Finish the Devil's Sermons

By Steven Furtick

Steven Furtick is the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church, an incredible move of God in Charlotte, NC with more than 9,000 in attendance each week among (soon-to-be) six locations. He is the author of the book, Sun Stand Still. He lives in Charlotte with his wife Holly and their three children, Elijah, Graham and Abbey.



As you navigate the story that is unfolding in your life, you’ll be quick to find that discouragement is everywhere. It seems that the harder you run after God, the harder the devil is going to try to prevent you from getting where you’re going. And all he really has to do to trip us up is drop one little hint of discouragement in our ears.

You’re unworthy.

You’re a terrible father.

You’ll never be any better than this.

He’s said it to me and I know that he’s said it to you. The worst part is, the devil doesn’t necessarily speak in complete lies. He gives us half-truths with just enough reality to hit us between the eyes. But here’s an easy way that you can overcome those conniving schemes:

Finish the devil’s sermons.

It’s simple. The devil is only giving you half of the truth—give him the other half.

Yes, I am unworthy. I am absolutely nothing without Christ. But thankfully, He died so that I may become a new creation, void of you and full of the purpose that He has for my life.

No, I may not be a perfect father, but I am loved unconditionally by a perfect father who breathed the stars yet knows the number of hairs on my head. And He’s making me more like Him every day.

You’re right. On my own accord, I can’t do any better than this. But I am not doing this by myself—I serve the LORD, who is able to do immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine.

You don’t have to be Charles Spurgeon to preach the devil out of your life. The name of Jesus alone is enough to send your enemy running for the hills.

The devil will always try to show you the downside of your story. Make him pay. Show him who Jesus says you are.

Funerals: 6 Things We Should and Shouldn't Do

By Jared Moore

Jared Moore is 31 years of age, and has served in ministry in a Southern Baptist context for 12 years. He currently pastors New Salem Baptist Church in Hustonville, KY.  He is happily married to Amber and has two children: Caden and Ava.  He has authored one book: The Harry Potter Bible Study: Enjoying God Through the Final Four Harry Potter Movies.  Jared writes at jaredmoore.exaltchrist.  He is also a regular contributor at sbcvoices, servantsofgrace, and churchleaders, and occasionally writes for speculativefaith, sermoncentral, credomag, and sbctoday.  He received his B.A. in Biblical Studies from Trinity College of the Bible, his M.A.R. in Biblical Studies from Liberty Seminary, and his M.Div. in Christian ministry from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is currently completing his Th.M. in Systematic Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.


Many pastors have a difficult time determining whether—or what—to preach at a funeral. Here are four "shoulds" and two "should nots."


We Should:

1. Preach the gospel. Funerals force all in attendance to admit their mortality, including their eventual death and judgment. Although we hide ourselves from death continually (do you see animals die, do you bury your own dead, etc.?), funerals force us to look mortality in the eye. Whenever we admit that death is real, understanding that it’s “the wages of sin” is just one step further. God is the one who has judged sin temporally through death; however, He has crucified His Son so that sinners will enjoy Him forever through Christ. Christ’s death propitiated God’s wrath toward sinners. Sinners simply must repent, placing their trust in Christ alone for their salvation. Hopefully, this “face-to-face” meeting with mortality will send your hearers running to the cross for salvation.

2. Accommodate. Some of you may disagree with me on this; however, I will gladly read poems that speculate concerning eternity if the family of the deceased requests it. I will, however, qualify what I’m about to read by saying, “The family has asked me to read this poem titled __________.” Just because you read it does not mean that you necessarily approve of all the theology that it contains. Although I will not read a heretical poem for anyone, I will gladly read a poem that I disagree with that is still in the realm of orthodoxy.

3. Preach the truth concerning heaven and hell. There are more sermons on heaven than on hell in today’s pulpits. As pastors, however, we should emphasize both places since the authors of Scripture emphasized both. You should not allow this rare opportunity to pass you by to preach the result of trusting in Christ: heaven, and the result of rejecting Him: hell.

4. Preach the gospel from the deceased’s perspective. Something interesting that the Scriptures teach is that both heaven and hell are full of entities with a desire for evangelism. Peter says that the heavenly angels desire to look into sharing the gospel (1 Peter 1:12), and Jesus says that those in hell wish someone would share the gospel with their loved ones so that they wouldn’t have to come to such a place (Luke 16: 27-31). Bring this reality up by saying, “If the deceased could be here today, he would tell you to place your trust in Jesus Christ; for he knows today more than ever that Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no one gets to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).”


