It’s the most important Supreme Court case in 30 years. The President’s legacy and electoral future depends on its outcome. And he’s chosen you to represent him before the justices. [Image from Time]

 You’ve had 18 months to prepare your opening speech with no limit to the resources or experts at your disposal. The Chief Justice calls you forward. This is the moment that Yale, decades of legal practice, and numerous previous Supreme Court appearances have prepared you for.

You open your mouth and…cough…and splutter…and stumble… and start again…and harrumph…and repeat yourself….and drink a glass of water…and so on. There goes your opening statement!

Solicitor General Donald Verelli’s performance last week has been widely panned, even by Obamacare supporters, with one commentator calling his brain freeze, “one of the most spectacular flameouts ever in the history of the Court.”

You can listen to the audio of his opening statement here, or you can listen to a rather unfair compilation of all Verelli’s fumbles here (please don’t let anyone ever do this to me with one of my sermons).

Anyone who speaks regularly in public can sympathize with Verelli to some extent – because it’s happened to most of us to one degree or another.

Toe-curling
Recently I was watching an online video of a sermon being preached by a popular preacher in a large well-known American church, when this usually polished speaker started falling to pieces. He was stumbling over his words, failing to complete sentences, shuffling his notes all over the pulpit, and speaking at 100 mph.

With hands shaking and face reddening, he then tried a couple of unfunny jokes and quips. With toes curling all over the congregation, including my own, he eventually stopped, took a deep breath, apologized, and said he needed to slow down. He recovered quite well and went on to complete his sermon.

Something similar has happened to me, twice in fact. One time I was due to preach a 35-40 minute sermon, and managed only about 15 mins before I had to stop and sit down. I just couldn’t gather my thoughts enough to go any further. I don’t think I even managed the benediction.

The other time I was publicly reading a chapter from the Bible, when I started to stumble – once, then twice, then three times. The words started going out of focus, sweat started forming on my forehead, and I wondered if I would be able to complete the reading. Thankfully, on that occasion, I found a way to defrost my brain – by pausing, praying, taking a few deep breaths and slowing down.

Reasons for freezing?
I don’t know why Verelli or the popular preacher froze, but I know why I did – the first time I was mentally exhausted through various long-term stresses in my life, and the second time I was physically exhausted through sleep deprivation.

But there are other possible reasons too, and we should use these (thankfully rare) humiliating occasions to search our consciences and lives:

• Lack of preparation: Perhaps I simply didn’t prepare enough, resulting in poorly thought-out material or a confusing presentation.
• Fear of man: Was I so worried about what certain people would think or how they might react, that my mind was paralyzed with fear?
• Bad conscience: Was there sin in my private life that rose up to accuse me in public ministry?
• Out of depth: Did I try to deal with a passage or subject that was beyond my abilities? Or am I speaking to an audience that is above my capacity?
• God’s sovereignty: Although the first time I froze was partly caused by worry and stress, it was also a season in my life when God was humbling me, and this experience was part of (probably the climax of) the humbling. God can, in His wise and sovereign providence, leave us to sink, as he did Peter, in order to expose the weakness and folly of our self-confidence and to remind us that we need His all-sufficiency.

Let’s just be so thankful that God never deals with us as we deserve. Otherwise, we would probably be left to sink, or freeze, or choke, or all three every time we stood in a pulpit.

I was listening to Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership podcast yesterday, when he said something that struck me as profoundly true:

Diligence is excellence over time.

Or to put it mathematically: Diligence + time = Excellence.

Some might take that as a discouragement. You mean no quick fixes? No shortcuts? No magic formula? No silver bullet?

That’s right.

However, I think it’s actually a huge encouragement and motivation to faithful and consistent daily living in our callings.

And it looks like God wants me to hear that message because today I also came across Seth Godin’s post, Preparing for the breakthrough:

Products and services succeed one person at a time, as the word slowly spreads….Doors open, sure, but not all at once. One at a time.

One at a time is a little anticlimactic and difficult to get in a froth over, but one at a time is how we win and how we lose.

