Finding a Balance

Preaching is hard work! There is the challenge of presenting meaningful, biblical, inspiring messages week after week and month after month. You try to tailor your message to a broad and diverse audience and you have to try to take into account the sensitivities of certain sections of the membership.

All that being said, and after spending more than 30 years in and out of the pulipt, I have my own ideas of what makes for excellent preaching.

1. Be transparent. People want to be taught, inspired and motivated, but more than anything they want you to be real. Those of us sitting in the pew want to be able to relate to our speaker in a real and meaningful way.

2. Provide practical applications. Understanding the importance of faith and learning to walk according to faith are two deeply different issues. When I leave on a Sunday morning, I want another tool to put in my toolbox of life. How can this make me live better?

3. Know your audience. Our churches are now filled with people in second marriages, single parents and step-families. I can't tell you how many "off the cuff" comments I have heard from pulpits all across the country that re-enforce negative stereotypes, bruise sensitivities, or indict whole segments of our church family.

4. Avoid Improvisation. That brilliant illustration or idea that pops into our heads while we are making a point, may not seem so brilliant when it passes our lips. I am guilty of this particular fault and it has gotten me in trouble more than once.

5. Find a faithful critic. You are not looking for someone who is going to kick you every chance they get, but a true friend who will share perceptions from audience. Whenever I speak at a conference, or workshop, I pass out evaluation forms. Honest feedback makes me a better speaker.

So, what rules would you add to these five?