We Should Not…

1. Correct theology beyond the gospel. If the gospel does not hinge on the theology that is believed or being presented by someone else at the funeral, then you have no need to correct it at this time. The gospel should be the emphasis, not 100% correct theology. Basically, whatever is in the realm of orthodoxy should be tolerated. Only come against what you know to be 100% false, and don’t be arrogant. After all, you should not be as sure about eschatology as you are about the resurrection of Christ.

2. Speculate about the deceased’s location at this moment: heaven or hell. Regardless how godly or ungodly a person was, we do not know 100% whether this person is in heaven or hell at this moment. We must be careful not to preach people into heaven or hell. Instead, we must seek to be vague about what we do not know, and instead, focus on the power of the gospel for those that believe. Your sermon is not for the deceased (he’s not there) but is rather for those present. Emphasize the fact that all those who trust in Christ will be reconciled to God through Christ, absent from the body and present with the Lord until the day Christ returns, and their bodies are raised from the dead and join their spirits to rule and reign with Christ, forevermore exalting God. Oh, happy day!

Top 5 Reasons to Use MORE Video in Your Church Services

By Barry Whitlow

Barry Whitlow is a church communication activist that is passionate about communication as it relates to the mission of the church. He believes media is the language of today and when combined with creativity and excellence is a powerful tool that can be used to touch the heart of a congregation, community, or the world.

1. Video is the #1 information delivery tool in the world today.

With over three billion videos viewed on YouTube every day and 80 million hours of videos being watched daily, the impact of video on the mission of the church is immense. Video is no longer just about entertaining; it’s a proven information delivery tool.

2. Video holds attention better. 

Video is visually interactive; this helps hold the attention of the viewer, resulting in greater retention and application of what is being communicated.

3. Video helps your church stay relevant.

What will people in your audience be thinking about this coming weekend?  Would you like to illustrate a point using a football video clip? Want to inspire people to invest their life in something that will outlive them by using a clip about Steve Jobs? Video helps you intersect with where your people already are emotionally, in order to speak life-changing truth into their lives.

4. Video content is plentiful and inexpensive. 

Engaging your audience with a video that relates to your topic has never been easier, and YouTube has proven time and time again that video content does not have to be Hollywood quality to communicate effectively and impact the human heart. Instead of thinking about which verbal illustration you can use, think about which video illustration would be appropriate.

5. Video shapes your demographic. 

Like worship song choices, the regular use of video over time helps to shape your audience and attract a younger demographic, especially young families in the 30-something and under demographic.

Tear Your Sermon in Half

By JohnMcClure

John McClure blogs about preaching and theology at Otherwise Thinking. You can read more about these "places" in McClure's book, The Four Codes of Preaching.


OK, maybe not exactly in half. But I’ve listened to lots of sermons over the years, and I’m worried about the way we begin sermons. I have to say that about three-fourths of these sermons would be dramatically improved if the preacher started about two pages (or about 3-5 minutes) into the sermon. I don’t know what it is, but most of us love the “wind-up,” not realizing that we are not baseball pitchers; sermon wind-ups are usually sermon “wind-downs.” Here are the most common “wind-ups/wind-downs.”

1. Re-hashing the biblical text.

The preacher in this mode drags the listener through a long, expanded, or “imaginative” re-hashing of the text. No. This is not an exposition or interpretation. I’m speaking about a non-interpretive re-hashing of the bits and pieces of the text. Sometimes this never ends and lasts the entire sermon. The preacher forgets to have anything to say to us—or what is commonly called a “message”—and seems to assume that we’ll “get it” if we hear the old, old story reiterated.

2. The sermon “set-up.”

In this mode, the preacher spends a few minutes exegetically framing the biblical text and providing what he or she considers useful background information—some interesting tidbits, mostly exegetical by-products.

3. Touring the cutting room floor.

In this approach, the preacher tells us how he or she arrived at this message—strolling us around the room and pointing out all of the fascinating options left behind on the cutting room floor.

4. Climbing to higher ground.

In this mode, the preacher tells the listener all of the ways she or he has heard this text preached in the past—leading us to the superior ground of their own interpretation.

