Andy has great points. It's hard for me to understand why everything he does is necessary, but then, I don't learn like most people. I know that other people need more relational/conversational content when they're listening. I think I could take the points Andy has given and apply them to verse-by-verse exposition. His Me-We-God-You-Us could be applied at a small scale to each important concept drawn out of the text during exposition, and at a larger scale to the point of the text as a whole.

Thank you, Ed, for challenging me to be open minded.

Thanks Andy and Ed for the great stuff. I, too, like to work ahead and take out a message late to examine it with fresh eyes. And I like Andy's 'Me--We--God--You--Us' message format. Thanks for sharing!

Andy's sermon is very thorough and planned, which is admirable.

Knowing myself, I think "Me-We-God-You-Us" could easily become "ME-we-god-you-us", though, so I have to battle against that. I think that's why I would lean toward more explicit exposition because I want to ensure that it's all about God and very little about me.

I have read Stanley's Communicating for a Change book, and as a children's pastor, have found his approach VERY effective for a 5-10 minute talk to kids. I've learned that they are engaged with you from the start when you open with an illustration about yourself (ME). Children, especially, want to know about their teacher or pastor's life, and they want to know where they're struggled.

I haven't used the approach in a sermon to all age groups, but I've found it extremely effective for a children's talk or lesson.

I use the ME-WE-GOD-YOU-US framework for my messages every week. Of course different sections seem to receive more emphasis each week and I too struggled at first to limit the "me" part.

For two years I've used this basic framework - with modifications that fit my local church. I tend to breeze through the first me/we section - camp in the God section for about 1/2 the message - and then spend the rest of the time in the You/Us. I generally always wish for more time in the Us section.

At 9 years in of full-time preaching and with a complete electronic library - I don't find sermon prep that difficult anymore.

Nearly every week I hit a block however - especially in book series - when I say - "SO WHAT?"

The application is always the hardest and lately I've been ending with a blank line in the outline and saying - "You struggle with it this week. I don't know where you're at - go back - re-read the chapter and figure out the best way God wants you to apply it this week."

That's where I fail at Stanley's model - he is adept at creating baby steps and I have not mastered that skill. In fact, my Saturday late nights are often spent bashing my head against the wall and praying earnestly for direction in application points.

I find application leading to transformation so much more challenging that the textual explanation.

I appreciate Andy's format. However, if you listen to him through many sermons he does not always follow this format--me-we God-you-us. Actually his format is rarely discernable especially in the intros. The ME section essentially establishes ethos which is not always necessary for every sermon if the hearers know the speaker already. Also, his introductions, at times, can be laborious. When he does finally get to the text section of the sermon [God], in some sermons I have heard, he is better than McArthur at the verse-by-verse exposition part where he explains the text [remember I said some sermons; some times he skips and misses]. What he does best is makes it stick. I have his Leadership sermon on Daniel from Catalyst 3 years ago ingrained--the most high God is sovereign over the lands of men and sets over them whomever he pleases. Leadership is a stewardship, it comes with responsibility, and it can be taken away. I cannot remember a single point from a McArthur sermon, or many others, that I have heard. What I find most helpful from Communicating for a Change is Andy's five questions [based on the text]:
What do they need to know?
Why do they need to know this?
What do they need to do?
Why do they need to do this?
How can I make this stick?
Just answering these questions alone will help sermons stay on track and communicate a message leading people toward responding to the text. Under girding his biblical communication thesis--one point sermons--is that he does not simply want to teach the Bible nor to teach principles in the Bible. He wants to teach people how to respond to the principles in the Bible. This is what he believes will lead to life change. I think, in part, he is correct about the need for more transformational preaching, and this is likely what led his to say, "verse-by-verse may be cheating" if it simply hits on the what does it mean without clear application and tangible ways to respond today--see also Grasping God's Word and Preaching with Bold Assurance.

After being out of seminary for a few years and working as a youth and missions pastor, I had not had many opportunities to preach in church. Over a year ago I began the weekly preaching at our church when our pastor left. Looking back over the last year I realize that more often than not my sermons fell into the mwGyu structure as if by accident. This was just the natural way I presented the scripture. If I had known that I was doing this it might have saved some time in sermon preparation. Its like I was reinventing it each week.

I especially appreciate Clark's comment.