In a world that falsely promises instant results, “one at a time” is such a needed message. Pastors and church planters need to hear it. Parents and teachers need to hear it. Businesses need to hear it.

I need to hear it.

One sermon at a time. One lecture at a time. One blog at a time. One video at a time. One soul at a time.

Diligence. Diligence. Diligence.

And maybe one day…excellence.

“Does that make sense?”

We’ve all heard it and many of us have said it. Jerry Weismann has noticed a surge of such filler language in public speaking and urges, Never ask “Does that make sense?”

Why? Weismann says the expressions has two negative implications:

• Uncertainty on the part of the speaker about the accuracy or credibility of the content
• Doubt about the ability of the audience to comprehend or appreciate the content.

He wants us to consign the phrase to “the ranks of fillers, empty words that surround and diminish meaningful words, just as weeds diminish the beauty of roses in a garden.” The phrase would have lots of company:

• “You know…” as if to be sure the listener is paying attention
• “Like I said…” as if to say that the listener didn’t understand
• “Again…” as if to say that the listener didn’t get it the first time
• “I mean…” as if to say that the speaker is unsure of his/her own clarity
• “To be honest…” as if to say the speaker was not truthful earlier
• “I’m like…” the universal filler which says absolutely nothing

He goes on: “While all of the preceding cast doubt on the competence of the presenter or the audience, another group of phrases and words casts doubt on the content itself:”

• “Sort of” 
• “Pretty much” 
• “Kind of” 
• “Basically” 
• “Really”
• “Actually”
• “Anyway”

Weismann says that every filler word or phrase devalues the family jewels, the nouns and verbs that represent the products, services, and actions of the business (or sermon). So delete them from your sermon and your speech.

Does that make sense?

Any other fillers you want to consign to oblivion?

No one likes to be confused. If a doctor or a mechanic or a teacher bamboozle and befuddle us, we get annoyed, frustrated, and even angry. We demand clarity: “Look, can you please explain that again, this time in plain English.”

No one likes to be confused – with one exception – and that’s in the most important matter of all – our eternal destiny.

Let a salesman confuse us about a car and we get angry. But let a preacher confuse us about salvation and we’re quite happy.

When a lawyer clearly explains two possible options, we compliment him. When a preacher clearly explains the only two options – heaven or hell – we criticize him.

Why is clarity in every area of life to be commended, but clarity in the greatest issues of life and death to be condemned as “uncharitable”?

Well we could never accuse Jesus of a lack of clarity or charity. Rather,  it was His charity that produced His clarity. In fact, wherever there is charity in a heart, there will be clarity in the mouth! A compassion for souls will produce clear sermons, clear pastoral counsel, and clear parental instruction.

How can we say that charity produces clarity?

Consider Jesus’ first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. He packed a lot into that first sermon, so much that we are still unpacking it 2000 years later. But as he concluded it, he returns to the basics: there are only two gates, two roads, two types of traveler and two destinations. It’s as if he says, “Whatever else you take away from my sermon, take this: “There are only two options.”

A Third Way?
From the Garden of Eden onwards, humanity has been on a desperate search for a third option, a third way to be saved. We realize there is a wrong way, and we don’t want to be on it – I mean who wants to be with Hitler, and BinLaden, and Kim Jong-il? But we don’t like the only other way – bit too narrow, bit too demanding, bit too unpopular. So let’s make up a third way.

And many preachers cooperate with this desired confusion. By neglect, by design, by fear, or by whatever, they leave people in sufficient fog to give them some hope that there may well be a third option. And such preachers are often admired and praised: “So compassionate! So kind! So warm!”

Jesus hurricanes this deadly mist away: “Two gates, two roads, two travelers, two destinations, two trees, two fruits, two foundations, two houses…two, two, two. Never, ever three.” There is no third option for “nice” people. There is no third option for “covenant children.” There is no third option for “church attenders.” We are either dead or alive, dead in sin or born again, asleep or awake, darkness or light, against Christ or for Christ, a Pharisee or a Publican, a child of the devil or child of the living God.