5. The rapport story.

In this mode, the preacher decides to tell a personal story. This is not a story told about someone or something else, narrated through the lens of the preacher’s experience, but a story about the preacher’s experience (of self, other, family, sports, memory, life, etc.). This story might contain a catchy thematic hook designed to capture our interest. Often, the story goes on interminably. No matter what they are supposed to be illustrating, these "wind-up" stories seem to be saying something else, namely: “Welcome to my world—please like me and be my friend while I preach this sermon.” When this occurs over and over, genuine sermon content is sacrificed to a rather contrived rapport-building exercise.

6. The message grope.

In my experience, this is the most common “wind-up/wind-down.” When beginning to write the sermon the preacher didn’t really have a clue what to say. He or she just started writing or speaking, hoping a message would pop out. By the time a message finally arrived, several minutes had been wasted groping one’s way toward it, and most of the energy of the sermon had evaporated. For whatever reason, rather than removing this material, it is kept.
Anton Chekov’s famous advice to writers comes immediately to mind: “Tear out the first half of your story; you’ll only have to change a few things in the beginning of the second half and the story will be perfectly clear.” This is serious and solid advice for many preachers. Once we’ve written the sermon, or organized it and preached it through a few times extemporaneously, it is a good idea to ask ourselves whether, in fact, the sermon would be better if we started it further in—on page two or three. If we did this on a regular basis, I believe we’d avoid many of the “wind-ups/wind-downs” that currently sap the energy at the beginnings of our sermons.

12 Preaching Tips Learned from Haddon Robinson

By Dean Shriver

Dean obtained his M.Div. from Western Seminary and his D.Min. at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Shriver is founding pastor of Intermountain Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah where he has ministered for 20 years. Dr. Shriver lives in South Jordan, Utah with his wife Nancy and their three children.



The assigned passage was 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. I felt good about my three-point outline. It was perfectly alliterated with words like “courage,” “conquering,” and some other “C” word I felt certain would impress.  I was so confident I volunteered to go first—to expose my sermonic offering to Haddon Robinson’s scrutiny in front of our Doctor of Ministry class. The Scriptures proved true. Pride really does come before a fall.

“That looks like something you pulled out of Simple Sermons for Sunday Evenings,” Haddon chided. Astutely, I sensed that the good doctor did not consider this book to be a classic in the field.  He continued, “Nobody talks like that anymore—except in the pulpit!” Duane Litfin, Haddon’s co-teacher for the week, chimed in, “What Haddon’s saying is that he’s afraid you might actually go out and try to preach that thing!”
That was more than ten years ago. I never alliterated a sermon again. It was the first lesson I learned about preaching—and about life and ministry—from Dr. Haddon Robinson, the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. It wasn’t the last. During the past decade I’ve been privileged to sit under Haddon’s teaching—first in his Doctor of Ministry program and later during annual preaching seminars (for alumni of the program). His instruction and his life have greatly impacted me.  God has used him to help me grow as a preacher, a pastor, and a follower of Jesus.  Here are a few of the lessons he’s taught me:

Don’t make preaching more complicated than it is.

As a preacher, there are only three ways I can approach a biblical text:  1)  I can explain it by answering the question, “What does it mean?”;  2)  I can prove it by answering the question, “Is it true?”;  3) I can apply it by answering the question, “What difference does it make?”

In some sermons I might answer only one of these “developmental questions.”  In other sermons I might address all three.  For instance, when I read a passage like Matthew 21:21-22 (“I tell you the truth, if you do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done...”), my heart cries out for answers to all three questions.  I might address them all in one sermon or I might preach a three-week series on “Praying with Faith.”
  
Every sermon should have one central “big idea.”

In Haddon’s words, “A sermon should be a bullet, not buckshot.”  He writes, “Ideally, each sermon is the explanation, interpretation, or application of a single dominant idea supported by other ideas, all drawn from one passage or several passages of Scripture.”  He continues, “Three or four ideas not related to a more inclusive idea do not make a message; they make three or four sermonettes all preached at one time.”

It’s impossible to preach an effective sermon if we don’t specifically know what we’re preaching about.  As another preaching professor was fond of reminding me, “Fog in the pulpit, fog in the pew.” In Biblical Preaching, Haddon quotes J.H. Jowett, “I have the conviction that no sermon is ready for preaching…until we can express its theme in a short pregnant sentence as clear as a crystal.”  Each week I need to do the hard work of determining the central truth of my sermon text.  Until I do, my sermon will not be relevant, nor can it be practically applied to the lives of my hearers.
          