It seems to me that what Andy does best is turn a phrase. The "Me-We-God-You-Us" is very memorable. As I think about my own 20 years of preaching I have somewhat intuitively adopted this style, though I never called it by the same phrase. I have also learned how to share more of myself in my preaching and to hone in on an application point or two, but it took me about fifteen years to find a balance between interpretive, illustrative, and application points, and we never really master it. But, the Holy Spirit works when a preacher allows himself to be a vulnerable and available vessel for the work of God in and through him. Sometimes people also come away with applications from the text that are beyond what I had envisioned, so that's one danger with the "memorable phrase", possibly trying to box in the work of the Word in the power of the Spirit of God. I generally preach through Bible books, but will do an occasional topical series. Anyway, I think that Andy's suggestions work whether you preach verse by verse or use a more topical approach, and if you stick to the text an make yourself available as God's tool He will do His work through you. Praise God.

Mike,

I heard that Catalyst sermon as well. It convinced me of the importance of one point preaching. I never forgot it. That, for me, is the big gift of Andy Stanley's style.

I know people that look for and find ancient arrow heads. THE point always lasts the longest.

I also remember that year at Catalyst going to the Georgia Baptist Convention building for a free lunch for Southern Baptists. Ed Stetzer and John Avant talked about concubines and denominations. It was great.

I've used Andy's framework ever since I read his book. It just made sense, and I had noticed that I had been doing some of that naturally anyway. I begin with an outline that includes "ME-WE-GOD-YOU-WE" on the Roman numerals, and I plug information into those headings. I find it helps me stay much more focused instead of being tempted to sound smart and develop this intricate 3-point sermon (each with its own 3 sub-points) that no one will remember.

While some preachers are hesitant about the ME-WE sections, I really encourage pastors not to skip too quickly into the GOD section. To use Andy's metaphor, before you leave the station, you have to get people on board with you. I went to a luncheon this week with a guest speaker, and he was into point 3 before I even realized there was a point 1 or 2! I had no idea what he was trying to communicate or the structure of it. He had given me no mental "pegs" to hang things on. He needed a better introduction!

I think of the ME-WE introductory section as a critical time for connecting with the congregation and giving them a framework so they can understand what's going to be taught. Without that "mental peg" for them to hang things on, all the great information you throw at them will just fall to the floor.

Some preachers like to follow the Reformation tradition of reading the Scripture at the very beginning. But I think Andy correctly states that preceding the Scripture with the ME-WE sections is not a disrespect to the text. To the contrary, reading it before creating an interest in what it says is a disrespect! Helping people develop an interest in, understand and apply the Scriptures shows the utmost reverence for it!

I read Andy's book a few years ago before I became a pastor. I thought it was great back then, but I never had much of a chance to implement it. Now I've been a pastor for about a year and a half--preaching weekly at my church--and I'm grateful for this refresher! It's almost as if I forgot everything I read in Andy's book once I actually started preaching!

I completely resonate with Clark's comments above. Giving the "information" in the text isn't hard. What is a killer is coming up with solid application and making it connect and stick. I'm going to make an intentional effort to experiment with this style and see if it can improve my communication. Thanks, Ed, for posting this series!

I’ve been reading these Andy Stanley posts which great interest and decided to listen to his latest “series” to hear for myself some of Andy's preaching. The latest 3-part series is entitled “He’s still got the whole world in His hands”. Here are my notes from the first message in case anyone is interested. I’ll follow up with the other 2 parts.

Part 1: Nothing New
Key phrase (repeated ad nauseam – Andy technique mentioned in the March 5 post): Although life is uncertain, God has the whole world in His hands.
Question: Can you trust God without evidence of Him acting in your life?
Your answer will decide your response to that dilemma.
Will we maintain faith when we cannot see His hand?
Faith allows you to embrace uncertainty with the certainty of knowing that God is still in control.
Faith keeps us from making decisions that even further complicate the difficulties we’re facing.
Used example of Lord’s Supper and Cross – God didn’t seem to be in control to the apostles but the Cross was His greatest work.

Thoughts: Andy sought to encourage the listener to maintain faith in tough times. He sought to apply this to current situation with economy, unemployment, etc. Although he did mention the Cross, there was no explanation of its purpose except to mention something about the “salvation of mankind” in passing.

"God still has the whole world in His hands" continued...

Part 2: Pray until Peace Comes
Key phrase (repeated ad nauseam): God has the whole world in His hands. What are we supposed to do in the meantime? Pray until peace comes.
When life is out of control, our natural tendency is to move in the direction of God.
God gets more done in our lives and nationally when things are more uncertain than smooth.
We learn more when life is difficult. We drift from God when things are going well.
The bible is relevant because all of the stories were written in time of uncertainty. God is faithful.
We have nothing to fear because God hasn’t changed.
Rom. 8:28 – “all things” includes finances, unemployment, etc.
What are we supposed to do while we wait for God to answer our prayers?
Phil. 4:4-7 – Written while Paul was in prison. Instruct how to pray in times of uncertainty. Your character is the result of what God has done inside of you. Don’t allow circumstances to begin to control the way you treat other people. Give the secret to handling difficult times (finances, unemployment, school, etc.). What is the deepest desire of your heart (security, protect family, etc.)?
We are to pray until peace comes.
Have you made your deepest requests known to God? Do you know what it is?
In times of uncertainty, we will know our heavenly Father in a way we never knew Him before. We will discover the love of our heavenly Father.