There is no “in-between” category, there is no “miscellaneous,” there is no “and all the rest of us.” There is no third gate, no third road, no third kind of traveler, and no third destination.

THERE IS NO THIRD OPTION!

And it’s not love to suggest there might be. Not in sermons, not at funerals, not in counseling, not in books, not anywhere.

The more we clarify these matters, the more the hearts of lost sinners will be exposed, the more they will see the broad gate they have entered, the broad road they are on, and the deadly destination they are heading to.

And the more angry they will get – at least initially. Because, for some weird reason, confusion is comfortable and usually preferred in spiritual matters. “Keep your clarity. Give me the fog!”

But clarity also, eventually, provokes passionate prayer, earnest seeking, and fervent calling on the name of the Lord for ourselves and for our loved ones.

In these foggy and confusing days, may God  give all of us far more of this compassionate Christ-like clarity in our hearts and minds, and in our words and in our walk.

Sermon preparation involves creativity. No, the preacher is not creating truth. God did that. But the preacher is creating sentences, phrases, and even structures that will best communicate the truth.

And like all creatives – artists, authors, architects, etc. – preachers encounter creative blocks. They just don’t know where the next thought or sentence is going to come from.

Mark McGuinness has provided a helpful list of 7 types of creative block (summarized below) and also proposes some solutions (visit his blog for those).

1. The mental block.
This is where you get trapped by your own thinking. You’re so locked into a familiar way of looking at the world that you fail to see other options. You make assumptions and approach a problem from a limiting premise. Or maybe your Inner Critic rears its head and stops you thinking straight.

2. The emotional barrier.
Creativity can be intense. It’s not a comfortable pursuit. Faced with the unknown, you may be scared of what you’ll discover or reveal about yourself. Maybe your subject matter is painful, embarrassing or plain weird. Whatever – all of these fears and qualms are just different forms of Resistance, leading to procrastination.

3. Work habits that don’t work.
Maybe there’s no great drama — you’re just trying to work in a way that isn’t compatible with your creative process. You work too early, too late, too long, or not long enough. You try to hard or not hard enough. You don’t have enough downtime or enough stimulation. Or maybe you haven’t set up systems to deal with mundane tasks – email, admin, accounting, etc – so they keep interfering with your real work.

4. Personal problems.
Creativity demands focus — and it’s hard to concentrate if you’re getting divorced/ dealing with toddlers/battling an addiction/falling out with your best friend/grieving someone special/moving house/locked in a dispute with a neighbor.

5. Poverty.
I’m not just talking about money, although a lack of cash is a perennial problem for creatives. You could also be time-poor, knowledge-poor, have a threadbare network, or be short of equipment or other things you need to get the job done.

6. Overwhelm.
Sometimes a block comes from having too much, not too little. You’ve taken on too many commitments, you have too many great ideas, or you’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incoming demands and information. You feel paralyzed by options and obligations, or simply knackered from working too hard for too long.

7. Communication breakdown.
Creative blocks can happen between people as well as between the ears…Sometimes you get blocked by phantoms — merely imagining your work being booed by audiences and mauled by the critics…after years of plugging away at your art with a miniscule audience, you wonder why you bother.

Once you’ve read McGuiness’s solutions, add and prioritize this one:  Two knees on the floor, and two hands in the air.

And if you’re still stuck, then watch this! (Email/RSS readers click here).

I’m sure there are other preacher’s secrets to the “white screen syndrome.” What’s worked for you?

It’s one of my privileges to hear many beginning preachers preach their first sermon. Sometimes, it’s stunning how God has gifted a person and you hope Seminary doesn’t spoil them! Usually, however, first sermons confirm the need for much further training. As I’ve listened over the years to students begin to preach, I’ve noticed the same mistakes arising again and again, the same mistakes that we all fall into from time to time. The ten most common are:

1. Cramming: Squeezing all you have ever studied about the Bible over the years into 30 minutes.

2. Skimming: Taking too many verses and simply skimming over the surface of the text, teaching nothing that someone with average intelligence would not have derived from the text themselves.