Expository preaching—properly understood and practiced—is our calling.

Before I go further, please don’t miss the phrase, “expository preaching—properly understood and practiced.”  Much of what goes by the name “expository preaching” amounts to little more than a running commentary on the ancient biblical text (“Last Sunday we got through chapter 7, verse 12.  Today we begin with verse 13…”).  Information without relevance.  Knowledge without application.  No central idea.  If this is expository preaching at all, it is bastardized expository preaching!  As taught and modeled by Haddon Robinson, expository preaching is as crisp and relevant as the Bible itself.  An expository sermon can take many forms—inductive, deductive, narrative, and yes, even topical.  So what makes an expository sermon expository?  An expository preacher never brings his sermon idea to the text.  He draws his sermon idea from the text.  In other words, an expository preacher never imposes a topic on the text.  He lets the text speak for itself and shapes his sermon accordingly.

During my second-year D/Min seminar, I attended services at a well-known, rapidly growing church.  The next morning at breakfast, Haddon mentioned how some preachers will essentially outline their sermons and then go fishing for Bible verses that support their outlines.  He mentioned how some went so far as to search various translations until they found the wording that best supported each of their individual outline points.  I pulled out the sermon outline from the previous day.  Sure enough, the Bible verses quoted on the outline came from at least four different modern translations and paraphrases.  Each was specifically selected to “fit” the preacher’s outline.

Whenever the biblical text becomes a servant to our ideas (or to our outlines) we miss our calling as preachers.  In his book, Biblical Preaching, Haddon writes, “Whether or not we can be called expositors starts with our purpose and with our honest answer to the question:  ‘Do you, as a preacher, endeavor to bend your thought to the Scriptures, or do you use the Scriptures to support your thought?’”

If you have doubts about the power and relevance of real expository preaching, I encourage you to purchase (or download) several of Haddon Robinson’s sermons.  Listen to them.  I promise you won’t be bored!  And neither will the members of your congregation when you answer God’s call to properly practice expository preaching. 
                      
Without a definite purpose, no sermon is worth preaching.

Before I preach any sermon, I should be able to answer the question, “Why am I preaching it?”  In other words, what do I want to see happen in the lives of my hearers?  Haddon writes, “We do an assortment of things when we face our congregation.  We explain, illustrate, exhort, exegete, and gesture, to list a few.  But we are to be pitied if we fail to understand that this particular sermon should change lives in some specific way.”

How, then, should we go about determining the purpose of this week’s sermon?  Haddon’s answer is that we should seek the purpose behind the passage we are preaching.  “As part of your exegesis, you should ask, ‘Why did the author write this?  What effect did he expect it to have on his readers?’”

When fleshing out the purpose of a sermon Haddon suggests the following in Biblical Preaching: “State in a rough way what you are asking the congregation to do as a result of what you have preached.  Be as specific as possible.  If someone came to you next week and said, ‘I have been thinking about what you preached last Sunday, but I don’t know how what you said applies to my life,’ would you have an answer?  Picture the truth you have preached being acted on in some specific situations.”

Work hard on your sermon’s introduction, transitions, and conclusion. 

Effective introductions capture attention, surface a need that the sermon will address, and introduce the body of the sermon.  Good transitions review the major points of a sermon and show how the major and minor points of the sermon relate to each other.  They introduce each new section or “move” in a sermon.  Haddon writes, “…they enable your congregation to think your thoughts with you.  Concerning conclusions he adds, “The purpose of your conclusion is to conclude—not merely stop.…Your congregation should see your idea entire and complete, and they should know and feel what God’s truth demands of them.”  Each of these elements of a sermon is critical and requires special attention.

What Makes a Sermon a Good Sermon?

By Duane Kelderman

Professor of Preaching at Calvin Theological Seminary

Forum Spring, 2002

For the past couple of years I’ve been asking adult education classes I’ve been conducting on sermon-listening, What makes a sermon a good sermon? I explain that I’m not looking for “the right answer.” Rather, I want to know how thoughtful listeners honestly evaluate the sermons they hear week in and week out. The answers I’ve been hearing are very helpful. They fall into roughly three clusters.