Thoughts: No gospel, lots of law. No Christ. I’m not sure it this should qualify as a Christian sermon. I don’t mean to sound harsh but I don’t know what else to say. This could easily be heard in a Mormon service or even a Jewish synagogue for that matter.

Ross,

Let's move the part-by-part review over to your blog rather than mine.

Thanks,

Ed

Part 3: Hope
Key (ad nauseam) phrase: How do we maintain hope in a world that seems hopelessly broken?
Hope is that person(s) or thing(s) in which your expectations are centered.
The bible instructs us to put our hope in God.
Rom. 8:20-39 – confusing verses
v. 20 – About the futility of hoping in anything but God.
You may not believe in sin. That’s fine but we can agree that bad things happen in the world.
The bible teaches that sin is a disease that is toxic to everything in creation and fatal.
Creation is subject or in bondage to decay.
Our hope is not in this world or life.
v. 26-30 – God understands your frustration and His Spirit prays for you.
v. 31-32 – As you make God your hope, you will not be disappointed.
v. 38-39 (skipped 33-37) – Put your hope in your heavenly Father which is the only enduring hope. Do your best, live out kingdom values. Love, serve, forgive, and don’t lose hope. Like Jesus, Paul, and Mother Teresa, live life like this is all there is. Love, do your best, and put your hope in your heavenly Father.
At time 31:11/37:20 – “May your unfailing love demonstrated when Christ died on the cross for our sins…. May your unfailing love be with us Lord even as we place our trust in you.”
Where have you placed your hope? Place your hope in the unfailing love of God for you. That love is demonstrated in one place – when Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified for your sins.

Thoughts: Best sermon of the 3 in my opinion.

I don't have a blog. Sorry but I thought this was relevant to the discussion.

Ross, I think you are missing something.

Andy doesn't view a "message series" as three individual sermons. He views the series as one big sermon. So if you try to put him in a box and test each sermon like you just detailed, YOU my friend have TOTALLY MISSED what makes Andy brilliant and so successful at reaching "outsiders."

With that in mind...

Put all three of those sermons together and that is one heck of a sermon! That Andy realizes you would never remember if he gave it all to you in 45 minutes. So he ssssllllloooowwwws it down. So you can remember.

Hmmm. Brilliant! But very very hard to do!

I would also say that I think it is a mistake to characterize Andy's preaching as "topical" preaching. I don't think that describes what he does very well. I classify his preaching style as "wisdom" preaching. He flat out brings "wisdom" to the table in an understandable and memorable way like nobody I have ever heard. It takes years of experience and Bible study and a whole bunch of other things to bring "wisdom" like he brings it. It takes years of experience and Bible study to even verbalize things like "The Principle of the Path" and make them memorable and understandable.

In fact, I think that is why he has the right to say that verse-by-verse preaching is lazy preaching. Not because "topical" is better. That isn't his point. His point is you don't get "wisdom" by simply going verse by verse. You get wisdom by...well...

I would also say that if you simply become a "one point" preacher without the wisdom piece, you will be boring. Study what Andy does closely and you will see that it is non-stop wisdom wrapped around one point. It is non-stop "Oh my Gosh! I can't believe I never saw it that way."

Andy keep doing what you do!

We love you and appreciate you. You are impacting the world more then you even know.

Paul-

"Andy doesn't view a "message series" as three individual sermons. He views the series as one big sermon."

Good point and I agree with you. I got that impression after listening to the entire series in one sitting.

Ed,

Hate to sound like all the other guys, but thanks for posting this. I love to learn from good preachers, those who are reaching people for Christ. And if I had to put up with the crap people throw, I would just give up. Thanks for offering this.

Geoff

Ed,
Thanks for this series with Andy...the refresher has been good for me and challenged me to keep working on application and a key line...I needed the reminder. Looking forward to the rest of the series

I think this is the best method for preaching, period. SInce switching over to this style I barely have to look at any notes and it make the message so much more engaging.

Andy's message structure is good, but what about the fact that he tries to stay three weeks ahead? Thats great. Prepare prepare prepare, then let it sit and simmer. I like what he said about picking up the message on saturday afternoon and simplifying it from there. Imagine how clear our messages would be if we had three weeks to think about them.

Good stuff.

God bless.