sermon needs an outline to provide a framework for the message.
In this episode, we will dive into the most effective way to outline your message every single time.
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
Every sermon should be rooted and grounded in Scripture.
This means that the way you study the Bible for a sermon is important to get right.
In this episode, we will dive into a simple, systematic approach to studying the Bible for a sermon that will serve you well as you prepare your sermons.
There's a lot packed in this one! I can't wait to see what you do with it!
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
Sermon prep can be daunting, but it doesn't have to be! The key is to have a good process where you know exactly what steps to take along the way.
In today's podcast, we're starting a new series on sermon prep where we'll be walking through the ten essential steps of a good sermon prep checklist.
We begin with determining our topic, title and hook.
Download your 10-Step Sermon Prep Checklist FREE: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/checklist
I was a youth pastor for several years and I still believe this to be true: If you can communicate clearly with teenagers and children, you can communicate with anyone.
Kids and students only pay attention if you have something worth listening to. And by the way, this is actually the case with adults too - it's just that adults are more subtle about ignoring you.
So whether or not you speak to students on a regular basis, knowing how to communicate truths to them is vital.
This is why I'm so excited to have Kyle Smith on the podcast this week. He's been in student ministry for nearly two decades and has a lot to say about how to speak to students effectively and what leads to life-change in students.
I know you're going to enjoy this one! Be sure to let me know what you think of today's episode.
You may have noticed, but over the last few years, there has been a number of influential Christian leaders renounce their faith, or "deconstruct" as some call it.
Deconstruction has a spectrum. For some it means a complete abandonment of Christian thought and practice, while for others it's merely a departure from some tenants they used to hold and believe.
The latest in this trend is Kevin Max of DCTalk. He let his followers know in a recent tweet that he has been on a decades long journey of deconstructing but still believes in the "Universal Christ."
In this episode, I walk through these recent departures from faith and see if we can drill down on some root causes, what we can do about it in our churches, and what lessons we can learn as pastors and church leaders.
What's the most important attribute a pastor can have? Some might say competence - they have to know what they're doing.
Others might say charisma - they're charming and dynamic enough to speak persuasively and powerfully.
While I agree that competence is important and charisma definitely helps, there is an attribute that is more important than either of those: character.
This is sobering: If we are not people of character, our ministries will suffer for it.
In this episode, we explore the importance of character, how it relates to preaching, and why it's so important to get it right.
When we preach we make points.
Sometimes we make one point, other times we make multiple points.
But the point is, we make points.
A point is like any other part of our sermon... if structured and delivered well, a point can synthesize and drive home a powerful truth.
But often the power of a point is missed because of two simple mistakes preachers make when giving points in a message.
In this episode of the Preaching Donkey Podcast we are going to discuss what these mistakes are and how to deliver powerful points every time you preach.
https://www.preachingdonkey.com/sermoneval
Celebrity pastor culture is everywhere and it affects a lot of church life and culture. What caused it? How dangerous is it? These are questions I wrestle with a lot.
And I'm not the only one.
The Instagram account, PreachersNSneakers, took social media by storm a few years ago by pointing out the amount of money celebrity pastors were spending on their shoes.
Ben Kirby, the creator of the account, never meant to do anything more than bring attention to this part of celebrity pastor culture, but it struck a chord with so many.
Some pastors came out in support of his work, others were offended that he'd point it out. Others were glad to know their pastors were fitted with $1500 shoes.
In this episode, we're going to dive into the challenge of celebrity pastor culture and see what lessons we can learn moving forward as preachers and church leaders.
Check out the full article referenced here: https://www.christianpost.com/books/preachersnsneakers-creator-churchgoers-demand-celebrity-pastors.html
My friend, Jameson Reynolds, joins me for episode 27 of the Preaching Donkey Podcast.
In this episode we discuss the vital relationship between the lead pastor and worship pastor. As the lead worship pastor at a large, multi-site church, Jameson shares his experience working with his senior pastor and other senior leadership to create the best possible weekend experiences for their attendees.
We also dive into the importance of building systems, evaluating everything and everyone in the organization and building a culture of trust.
I think you'll really enjoy this one and gain a TON of practical insights!
On a personal note, I really enjoyed this episode. Jameson and I have been friends since high school and we share some of our experiences that built our friendship over the years.
Instagram @jamesonreynolds
Instagram and YouTube @battlecreekchurch
Ministry can be draining. We love the work, the people and the calling, but...
