In part four of our interview with Andy Stanley he shares his thoughts on the "hard work" of preaching and improvement - including the painful process of personal review and evaluation. In case you missed them, here are parts one, two, and three. Be sure to get a copy of Andy's book, Communicating for a Change.
Question: Andy, you make preaching look so easy. How hard do you work at being an effective communicator?
Andy: I listen to my own CD's all the time. In fact, on some Sundays I listen to all three services. And I want to get better and better, and I work on getting better. I listen for dumb habits that I have. I sometimes watch my own videos, which is horrible. That will either make you better or want to get out of ministry completely. I think I make it look easy, but it's not. I work very, very hard.
And every sermon I think, "What if this is it? What if this is the last time I preach?" And I psych myself up with that thought every single week. I want it to be the best sermon that has ever been preached by anyone anywhere. That is an unattainable goal and nobody cares. No one is giving out awards for that. But I just feel that all these people that got up and fought traffic and they got their kids here and they found a seat...I need to give them something that makes it worth all that. Why anyone would want to come to our 10:30 a.m. service? You must be starving. People are going to go through all that, and they are going to bring unchurched friends. They need to go home with something, just one simple thing. And I don't think I am successful every single time, but it is the goal every single time.
I ask our communicators all the time, "What is the one thing they've got to know? They may have three pages of notes, but what is the one sentence, idea, or phrase they have got to know? That's the thing. That's the take-away." So preaching with that kind of burden, bringing that kind of burden to the communication process is huge.
What do you do to continue to refine and improve your preaching?
Posted on March 17, 2009 at 8:28 PM ~ 8 Comments
Tagged with: communication, preaching, stanley
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Thanks for posting info like this. Great tips. Very useful. Great reminders.
I have a great relationship with an associate who has agreed to evaluate my sermons and be very candid with me about ways to improve. I try to improve at least one aspect of my preaching every week.
Great tips - but confronting to listen to yourself again. Thanks for the blog... I have since bought Andy's book and read it a few hours. It is a great read. As a pastor of a new church plant I find myself looking to others - this blog is a great encouragement to me (even in Australia!)
Not meant as an insult but the question and answer sounds like the scene from Juno.
Juno MacGuff: I think I'm in love with you.
Paulie Bleeker: You mean as friends?
Juno MacGuff: No... I mean for real. 'Cause you're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, and you don't even have to try, you know...
Paulie Bleeker: I try really hard, actually.
I think the main take-home point from this is: Would you come to listen to yourself? This is a pretty good test as to whether or not we are good communicators.
I read my own blogs posts many times before I post them, but could a preacher listen to himself so many times? I think not. Andy is braver than me. Thanks
I listen to every week's message (from the second service only!) and every week I wonder if I'd listen to me if I were unchurched.
One positive side is that I notice what I did well - and I try to reinforce my strengths while deleting my annoying tics.
John et. al - In my experience if you feel the need to preface your comment with, "Not meant as an insult...", "I shouldn't say this...", etc - you probably shouldn't say it.
Ed: your Twitter comment about 50% of worship attendees participating in small groups/Sunday School:
Says a great deal, I am afraid, about the condition of typical churches' small groups/Sunday Schools. LifeWay Research already has reported that, while our leaders say that evangelism is important to our small group/Sunday School ministries, it really isn't--and it shows.
Our congregation has gone back to using Andy Anderson's Church Growth Spiral approach to reaching our city and growing our church through the ministry of Sunday School/small groups, for its specifics (and because, despite the world's changes, God still makes people as He ever made people--to respond to love that will not take "no" for an answer). There was nothing like it before the Spiral, and there is nothing like it offered by anyone now (with apologies to David Francis and Allan Taylor!). When congregations used the Spiral model 20 years ago, there were gains in each important growth-related area, and the smallest gains were 44% and 45% (up to 300%)--if it were money, the entire SBC still would be using the Spiral model (and you and I both would have gone today to borrow as many dollars as our local lenders would lend us, knowing that we were going to earn at least 30% more than the lenders would charge us in interest); but it was SOULS.
We have enough "what" by now; it is time for some "how" and some real educators.
David Troublefield
Minister of Education
Lamar Baptist Church
Wichita Falls, TX
david@lbcwf.org
I have been reading mutiple sites for months trying to understand what is expected by Jesus from church goers (AKA Christians). When I read these types of articles I fear pastors are promoting a trend that may be off track. If attendees are seeking the best speaker (and programs) Christians will continue to move memberships. Small churches will get smaller, and large churches will get larger. Shouldn't "worship" be the goal on Sunday and shouldn't our goal the rest of the week be "be the church".