Preaching Advice Roundup: 16 Backstory Preaching mentors share strategies to make preaching easier, more effective, and more fun!
Sometimes, our techniques are off.
In my early preaching days, I estimated the number of minutes my sermon would take based on the number of pages.
I figured that one page of text was about three minutes of preaching.
For the record, that was way off! It was more like 5-6 minutes per page.
I had a palm-to-forehead smack of recognition when I learned we speak at about 100 words/minute.
So by using word count rather than page count, my estimate would be far more accurate.
And I’d know when I needed to bring that number down!
Sometimes, one small tip is powerful enough to unlock a new competency or significantly improve a skill or process.
That’s why today's blog is all tips, tips, and nothing but preaching tips—provided by 16 of our Backstory Preaching Mentors.
As the current Mentorship class wraps up their program and celebrates their graduation, I asked our mentors to offer some of their favorite preaching tips to help you craft more effective sermons in less time—while loving the process!
Loosely organized around process, craft, and spirituality, these tips are ready to add to your toolbox.
Plus, you'll meet the guides you would be blessed to work with in The Mentorship next year should you apply.
You may even recognize a familiar face or two!
Tips to Streamline Your Process & Increase Inspiration
Leigh Hall
Episcopal, New York
Keep a file of sermon illustrations and latches. Hear a moving story in an NPR podcast? Put it in the file. Does the latest trending Netflix documentary illustrate transformation and renewal? Put it in the file. If you are super organized, you can even organize it with headings like "human condition" or "grace & forgiveness." This way, when you are struggling to find a latch, you have a place to look for ideas and inspiration.
Meredith Crigler
Episcopal, Texas
Consider setting aside part of a day before each season to read/listen to the upcoming lessons. Make notes on what you notice, possible series, and what you might preach if you were called on to preach in the next few minutes. Prioritizing this time of early preparation invites the Spirit to nudge you in the days and weeks to come as the Story marinates and rests within you.
Susan Ironside
Episcopal, New Jersey
Ask for insights on a text or ideas from non-preachers (the people in your church, and the folks in your community). You can always tell when a preacher has slipped into an echo chamber of receiving wisdom only from other preachers. Asking questions like “Where do you find hope?” or “What do you think the resurrection is like?” will help you better understand the people to whom you preach and will give you insights into the ways God is acting in the lives of God’s people. I have received incredible insights from the person who does my hair, parents waiting to pick up a kid at youth group, and the volunteers who pitch in around the church!
Eric Miller
Episcopal, Ohio
If you find you've fallen into a preaching rut and long to get out of it, try writing at another time of the day, or better yet, write in a different location altogether. And remember, there’s no such thing as wasted writing. That's what editing is for: sifting through to see what doesn't support your one clear message of Good News.
Jennifer Scarr
Church of the Brethren, Virginia
Pick your favorite time of day to write, add your favorite drink in your best mug, and say a prayer while you light a candle. This way your sermon writing becomes its own kind of regular retreat, a time for you and God to plan the Word you’ll share together. You’ll start looking forward to it every week.
Tips to Develop Your Preaching Craft
Rhonda Rogers
Episcopal, Texas
Preach your sermon out loud and record it. I can hear places where my sentence structure may be grammatically correct but I trip over my choice of words. It helps me hear those places where I need to pause, repeat, or emphasize a word or point. And if I'm putting myself to sleep, chances are the congregation will be snoring by the end also.
Kevin Caruso
Episcopal, Illinois
Consider how you want your sermon to make people feel. Preaching is not just a matter of explaining things didactically. Just because we say something clearly doesn't mean we are offering people an opportunity to experience the Good News of God's redeeming Love. The stories in scripture connect to us at a visceral level. When we begin to pay explicit attention to emotions within the stories we study and emotions within ourselves, we are better able to invite others to have an experience of the Good News.
Courtney Jones
Episcopal, Washington
Nervous? Make the first paragraph something that you can easily talk about without looking. Doing so will help you speak more naturally during the part of the sermon that is traditionally the most “jittery”.