It can still be draining.
This is why we NEED time away. True, actual time away.
But, many pastors can't or won't protect their vacations and they end up being interrupted or cut short.
Friend, it does not have to be this way! In this episode, I will give you a step-by-step plan for making the most of the precious time you get away with your family.
The pandemic changed a lot of the ways we structure our services.
Prioritizing the online experience became essential for any church to thrive during that time.
But now most churches are back to some type of in-person services (depending where you are, of course).
This does NOT mean we should go back to "normal." Instead, we should still seek to engage the people attending online and make them feel part of what we're doing.
In this episode, I'm going to share one thing you can do to keep virtual attendees (those watching online) just as engaged as those attending in-person.
Should your church's focus be on reaching the lost (evangelism) or helping believers grow (discipleship)?
Believe it or not, this is a debate churches can get caught up in. Some churches pride themselves on being discipleship oriented. Still other churches place a high value on aggressively reaching the lost.
I think this whole debate has been framed wrong, and in this episode I'll explain why there's a much better way to approach this question.
Greg Atkinson joins me for episode 23 of the Preaching Donkey Podcast.
In this episode, we discuss the importance of capturing imagination when you preach, the role first impressions play in the effectiveness of your sermon and virtual church best practices.
There is so much packed into this conversation, I know you're going to get a ton of value from it!
Follow Greg:
https://gregatkinson.com/
https://firstimpressionsconference.com/
https://worshipimpressions.com/
Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn: @GregAtkinson
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/gregatkinson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegregatkinson
As I've worked with and coached preachers over the years, and in my own ministry, I've found that church leadership and preaching is tough work - it's not for the faint of heart.
New challenges are always surfacing; the joys are elating and the lows can be devastating.
At the same time, to remain sharp in my preaching and leadership, I need ongoing training.
I know I'm not the only one! We all need continual training, but many pastors only have their seminary training to fall back on (if they went).
Unfortunately, seminary often isn't adequate to deal with the rigors of day-to-day ministry. And while it's no doubt valuable, it's not designed to help pastors continue growing throughout their ministry careers.
All pastors need three vital things to continue growing throughout their ministries:
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Ongoing, practical training
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Personalized coaching
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A community of like-minded pastors
But so few pastors actually have these three vital resources in an ongoing, intentional way.
In this episode, we'll explore these three needs and how the Advanced Coaching Community can provide you with all three.
To check out the Advanced Coaching Community, click here: https://www.preachingdonkey.com/advanced
If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, preaching is a waste of time, but if he did rise from the dead, it's among the most important things we could ever do.
Every preacher is susceptible to pitfalls. We have to intentionally navigate around them to ensure that we stay healthy.
In this bonus episode, I want to jump into the first of three pitfalls and then invite you to join in on The Preacher's Journey Workshop which is a FREE workshop this week at Preaching Donkey. Register at https://www.preachingdonkey.com/journey
The ministry landscape is always changing and we must be prepared for those changes. What we relied on to work yesterday might not work tomorrow.
This is why I love Carey Nieuwhof's blog post on five preaching trends that will shape the future. In this episode, we'll examine each of the five trends and see what we can discover and apply to our preaching and leadership.
5 Trends article: https://careynieuwhof.com/5-preaching-trends-that-will-shape-the-future/
Equipping our people with the tools they need to understand and defend their faith is an ongoing task we have as pastors.
Many people in our churches do not know how to their faith stands up to skeptics. Sadly, this can result in Christians who do not know how to respond when their children reject the faith because they can't reconcile it with post-modern thought.
On this week's episode of the Preaching Donkey Podcast, apologist Lori Morrow joins me to discuss her ministry to women which seeks to help them live out and speak about their Christian convictions with confidence and courage, so they no longer have to feel frustrated or intimidated by the influence of our increasingly secular society.
There is so much packed into this interview, and I know you're going to benefit from it.
Find out more about Lori's ministry at: https://www.thespoonfedsoul.com/
More from Lori Morrow...
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If you're a mom who wants to understand why faith is harder for the Next Generation, CLICK HERE....https://www.thespoonfedsoul.com/Harder-Faith-Intro
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If you're someone who wants to know how to navigate today's faith challenges by Building a 21st Century Faith, CLICK HERE...https://www.thespoonfedsoul.com/21-cf-intro-page
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If you're tired of clunky faith conversations & getting stumped by questions you're not sure how to answer, you can get 19 Faith Conversation Starters by CLICKING HERE...https://www.thespoonfedsoul.com/Faith-Conversation-Starters
"Church People" is a new movie releasing this week which centers on a pastor who is relying on outlandish means to reach people and his youth pastor who is doing everything he can to get the church back to the simplicity of the gospel.
