How Do You Preach?
Let’s open up the trade secrets here.
Besides, preaching shouldn’t be a “trade secret” anyway. Chris Rock isn’t a preacher, but he’s the grandson of one, and his comedic routine is patterned after grampa’s sermon notes; bulleted points. To this he attributes the clarity, flow, and punch to his monologue. That’s how I prepare my sermons, with clear bullet points and headlines, easy to follow ideas highlighted throughout. Which is why this boggles my mind; I just don’t get
how Tim Keller makes heads or tails of his notes, but I know it comes out brilliant.
It’s some kind of short-hand gibberish that perhaps only the author can decode, but rest assured it’s worked for many decades as he’s honed his craft into becoming one of the finest American preachers around today. Tullian Tchividjian via Josh Harris makes the great distinction in regards to Keller:
“To be a great preacher, one needs to be tri-perspectival in their exegesis. That is, they need to be committed to the exegesis of the Bible, the exegesis of our culture, and the exegesis of the human heart… no preacher has consistently taught me how to do all three in the context of every sermon more so than Tim Keller. His balanced attention to all three forms of exegesis makes him very unique.”
I really like this “tri-perspectival” thing. Something to keep in mind… but can you make heads or tails of this? And what do your notes look like? Care to share your trade secrets with the public?
h/t DJ
no trade secrets i’m afraid… though I tend to write out my sermons as manuscripts when I’m bringing my “A” game. Sometimes though (the last several sermons) my notes are just that, notes… 3 bullet points with some sub-points and examples thrown in, then I just get up and flow. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t. I admit to a bias towards staying pretty close to the text. I think the best preaching answers the question one of our high school English teachers tormented us with: “So what?” So what, Moses spoke to burning bush, so what Jesus walked on water, so what Joseph ran from Potiphar’s wife. What does this text have to do with my life right now, day to day?