Andrea Myers
ElCA, Iowa
To help your listener follow your one clear message from beginning to end, pay close attention to the “breadcrumbs” you provide along the way. One technique is to set your introductory and concluding paragraphs alongside one another to see how they relate. Is there a key word or image from an introductory story that could be brought back to strengthen the conclusion? Is there a concluding point that could be foreshadowed in your introduction? If there aren’t obvious connections there's editing to do!
Melinda Quivik
ELCA, Minnesota
When you are stuck, go back to the scripture text or texts. Go back to lectio, to your musings, to your wonderings. Especially look for the one thing you cannot wrap your mind around in the reading, because that is likely a place which contains a word that is hard to translate into English. There's richness there. Blessings on the process!
Caroline Penhale
United Church of Canada, Ontario
Editing is the key to preaching only one message of good news. Make sure to plan time for editing, and as you go through your draft or your talking points, look for the one clear message. Bonus tip: commit to cutting 100 words from each sermon draft, each time!
Brad Sullivan
Episcopal, Texas
Look for phrases as you write which you can repeat through your sermon. This can be done in the editing process, adding the phrase or words to points within the sermon where it fits. Doing so helps tie the sermon together and gives the listener a way to remember the one message.
Samantha Smith
Episcopal, Texas
Saying something out loud can help with discerning the goal. Trying to zone in on one message? Preach it out loud as practice to listen for the message. Trying to fix a transition? Preach it out loud as practice to see if it flows. Not sure if its too long or too short? Preach it out loud as practice and notice your own response to the duration. Hearing your own words in your own voice before you step into the pulpit can be an incredible tool for editing and clarity.
Tips to Nurture Your Own Spirituality
Ron Wells
United Church of Christ, New York
Share your backstory and invite your listeners to insert themselves into the text. The listeners move from being spectators to participants. The listeners are engaged and empowered to live out the text.
Dale Matherly
Disciples of Christ, Kansas
Take some time to go for a walk and notice the abundance of life happening all around us. This time can be like a reset for your creativity, perspective, and energy. It opens up space within our heads and hearts.
Yejide Peters Pietersen
Episcopal, connecticut
Journaling—even if it is sentence fragments or drawing sketches—can help one process and access feelings and complex ideas more readily. Read a novel, keep cut flowers or blooming plants in the house, take a trip to a museum or go on a quiet scenic drive; replenishing the beauty in one's life can assist creativity and deepen one's sermon writing.
How do you want to grow as a preacher?
Since our first Mentorship class of 2016, nearly 200 preachers have grown in the process, craft, and spirituality of preaching, guided by BsP’s mentors.
And 100% recommend the program!
Whether you’d like to revitalize your process, refine your craft, or reconnect to God, our Mentors meet you where you’re at to help you grow and love your preaching life:
You can change your prep habits to be more efficient.
You can deepen your connection to God to preach and serve more authentically.
You can preach sermons that connect with your congregation at a soul level.
You can discern which aspects of your ministry you're truly called to—and which you are not—to avoid burnout and enjoy a lifetime of ministry.
You can reclaim personal time to be present for your loved ones.
You can address insecurities, fears, or other aspects of your backstory that may be holding you backfrom proclaiming the messages only you can preach.
The Mentorship was designed to support preachers in a personalized and individualized way, integrating the preacher's backstory with their unique preaching strengths and areas of desired growth—so they build sustainable ministries that feed themselves and their people to God's glory.
Attend our LAST Mentorship information session to discover whether this transformative program is right for you this year. Click the link below to register.
Wednesday, May 29: 1:30-2:15 PM Central
Applications open June 3rd-6th, so now is the time to discern whether this transformative program is right for you.
Please Note: The Mentorship begins with Sermon Camp in August and continues with 1:1 mentoring, small group sessions, and other program components in October. Collective+ membership is included for the duration of the program.