I had the opportunity to sit down with the director of the film, Christopher Shawn Shaw, and lead actor, Thor Ramsey, to discuss the making of the film, the impact they hope it has, and the Christian movie industry as a whole.
I think you'll enjoy this (very different) episode of the Preaching Donkey Podcast!
See my reaction to the trailer here: https://youtu.be/UD2UOuiktLI
Learn more about the movie: https://churchpeoplefilm.com/
Rodney Arnold, Lead Pastor of OneLife Church, joins me for episode eighteen of the Preaching Donkey Podcast.
He shares his experience planting a church in Knoxville, TN in 2009. He has some incredible insights for aspiring church planters on how to cast a compelling vision to your launch team and keep that vision alive.
We also dive into sermon prep including the importance of using tension and asking questions to make the sermon more of a dialogue than a monologue.
Rodney also shares how he intentionally pours into the next generation of preachers and speakers by developing up and coming communicators.
There is a TON of insights and practical tactics in this episode. I think you're really going to love it!
Should we plant new churches or revitalize existing ones?
Spoiler alert: both have challenges and both have advantages. However, church planting is not for everyone just like revitalization is not for everyone.
I've been directly involved with church revitalization and have also been loosely involved with church planting. I know enough about both to know that either option requires a commitment to stick it out through set backs and wins alike.
In this episode, we'll explore this question by looking at the pros and cons of both church planting and revitalization because there are definitely challenges and advantages to both.
If you are exploring a calling to do either, this episode will give you some things to consider on both sides.
Dave Ramsey parody I mention at beginning of episode: https://youtu.be/tp2vZR1esng
On this episode, I'm joined by Eric Skwarczynski, host of the Preacher Boys Podcast, who shares from his experience of interviewing dozens of survivors of church-related abuse.
He gives solid principles to help protect your church from abuse and predatory people who wish to do harm. He also discusses the importance of accountability and good policy in abuse prevention.
Finally, we discuss how to respond if allegations of abuse are brought to light or if you suspect something is going on in your church that is inappropriate.
These are important realities that every church leader should aware of and prepared to handle. We'll get into all of it in this episode.
Preacher Boys Podcast and Documentary website: https://www.preacherboysdoc.com/
My episode on Eric's Podcast (One of his best ;): https://youtu.be/nTcSAw1_oD8
Have you ever wanted to write a book? I've talked to a lot of pastors who do. A book can be a great way to expand the impact of your ministry and reach people beyond the scope of your church.
The problem is, how? Where do you start? How do you find the time?
In this episode of the Preaching Donkey Podcast, I sit down with Phil Ayres. He shares his journey and process of taking his sermon content and repurposing them into books.
His first book, Flannel-Graph Jesus, was based on a sermon series he preached at his church. He has two more books on the way.
Enjoy the episode and let me know what book you plan to write!
Ron Edmondson joins me for episode fourteen of the Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares his experience of leading with vision, creating culture and the importance of words when preaching or casting vision.
Check out Ron's book, The Mythical Leader: https://amzn.to/3oS5oVb
Ron's website: https://ronedmondson.com/
In this episode we'll dive into four more questions to consider before you get up to speak. These are insanely practical and will help ensure a distraction free delivery of your sermon.
Matt McClure joins me for episode twelve of The Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares his perspective as a youth pastor on how to relate and speak to teenagers and the changing metrics for success in student ministry in light of the pandemic.
Josh Duncan joins me on episode eleven of The Preaching Donkey Podcast to discuss his church planting journey as well as his experience with revitalizing a church. He shares about the hardships and struggles of ministry and how to love your family through tough times in ministry. We also dive into the importance of using tension in sermons and intentionally NOT resolving the tension.
Find out more about Josh at https://www.facebook.com/thegroveknox/
Podcast "The Grove Church Knoxville" on iTunes, Google Podcast, and Spotify" also on their website www.thegroveknox.org
Brandon Cox, pastor of Grace Hills Church in Arkansas, joins me for episode ten of the Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shares about the importance of communicating with the whole person, planning ahead and working with your team!
Find out more about Brandon at http://brandonacox.com/
Happy New Year to you! As we close the door on 2020 and think ahead to 2021, I want to share four important church leadership trends that I believe are here to stay for 2021.