3. Floating: The preacher says many things that relate to the text, floating or hovering above the text, but fails to show how they are anchored in the text.

4. Proof-texting: Including lots and lots of texts from all over the Bible, and sometimes diverting hearers by expounding the proof texts as much as the sermon text.

5. Quoting: Too many quotes from commentators, theologians, and other preachers from the past and the present.

6. Lecturing: It’s difficult to define the difference between preaching and lecturing, but you know it when you see it/hear it. It’s about passion, eye-contact, persuasion, urgency, etc.

7. Assuming: Our own over-familiarity with the text results in us assuming that our hearers know the background of the text, the meaning of basic key words and concepts, etc. May also result in Mach 7 preaching speeds. And don’t assume your hearers are all converted either.

8. Confusing: Hearers are left confused usually because of a lack of structure or too complicated a structure (main points, sub-points, etc.); or sometimes there is a good structure, but it’s not sufficiently highlighted and emphasized so that hearers know where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going.

9. Spraying: Lots and lots of data, but no single dominant thought; it’s the difference between a shotgun and a rifle.

10. Complicating: Instead of explaining the text, a preacher can actually make it more obscure. Usually involves words too big, sentences too long, concepts too abstract, language too philosophical/theological.

Maybe Monday morning is not the best time to post this, as many of us preachers are already immersed in our own sermon “post-mortems.” On the other hand, maybe it will help us figure out where we went wrong (again).

I read this post about Seven easy steps to much faster writing and immediately saw the obvious transferability to preaching.

Before you go and read it  though, let me say that our motive should not be so much about preparing our sermons faster, but rather more efficiently. In some ways some of us need to slow down sermon preparation – to give time for prayer, meditation, and also divine promptings.

So my approval of these principles is not so much about getting out of the study quicker, but about using time in the study better – freeing up time for the deeper and more spiritual dimensions of sermon preparation. With that caveat in place, here are Ali’s main points with my summaries:

1. Find your best writing time: Not all hours are equal. Find out when you are most productive.
2. Minimize the risk of interruptions: Turn phone off. I repeat, turn phone off.
3. Cut out distractions: Turn email off. I repeat, turn email off.
4. Write an outline: Get this as early as possible in the process.
5. Set a timer: Focuses and concentrates the mind
6. Start wherever you want: Just get going – beginning, middle, or end. Wherever you have some thoughts, start there.
7. Don’t edit while you write: Don’t keep stopping to craft the perfect sentence. Write lots….then edit.

Read the whole article here. It could save you (or free up) a lot of time.

Consecutive expository preaching has become vogue in many churches. I come from a background where it was not so common. In the Scottish Highlands, pastors tended to preach what the Lord “laid on their hearts and minds” each week. They were definitely expository sermons, yes, but they were not part of a months-long-series of sermons on one book, verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter. If one such series was being preached in, say, the morning service, usually the pastor would use the other sermon to preach on texts that had captivated or burdened him in the previous week. But the idea of having two long series (or even three if you include the midweek) running at the same time was rare and even frowned upon as “quenching the Spirit!”

George Whitefield preaching outside

However, since coming to the USA, I’ve come to appreciate that there are significant advantages to this increasingly popular method of consecutive preaching:

• The pastor and congregation are ‘stretched’ to preach on and hear about subjects that would not be normally chosen;
• The preacher and hearers are immersed in one book of the Bible for many weeks and months;
• It helps to keep passages in context;
• It teaches people how to read and study their Bibles;
• It provides a balanced diet and prevents pastors from sticking to their ‘hobby horses’;
• The pastor does not need to agonize over his choice of text each week;
• There does not need to be so much introduction and background given each week;
• The overall argument or narrative of the book is better grasped and understood;
• It helps people to see the overall plan of Scripture;
• It encourages people to prepare ahead by reading and thinking about the passage;
• It emphasizes the centrality and authority of Scripture.