The first cluster of answers defines a good sermon in terms of communicational excellence: “A good sermon is a sermon I can follow. The main point of the sermon is clear. The sermon is well-organized. The preacher doesn’t speak over my head. The preacher doesn’t repeat the same point over and over. The preacher uses images, stories and ways of speaking that keep me listening and move me.” Indeed, today’s listeners are constantly exposed to the internet, television, and movies that sizzle communicationally. Some preachers used to say, “My job is just to preach the Word. It’s the people’s job to listen.” Few preachers talk that way today because preachers know they must prepare sermons that are not only biblically based but also carefully designed to win a hearing. Communicational excellence is an absolute requirement of effective preaching today.

A second way people define a good sermon is in terms of its biblical faithfulness: “A good sermon is rooted in the Bible. It teaches me something from a text of the Bible. A good sermon is not the opinion of the preacher, it’s a Word from God that has authority because it’s from the Word of God.” Preachers and churches run into trouble when they forget that preaching is first and foremost a proclamation of Scripture. Pity the preacher whose congregation is satisfied with just hearing a communicationally excellent speech. Congregations must also clearly expect their pastor’s sermons to set forth the Scriptures. And pastors dare not speak, except to proclaim a Word far greater than their own words.

The third way people define a good sermon is in terms of its transformational power: “A good sermon changes me. It challenges me to a deeper obedience. It stretches me. A good sermon brings me closer to God. It deepens my faith. It makes us a better church. A good sermon makes me a better, more loving person. A good sermon makes me a better kingdom citizen.” Indeed, preaching that doesn’t call for and lead to transformation is only a noisy gong and a clanging symbol. A good sermon is not the same as an enjoyable sermon.  This transformative purpose of preaching reminds me of one of Fred Craddock’s lines: “There are two kinds of preaching that are difficult to hear: poor preaching and good preaching.” Good sermons call us to the cross and invite us into a new life in Christ. Spiritual transformation of course is not just the work of preachers and worshipers. It is the work of God. Preaching doesn’t change people. God changes people

through preaching. Preachers and worshipers must approach the sermon filled with awe, humility, and expectancy that the Holy Spirit will do a great work through this sermon. This involves intense prayer and spiritual preparation on the part of preacher and worshiper without which transformational power is sure to

elude everyone.

I find these three criteria for evaluating sermons helpful. And the challenge today is to apply not just one or two but all three criteria as we preach or listen to sermons. Preachers can’t get by with saying, “I think I’ll shoot for two out of three of these marks of a good sermon.” Two out of three does not a good sermon make. In the same way, only when worshipers understand that a good sermon involves all three of these marks are they in a position to evaluate whether the sermon they have heard is a good one. This is another way of saying that worshipers cannot simply sit back and dare their preacher to wow them with a great sermon. Worshipers must lean forward and be active participants in the proclamation of God’s Word, urgently seeking out what word God has for them on this particular Sunday. I have never heard of a church that didn’t rank good preaching as the most desirable qualification of its pastor. Only as preachers and congregations do everything they can to make the preaching event meaningful and life changing will we be able to speak of “good sermons” in their church.

Congregant Feedback Can Improve Pastors’ Sermons

By Bob Wells

With a structured program of feedback from parishioners, peers and outside experts, pastors can become transformative preachers, delivering sermons that more effectively challenge listeners to make real changes in their lives, according to preliminary results from an SPE-affiliated sermon study.

Directed by Lori Carrell, a communication professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the study isn’t about homiletics, exegesis, or particular preaching styles or traditions. Instead, drawing on listeners’ expectation that sermons be grounded in scripture, it is looking at preaching as a form of communication connecting pastors and listeners. The study builds on earlier research by Carrell, The Great American Sermon Survey, which found that the overwhelming majority of churchgoers—78 percent—never give their pastors any feedback about their sermons. 

“In the discipline of communication, it’s just not helpful when you don’t know what the people you are communicating with are thinking or how they are reacting,” Carrell said. “When we begin to bring in listener response as a critical component, we can have a communication perspective that crosses homiletical traditions. It allows us to say to pastors, ‘Whatever your tradition, whatever your preaching style, here’s how your people are responding. Now argue with that.’”

The study, conducted in cooperation with the Center for Excellence in Congregational Leadership (CECL), an SPE project at Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin, is examining sermons by more than 70 SPE pastors and their congregation members.

Before the pastors received feedback, the study found, most of their sermons reinforced listeners’ beliefs rather than inspiring them to put their beliefs into action. Listeners also reported that Power Point slides were distracting rather than a helpful communication tool.

After the pastors received feedback and changed their sermon preparation practices, almost all listeners—95 percent—reported they would think about the sermon and expected spiritual growth.

