Preaching Rocket Wisdom

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to tune into a 1 day web-inar that was really the kick off for The Preaching Rocket (www.preachingrocket.com).  It was a great opportunity to gather nuggets of preaching preparation wisdom from several of the nations top church communicators.  Below are some of the nuggets I picked up on that I will be applying to the next message I prepare this weekend!

Perry Noble: (Pastor at NewSpring Church)

     "If you want to communicate for change, you need to have ONE main point....most of my content ideas for my sermons come from my quiet times....it is important to utilize other peoples creativity in message preparation in order to ensure the most creative gospel presentation that can happen..."

Jud Wilhite:  (Pastor at Central Christian Church)

     Three phases of a message communication:
     1) Grab the attention of the audience.
     2) Establish the problem that the audience needs to know about
     3) Address the issue with scripture

Jud doesn't see any problems with using life stories in your message.  In fact, he encourages it, "no life related stories are ineffective..."  Preaching is simply truth through personality.  The key is honest communication, and a solid understanding of truth.  Its not a revolving target.

Andy Stanley:  (Pastor at North Point)

     Andy grabs the attention of the audience by generating a creative tension in the first few minutes, and he believes in order to get better, you MUST watch and critique yourself.  He uses the following message structure:

Me - This is what I think is going on, and the tension that I bring to the table.
We - This is how it relates to you, and how you are involved
God - This is what God has to say about the issue.
You - What are you doing to do with this new information, its a personal decision point
We - What are we going to do with this information as a body?

Jeff Foxworthy

Jeff believes that integrating humor into sermons is very important.  He believes you should always trim from jokes, and never add to them.  This will leave them always wanting more. Start you joke with the end in mind, where do you want to take them.  And remember, making an impact is a good thing, making an impression is a great thing.