Yes, many advantages, but let me now give you some tips on how to avoid the potential downsides:

• Ensure that each sermon is complete in itself, rather than finishing this week what you didn’t finish last week;
• The portion of Scripture for each sermon should not be too few verses, so that the series goes on too long, or too many, so that the preaching becomes shallow and superficial;
• There should be a memorable theme and points for each sermon rather than simply making it a running commentary;
• It may be helpful to read a related passage of Scripture rather than the same portion every week for many weeks;
• Prayerfully consider the need for variation. For example, a series on a Pauline Epistle might be followed by a Gospel or an Old Testament narrative book;
• Break the series from time to time to provide a change. Sometimes it may be wise to take a break for a few weeks or even months before returning to it;
• Be prepared to preach on a text the Lord ‘lays on your heart’ even if it breaks the sermon series. Remain “open” to God’s direction each week.
• Be conscious of your limitations. Few preachers can sustain their congregation’s interest in a long series of consecutive expository sermons, especially if two or more series are going on at the same time;
• Before finally deciding to start a series, read the book through a few times and begin to map out preaching portions. This will also help you to decide if this is the right book and if your own gifts will stretch enough to take it on;
• As starting a series is a major decision that will set the course of the congregation for a while, it may be wise to consult with some carefully chosen elders or mature Christians;
• Try to avoid becoming a mere teacher or lecturer rather than a preacher;
• There is no need for a long recap at the beginning of every sermon.
• Remember to preach evangelistically to the lost before you, rather than just to build up the Christians in the congregation;

With these caveats in mind, I hope we will be better able to avoid some of the disadvantages of consecutive expository preaching, and use its advantages for the greater glory of God and the good of sinners.

More preaching tips like this in How Sermons Work.

Yesterday I was privileged to hear my pastor, Foppe VanderZwaag, preaching on Job 1. It was a captivating and enthralling sermon with fascinating insights throughout, especially his positive (and persuasive) take on Job’s wife and children. 

I’m not for preachers practicing gestures to accompany their preaching; arm and body movements should flow naturally. However, I am all for preachers understanding and avoiding body-language that will not just offend the eyes but close the ears of their hearers! 

Should we work at crafting catchy sermon titles?

Well, according to my friend Steven Lee, President of SermonAudio.com, the best way to increase sermon downloads is to improve sermon titles.

We may not like it, but that’s reality.

Unless you think it’s extra holy to minimize the number of your listeners, you are probably asking: “So, how do I do it?”

In many ways it’s like writing headlines. That’s why Matt Thompson’s 10 questions to help you write better headlines is so useful. Here’s a summary checklist:

1. Is the headline accurate?
2. Does it work out of context?
3. How compelling a promise does it make?
4. How easy is it to parse?
5. Could it benefit from a number?
6. Are all the words necessary?
7. Does it obey the Proper Noun Rule?
8. Would it work better as an explanatory headline?
9. Does it focus on events or implications?
10. Could it benefit from one of these 10 words? Top, Why, How, Will, New, Secret, Future, Your, Best, Worst.

And you can read the Matt’s exposition of each question here.

Is your congregation bored with your preaching?

Are you bored with your preaching?

Try Scamper.

Apply especially to word choice, sermon structure, and application (not doctrine!).

I’ve written before about preaching without (or with less) notes (here and here). Here’s some more advice from Jerry Weissman on how to disconnect from your notes and connect with your hearers.

Why not try it on Sunday?

At least with one of your points.

You can blame me!

Very few good preachers begin as good preachers. Of the twenty or so practice preaching sermons that I listen to every semester, maybe one or two students have it all together: good intro, accurate exegesis, clear structure, appropriate illustrations, personal application, voice variation, body language, etc. Most have a lot of practice preaching ahead of them (don’t we all!).

And that word “practice” sometimes sticks in people’s throats. Practice preaching? Is that not a bit unholy or unspiritual?

