How to . . . ?

Illustration Variation – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

A mixed group of people will not all connect with your default type of illustrations from your favorite sport, era of history, Charles Dickens’ story or volume of “sure-fire, guaranteed, pithy, quotable, useable” illustrations.  So what to do?

Determine the purpose of the illustration – The purpose should not be to fill time or just to be interesting.  The illustration is needed in the sermon to either explain, to prove or to apply the truth being communicated.  When you are clear on the purpose, then you can select or craft an illustration that will achieve that purpose.

Target each illustration at a different individual in the congregation – How would this truth be applied in the life of the young mother with three children under the age of four?  Or the recently retired middle-manager now trying to find his role and status outside the office?  Or the art student home from university with questions about what comes after graduation next summer?  Unless you are the chaplain to a football team, it is obvious that sports illustrations won’t work for everyone.  Nor will movies.  Nor lines from old hymns.  Nor literature.  Nor poetry.

If illustrations allow for connection to occur, then make sure that different listeners will have a variety of possibilities to connect.  A sermon with lots of illustration is generally considered more interesting than one without. However, unless there is variation in illustration source and type, a good proportion of the congregation might prefer no illustration at all!

Illustration Variation – Part 1

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Abstract truth served up without some form of illustration is like a rich steak without accompanying vegetables – after a while it is just “too much.” So generally we look for ways to have truth touch down on the tarmac of reality. I tend to prefer the concept of relevant applications rather than illustrations, but for this post, I’ll stick with the traditional term. Today let’s take an inventory of our typical illustrations, then in part 2 we’ll have some pointers for adding variation.

Beware of your default source of illustration – It is so easy to get into a rut. We tend to naturally think in certain ways and illustrate accordingly. Take stock of your illustrations and where they come from. Perhaps you default to a certain sport, or to sport in general, or to movie scenes, or to classical literature, or to poetry, or to a chunky book of random pithy quotes and anecdotes. Try to get out of your default at least for one illustration in every sermon – preferably more than once!

Beware of other defaults in your illustration – It is easy to profile in your illustrations. Perhaps the character that looks good is always you, or someone you love, or always male, or always female. Perhaps your illustrations are always quotes, or one-liners, or two-minute twenty second stories. Predictability can become a distraction once people pick up on the patterns.

People always say they’d rather hear lots of illustrations than none. In reality, if there is little variation in illustration type and source, the majority of listeners will not feel touched by the truth of the sermon. A rich steak needs vegetables, but remember that asparagus is not to everyone’s liking. A sermon of truth plus sports illustrations is like a plate of steak and asparagus for a good chunk of your listeners!

Protecting the Final Preparation

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Yesterday I sat in church next to my wife (after the four children were safely in their classes) and got to listen to my friend preach.  He did well.  So I told him so.  Turns out he had been run ragged in the 24 hours leading up to the service.  I assured him that it had not shown in the preaching anywhere near the extent to which he had felt it.  He responded with gratitude and something along these lines – I determined this would not happen to me again, but I need to revisit the situation.

As you know there are long lists of details that go into a Sunday morning service at church.  All it takes is one person to be away, or a series of minor crises, and suddenly a lot of the last minute hassles can fall on the preacher’s shoulders.  Take a few moments and evaluate yesterday’s preaching experience.  Were there distractions at home, at church, in the last few hours?  Did you find yourself dealing with issues relating to music, seating, announcements, unlocking the church, preparing communion, notice sheets, hymn books, projectors, lights, greeting people, seating people . . . several of these, all of these?

The time to make sure your final preparation is not crowded or distracted is not next Sunday morning.  It is now.  Who can be enlisted to shoulder burdens so that you are free to preach?  Or if someone else is preaching, what can you do to free them for the task?  The New Testament knows nothing of the one-man ministry models so many churches fall into.  Take stock of your duties, divide them into categories and delegate them away.  Ideally, try to find people with a passion for the things you don’t have passion for, but end up doing anyway.  Some people are passionate about selecting songs, welcoming guests, organizing seating, doing the “children’s talk” if your tradition still has that, etc.  Praise God for people with different passions.  Pray for people with different passions.  Take stock of yesterday, revisit the situation before it’s too late . . . again.

