Pastor Mark's 16 Keys for Preaching a Sermon
We’ve got a preachers’ Qualifying Day coming up at Mars Hill Church! Next Tuesday, November 15 from 2 to 5 p.m., we're going to have three pastors each take the stage at Mars Hill Ballard to give a sermon in a type of competition that evaluates which pastors are able to fill in the pulpit on weeks when local elders preach. We’ll have given each preacher a different text one week in advance, they’ll show up to preach, and then their preaching abilities will be evaluated by a four-person panel of Pastors Justin Holcomb, Scott Thomas, Dave Bruskas, and Mark Driscoll. You're welcome to join us for all or part of the afternoon.
In anticipation of this event, Pastor Mark made a list of 16 things he looks for in a preacher or teacher’s sermon. Here's part of that list:
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Tell me about Jesus. Connect it all to Jesus. If you don’t mention Jesus a lot, you need to do something other than preach. And tell me that Jesus is a person, not just an idea. Help me to not only know him but to also like him.
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Have one big idea. Hang all your other ideas on the one big idea. Otherwise, you will lose me or bore me.
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Get my attention in the first 30 seconds without being gimmicky. Get to work. Don’t "blah blah blah" around, chitchat, or do announcements. That will make me start checking my phone. Get my attention, and let’s get to work.
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Bring me along theologically and emotionally. Preaching is not a commentary. Commentaries are boring for even nerds to read. Your job is to do the nerd work and bring it to life. Raise your voice, grab my affections, and bring the living Word.
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Make me like you, trust you, and respect you so that I can't dismiss you. If you want me to follow you, you have to get me to that point.
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Avoid Christian jargon and explain your terms. The average person has no idea what fellowship means, or even God for that matter. So, tell us what you’re talking about and don’t assume we have your vocabulary.
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Don't have points as much as a direction and destination. Take me somewhere. Take me to a place of conviction, compassion, conversion, etc.
Read the rest of the post, and keys #8 through #16 over on pastormark.tv. RSVP for the Qualifying Day, or Q School, here.
By: Mars Hill Blog
on Nov 07, 2011