Or maybe, practicing exegesis and related disciplines is OK, but surely not the speaking part. I mean, I don’t want to be an actor in the pulpit, do I!

No, we certainly don’t want to be actors. And if we are only putting on a certain voice for the pulpit, then that is indeed unnatural and pretty close to acting.

So what’s the solution? How do I improve my public speaking without putting on an act?

The answer is to improve your speaking in every day speaking.

If you have a monotone voice, then try consciously varying it up and down in one-to-one conversations (that’s what I’ve tried to do). If you have a quiet voice, try experimenting with different volumes at the dinner table. If you tend to give every word the same weight, try emphasizing important words the next time you talk to someone. If you tend to talk too fast, practice slowing down and pausing in normal life, etc.

In other words, practice preaching, by practicing when you are not preaching. That way, over time, these changes become natural, they become part of normal you, and acting is kept out of the pulpit.

I know someone who carried this a bit far and eventually ended up preaching at people in ordinary conversation. That was extremely painful!

So, yes, there are dangers to practicing. We must also avoid turning away from dependence upon the Holy Spirit and trusting in gifts or “wisdom of words.”

I don’t go along with everything in this article, but Peter Bubriski captures the essence of what I’m trying to say here:

With preaching, practice will never make perfect. But it may help get rid of some of the imperfections that impair effective preaching. As a preacher, that’s my responsibility. The rest, thankfully, is up to God.

The most effective preachers and teachers have an ability to make the profound simple.

But how?

Tony Schwartz says that such “deceptive simplicity” is the result of:

• Rigorous thinking
• Skillful synthesizing
• A commitment to clarity

And Schwartz persuasively argues that one of the keys to achieving this is a to-do list.

If that doesn’t entice you to click through, then try this:

Jack Dorsey has 200 million customers. At least, that’s how many use his product, Twitter, every day. He is also founder of Square, a new way for everyone to accept credit card payments that financiers are salivating over.

Two multi-million-dollar technology start-ups in a few years! How lucky can you be, eh?

Unless it’s something other than luck.

It is.

Both start-ups have been based on the idea of simplicity.

As this interview with Charlie Rose reveals, “Dorsey’s accomplishments have little to do with luck, and more with his focus on creating the purest products by throwing away any unnecessary flourishes.”

Dorsey says, “My goal is to simplify complexity.”

How about that as a motto to hang above every preacher’s desk! In fact, read the following quotes and imagine that Dorsey is talking about preaching rather than credit card payments.

It turns out it’s really complex.  It’s really complex to make something simple and especially when you started addressing the financial world.

We have a number of things — in order to accept credit cards you have to talk with a bank.  Normally when you’re a small merchant or a business or individual you have to get a merchant account, which means you have a one to two year relationship with the bank, and then there’s always these fees and setup costs and monthly minimums.  It’s a mess.

And it’s never really been designed in a beautiful way and that’s what we’re good at.  That’s really hard to do.

When you’re using the iPad, the iPad disappears, it goes away. You’re reading a book. You’re viewing a website, you’re touching a web site. That’s amazing and that’s what SMS is for me. The technology goes away and with Twitter the technology goes away. And the same is true with Square. We want the technology to fade away so that you can focus on enjoying the cappuccino that you just purchased.

Is that not the aim of every preacher too? That they and their sermon would fade away, leaving the hearers to enjoy the Christ that was just preached!

The simpler the sermon, the more likely that is to happen.

Related article: A plea for profound simplicity

Here’s a sobering Seth Godin post for preachers:

If you want to drive yourself crazy, read the live twitter comments of an audience after you give a talk, even if it’s just to ten people.

You didn’t say what they said you said.

You didn’t mean what they said you meant.

If the data rate of an HDMI cable is 340MHz, I’m guessing that the data rate of a speech is far, far lower. Yes, there’s a huge amount of information communicated via your affect, your style and your confidence, but no, I don’t think humans are so good at getting all the details.

Plan on being misunderstood. Repeat yourself. When in doubt, repeat yourself.