Controversy, Defensiveness and Timing

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Obed submitted a comment on The Full Meal Deal concerning the timing of presenting a controversial or challenging topic. I suppose we could complicate things, but it seems to me that there is a fairly simple principle here. Know your listeners well enough to know how they may react to a controversial idea. If they are likely to get defensive, then lay the groundwork first. I use the image of a boxer’s guard (forgive the martial imagery if you are a pacifist in the sporting arena). Is what I am going to say likely to bring up the hands to guard the face? If so, then what follows will only strike to the surface. As a preacher I need to preach so that the hands remain down and the idea gets through.

The classic example of this is Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!” That idea was very likely to stir up a negative reaction among a crowd of Jews in Jerusalem just weeks after Jesus’ death. So Peter did not present the idea in the introduction. This idea was not printed on the notice sheet or bulletin (they would have noticed and put the bullet in, so to speak!) This was not a deductive sermon. Peter knew the listeners’ likely reaction, and used the first part of the sermon to prepare the people for the big idea. Once it came, their reaction was not murderous, but they were convicted.

If your idea is controversial. If the listeners are likely to become defensive. Then time the presentation of the idea. Preach so their hands remain down and the idea gets through, not only to the head, but so that they are “cut to the heart.”

Overcoming Fear of Public Speaking

/ Peter Mead / 8 Comments

Michelle just submitted this comment to the site, a plea for help!

I just joined a preaching/homelietics course at my church and we are using Robinson’s Biblical Preaching book. On the first day I learned that we will be giving a fifteen minute sermon at the end of the course. The course is seven wks. long. I’m terrified. I had no idea that I’d be speaking in front of our pastor and the other ladies in the class. I’m so tempted to drop out but it was open to a selected few. I joined because I am a leader for bible study fellowship and we use homiletics. I thought this would be a great way to better myself at the skill of homiletics.
I want to be able to prepare and deliver passages just not in a preaching setting, more of a small group. I have made up my mind to finish the course but I was wondering if there were any resources you could recommend that would help me get over my GREAT fear of speaking in front of large groups.

Anything would help!
Thank You,
Michele

So let’s see if we can help.  Feel free to add your comments to the post and supplement my few thoughts.

Fear of Public Speaking is Normal – You’ve probably heard that manipulated statistic that tells us that more people fear speaking in public than death itself.  The fear is normal.  Over time and with practice the fear subsides and you are left with some level of gentle nervousness.  In this case, Michele, you have to get through one event in order to take this class that will benefit your ministry in Bible Study Fellowship (a very strategic ministry from what I’ve heard!)

People Don’t Think What You Think They Will Think – The fear often relates to what others think in some respect.  It helps to realize that in a preaching class, everyone is in the same boat.  Consequently everyone respects everyone else for going through with it.  Even the pastor was once a first-timer, sitting nervously in a seminary classroom trying to remember his opening few lines as he awaited his turn.  A class like this is typically like a New Preacher’s Anonymous group, and once you speak, everyone is really welcoming and appreciative!

Re-Orient the Group to Your Goal – Since you are taking the class to help you improve your skills for the BSF setting, your pastor may allow you to take a few brief moments at the start to set up the context for your “message.”  People with a context in which to apply what they learn are usually better learners anyway, so why not?  Simply describe the setting as it would be at BSF and then present using what you’ve learned in the course, but in a way appropriate to that setting (so if you normally sit, then sit, for example).  I teach essentially the Haddon Robinson approach and have had people turn the end of course preaching into a youth group lesson, a Sunday School lesson, etc.  It can be done, people will “play along” and it puts listeners mentally “on your turf.”  For nerves, this can help a lot.  (Talk to the leader first and follow whatever restrictions to this advice that they suggest.)

Someone will probably quote the standard “tool” for overcoming fear, that of imagining your audience naked.  I won’t mention that though, because I think it doesn’t quite fit with the more serious realities of preaching!  Ultimately fear that pushes you up against God has to be a good thing.  The course should be a real help for the great ministry at BSF.  Furthermore, you’ve probably already done the main thing – committing to going through with it despite the fear.  You won’t regret it!