Underlying all of the results is the confirmation that preaching matters deeply to listeners — something pastors might not realize. Indeed, for pastors, much about church life today suggests the opposite. With virtually no feedback from parishioners and schedules filled with meetings, hospital visits and pastoral counseling sessions, pastors can easily lose sight of the important role their sermons can play. 

“To many pastors, it doesn’t look like the church honors the centrality of preaching,” Carrell said. “It’s a system that can keep pastors from knowing that preaching matters.” 

In the CECL program, pastors visit Green Lake for a series of five, week-long training retreats over two-and-a-half years. Each session is focused on strengthening a particular aspect of the pastors’ lives and ministry. The first four sessions address such topics as spiritual and physical health; balancing the demands of ministry and family life; working with lay leaders; and creating and implementing a vision for church and ministry.

The fifth and final session is devoted entirely to sermon communication and serves as the laboratory for Carrell’s study. Before visiting Green Lake for the final session, each pastor videotapes a sermon in his or her home church. That same Sunday, immediately after the sermon, those in attendance complete a survey to measure their response, both as they listened to the sermon and any actions they might take as a result.

Carrell analyzes each sermon and the congregation’s response to prepare a report for each pastor, identifying his or her “unique excellence” and evaluating the sermon’s content, organization and delivery. So far, 73 pastors and more than 10,000 listeners have participated in the study.

The pastors spend their final week at Green Lake receiving a personal consultation that includes their congregation’s survey results and Carrell’s analysis. The pastors meet in their peer groups, watch their sermon videos together and offer one another feedback. 

“Though they were watching their video sermons with other pastors, people who were now their close friends, it was still a jolt for some pastors,” Carrell said. “It was like, ‘Wow. I didn’t realize I was putting people through this.’”

Ben Mott, co-director of the Center for Congregational Leadership, says that while the process can be painful, pastors reconnect with what first called them to ministry and rediscover that preaching is at the core of pastoral leadership. 

The Rev. Melinda Oberhelman, pastor of First Baptist Church, Idaho Falls, Idaho, said she was filled with apprehension before her CECL preaching retreat in May.

“I went into it thinking, ‘This is going to be awful,’” she said. “These people are preachers and they’re going to be listening to my sermon and it’s already been looked at by Dr. Carrell. I was thinking, ‘I’ll probably never preach again and probably shouldn’t.’”

But instead, she said, the week was a “great experience.”

“It was very encouraging and very helpful,” Oberhelman said. “I found myself thinking, ‘All right! I am doing it. I can make it better.’”

After individual counseling and coaching sessions, the pastors end the week by creating an action plan, outlining how they will use what they have learned to build upon their existing strengths and deliver more transformative sermons—sermons that ask parishioners to make specific changes. Later, the pastors videotaped another sermon at their home church and the congregation was surveyed again. 

The change in transformative content was notable. While only 39 percent of the pastors included a call for change in their pre-test sermon, 85 percent did so after participating in the feedback training program. Carrell’s analysis and the listener surveys confirmed an overall increase in the sermons’ “transformative quality.”

Carrell said the top 5 percent of sermons—those considered most transformative by both listeners and expert reviewers—had four common traits:

• They asked for change;
• They were organized to make it easy for people to listen;
• Whatever the preaching style, they were well delivered in ways that authentically communicated relationship and emotion; and
• They integrated listeners’ perspectives.

“If pastors want change to happen, they have to ask for it,” Carrell said. “That seems like a big ‘duh,’ but it’s one of the most important points from this study. In the first sermon, few pastors asked for change. Their sermons were informative, not transformative.”

For the pastors who made the greatest improvements, the key was changing how they spent their time preparing their sermons. Most, for example, set a clear spiritual growth goal for the sermon. While they prepared, most increased their own spiritual activities activities, such as meditation, journaling or personal devotions. Many began talking with others, including lay listening groups, to discuss sermon ideas and content.

Importantly, Carrell said, the pastors also began practicing their sermons out loud. While orally rehearsing a sermon might improve delivery, the real payoff comes in improved organization and clarity, critical to listeners, Carrell said.

“Preaching is a radical act,” she said. “We need to expect from it revolutionary reverberations.”

Carrell’s study is funded by the CECL program, through its Lilly grant, and the University of Wisconsin System. An article about the study has been accepted by the academic journal, Communication Education, and is scheduled for publication early next year.