As we wrap up 2020 and look forward to another year of ministry and preaching, it's important to take a moment and reflect on what's most important in our preaching.
Jordan Easley joins us for episode seven of the Preaching Donkey Podcast and shares about his process for planning ahead, working with his team & the importance of evangelism both in the sermon and in life.
Follow Jordan on Instagram: jordan_easley and on Twitter: @jordaneasley
Bill Isaacs, author of Be the Leader, joined me for the sixth episode of the Preaching Donkey Podcast. He shared about how he utilizes his team for sermon prep, how he focuses on what is most important and lessons from leading through a pandemic.
Find out more about Bill Isaacs at https://excellentpastor.com/
Grab a copy of Be the Leader: https://amzn.to/3mJN4gy
This has been an exciting week as so many pastors have joined Preaching Jumpstart! https://www.preachingdonkey.com/jumpstart
I don't want you to miss out on this opportunity, so I'm letting you know it closes tonight at midnight.
This course will give you a simplified process for writing and delivering a life-changing sermon.
Use promo code JUMPSTART30 to get $30 OFF. Be sure to jump in today before the doors close and the promo code expires!
Apologist Johnny Armstrong, author of A Thought Out Faith: Christianity as the Best Explanation, joins me on episode five of the Preaching Donkey Podcast to discuss how to engage skeptics in a relational way, spirituality vs. atheism and three keys arguments for defending faith.
Be sure to grab a Johnny's Apologetics Jumpstart here: https://www.thoughtoutfaith.com/apologetics-jumpstart
For more, grab a copy of A Thought-Out Faith: https://amzn.to/3k1c1lM
TODAY IS THE DAY!
I'm opening the doors to Preaching Jumpstart - a complete, simplified process for writing and delivering life-changing sermons! https://www.preachingdonkey.com/jumpstart
And to celebrate the launch of the course, I'm taking $30 off!
Get it for $30 OFF during this launch only using promo code: JUMPSTART30
Preaching Jumpstart will help you:
-Determine your preaching calling, desires, giftedness and style so that you know how God has uniquely wired you for ministry.
-Develop a plan for gaining vital experience as a new preacher.
-Purposefully and efficiently study the Bible for sermon prep.
-Determine a compelling topic, title and hook for each message.
-Develop sermon outlines that take your listeners on an irresistible journey.
-Understand the secret to powerful sermon delivery: intentional rehearsal.
-Deliver life-changing messages that are powerful, clear and compelling.
-Develop your communication skills so that you preach with unmistakable clarity!
Be sure to join before the doors close next Friday at 11:59pm PST!
Get it for $30 OFF during this launch only using promo code: JUMPSTART30
Check out what this course offers you as a preacher and I hope to have the opportunity to be your coach! https://www.preachingdonkey.com/jumpstart
Happy Thanksgiving to my US listeners! Also, I have a BIG announcement today that you are going to want to hear!
Starting Friday Preaching Jumpstart will be OPEN: https://www.preachingjumpstart.com
Use Promo code: JUMPSTART30 for $30 off this week only.
Shawn Lovejoy, author of Be Mean About the Vision and Measuring Success, joins us for episode three of the Preaching Donkey Podcast to discuss the three reasons why churches stop growing.
Find out more about Shawn Lovejoy at https://www.couragetolead.com/ and on IG @shawnlovejoy1
Brian Mills joins us for episode two of the Preaching Donkey Podcast! In this episode, Brian discusses the importance of the gospel in preaching, how to use announcements as more than "announcing" things, and how to set a healthy pace of work and priorities for your team.
Find out more about Brian at https://www.trinityyukon.com/ and on social @brianmills247
Brandon Kelley, author of Preaching Sticky Sermons and founder of Rookie Preacher, joins us for episode one of the Preaching Donkey Podcast to talk about finding your voice as a preacher, preparing a text in order to preach it compellingly and the unique struggles of leading during these challenging times.
Find out more about Brandon Kelley at https://www.rookiepreacher.com/
Grab a copy of Preaching Sticky Sermons: https://amzn.to/3eufc4f
The Preaching Donkey Podcast is coming! Starting Thursday, November 5th, we'll be sharing inspiring and helpful conversations with amazing pastors and church leaders - all designed to help you preach life-changing messages!
Be sure to subscribe and leave a review. We can't wait to get started on November 5th, 2020!