I’ve gone on way too long, other tips?

The Smaller Hats Worn in the Pulpit

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This site is dedicated to stimulating biblical preaching.  The main hat the preacher wears is that of the biblical and relevant communicator.  There are lots of angles on that main role, and they are explored post by post on this site and others.  But I would like to mention some smaller hats worn in the pulpit.  These are typically not your main role in preaching (although in a particular sermon they may be), but these are roles to be aware of.  Areas of strategic influence for the preacher:

Materialism Underminer – Throughout the week the people in our congregation are bombarded by messages of materialism.  It’s everywhere they look – billboards, TV, radio commercials, shop windows, magazine racks, etc.  A constant stream of a very powerful big idea.  When we preach, whatever the text and message might be, we break into that stream of information and give a few moments of spiritual reality again.  Perhaps in passing comments or illustrations we even undermine the message of materialism too!  (The same could be said of society and media obsessions with independence, evolution, humanism, etc.)

Family Support Officer – Many people come from, live in or have come out of broken homes.  The enemy is attacking the family unit at every level.  Yet for those minutes on a Sunday morning, people are allowed to look through the windows into your life.  I’m not saying you should air your private laundry, or show-off your family or children (be sensitive to those who don’t have what you have).  However, glimpses into a healthy home can be powerful antidotes to the stream of failure society parades before us.  I still remember the illustrations given from the home life of one of my profs at seminary.  Bruce Fong is now president at Michigan, but in his Multnomah days the Fong family functioned as an inspiration to single me and others.

Missions Mobilizer – We’re living in a world of desperate needs, yet none as desperate as the 9 people dying every 5 seconds, most of whom step into a lost eternity.  The greatest need in world missions today is still people, followed by finance and other resources.  The only source of people who could go and make a difference is the local church.  That puts us as preachers in a key role.  Let’s be aware of the opportunity and inspire our people to be genuine global Christians!

That’s three more hats to ponder.  Any others that come to mind?

Landing the Conclusion

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

It has been said that you can recover from a poor introduction, but not from a poor conclusion.  That is true, although we shouldn’t think that introductions aren’t important.  They are.  But conclusions are too.  There have been previous posts touching on conclusions, but I’d like to give this important sermon element some specific focus.  I know this is one of the weaker areas of my own preaching.  So here are some thoughts that may be helpful to you and to me!

Prepare the landing before take-off – Somehow the whole sermon as an aeroplane journey metaphor seems to work particularly well here.  You wouldn’t want a pilot to take off and then try to figure out how to land.  Before preaching the sermon give some dedicated focus to how, when and where you will land the sermon.

Land once – There are few things as uncomfortable as coming in to land and then lurching up again for another try.  Yet preachers so often put people through that experience.  It seems to be close to the end, then suddenly you’re in the air again, making another attempt.  Maybe it is a better attempt, but the discomfort felt while grabbing for the paper bag usually outweighs any special view created by the extra landing attempt.

Land early – Listeners may complain politely if you finish early, typically along the lines of, “You should have gone on longer, I could listen to you all day!”  (Or some other nicety you shouldn’t test or really believe.)  But if you go long, then distractions mount exponentially and complaints will be of a different nature.  Sometimes the accepted time can be ignored, but typically it is better to finish within the time constraints (remember the nursery volunteers with screaming children who are not experiencing the spiritual moment with the congregation!)  Haddon Robinson suggests finishing two sentences before people expect you to.  Leaving people wanting more is not about your own ego, it is about leaving the heart and brain engaged and affected, rather than turned off and inwardly rushing for “normal life.”

Conclusions are important, let’s give them more thought.  Any more plane analogy ideas for landing?  Or just plain old input on conclusions?

The Full Meal Deal

/ Peter Mead / 9 Comments

I still remember the first pulpit advice I received.  I was a teenager and had been asked to lead a meeting.  I wasn’t preaching, but I was chairing the meeting, introducing songs, speaker, doing the reading, praying, etc.  Afterwards my youth leader came to me and encouraged me that I’d done well.  Then he offered this advice; “Don’t ever apologize for what you’re doing.  It doesn’t matter who asked you, or how incapable you may feel, God has allowed you to be there so don’t apologize.”

The ingredients to a pulpit introductory apology tend to include feelings of inadequacy, any lack of preparation, feelings of humility, a desire to appear humble, a lack of planning for opening comments, nervousness, etc.  The ingredients are understandable, but the result is not helpful.  Don’t apologize.  It grossly undermines credibility and can easily transfer your anxiety to your listeners.

If you are humble, it will show.  But if you are nervous, unprepared, unqualified, incapable, etc., people don’t need that pointed out to them.  They may notice, and they will usually be very gracious.  Or more often than you realize, they will not notice at all.  The first time I taught a lecture at seminary I mentioned that time was running low so I had to skip some material.  My prof followed up on that, “Don’t tell them you are cutting stuff out, let them think they’re getting the full meal deal!”

What was the first helpful pulpit advice you received?

Mapping Your Thought

/ Peter Mead / 7 Comments

Some people think in a very linear and text-oriented way.  Others don’t.  I find the use of mind maps or concept maps to be helpful in my Bible study.  Somewhere between analysis of details and synthesis of discourse using a conventional outline, I often find myself doodling a map or diagram on paper.  For instance, when trying to define the relationships between the major themes in Hebrews, I started to map out my thoughts.  Suddenly I have a piece of paper with major and minor themes, circles, linking lines, arrows and so on.  I wouldn’t show this paper to my congregation, but it helps me process the mass of information into a more coherent and dynamic understanding of what is there.

Typically I will take appropriate elements of that thought and convert back to an outline form (and if possible, a full manuscript), but there are also possibilities in respect to replacing outlines and notes with sermon maps.  Perhaps I’ll address that another day.  At this stage I am merely suggesting that some may be helped by free doodling of the themes, ideas, flow and theology of a book or section of book during stage 2 – passage study.

There are software tools available, some free to download.  I haven’t explored those possibilities yet, but if you know of one that is easy to learn and use, let us know about it!

A Low Fence

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

When you have a single text for a sermon, you also need a fence.  The fence is there to keep you from wandering too far away from your focus.  

Erect a fence for the passage – last night my preaching text was Hebrews 13:20-21, the final benediction.  I erected a fence around the book of Hebrews.  That fence meant that I kept my study in Hebrews and my presentation in Hebrews.  

Study inside the fence – So what did the writer mean by the reference to “Shepherd,” “the will of God,” and “pleasing”?  While naturally my mind might jump to Psalm 23, John 10 and other passages all over the canon, I tried to stay within the fence.  The best evidence of authorial intent would be found in Hebrews.  By staying there I discovered the unity of 13:1-21 as a follow-on to 12:28, which shed light on “pleasing.”  By staying there I discovered the unity of the final section with parallels to the end of chapter 10, which shed light on “the will of God.”  Staying within the fence kept the focus for study.

Preach inside the fence – It is always tempting to present the sermon in the terms you prefer.  I tried to preach in Hebrews terminology.  Instead of talking about our “vertical spirituality” as loving God (as I would by default, very Johannine), I instead spoke of worshipping God – very Hebrews.  References to a pilgrimage of faith, toward a heavenly city, not shrinking back, shame, the joy set before, Jesus’ being led up from the dead, and so on.  All terminology appropriate for a sermon on Hebrews.  I also tried to refer to the writer as the preacher to the Hebrews rather than the standard writer to the Hebrews.

You only need a low fence – I am not suggesting that you study or preach a book in complete isolation from the other inspired texts.  I am suggesting you honor the author of the book in both your study and presentation.  So to understand “Shepherd” I had to be aware of at least Isaiah 63:11 in the LXX, although the addition of “Great” is very much a Hebrews idea.  And to see that God is pleased with the two-part sacrifice of vertical and horizontal spirituality naturally sets up a brief comment about the greatest commandment(s), John’s first epistle, etc.  The fence does not preclude very helpful study in Old Testament quotes and allusions, nor the opportunity to point out the consistency of idea across New Testament books.  The low fence is there to honor the author, thereby helping you study better, and present more faithfully.