Preaching Without Notes is not a Brain Dump

This past weekend I listened and looked on the internet to a preacher who was preaching without notes. The preacher simply stated everything that came to his mind on the subject or not on the subject. He had highs and lows, but there was no rhyme or reason to the sermon. Then the preacher ended with a whimper and sat down.

At the end of the sermon it was difficult to remember any points from the sermon. There were a few “flashes of brilliance” but largely it was a long “stream of consciousness” without purpose. What went wrong?

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Methods for Preaching Without Notes – Memorize Part of the Sermon

Another method used by preachers to limit notes is to memorize part of the message. Here the preacher takes a manuscript, but has a particular portion of the sermon that is to be preached without reliance on it. For example, there are some manuscript preachers that know their introduction so well that they do not refer to their manuscript during this portion. Others like to memorize the conclusion/celebration so that they can close strong.

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Storr’s Conditions of Success When Preaching Without Notes

Richard S. Storrs second lecture in the book entitled Preaching Without Notes: A Series of Lectures describes some specific conditions for success in preaching without notes. These are as follows:

  1. Physical vigor kept at its highest attainable point. – The preacher must be as healthy as possible if one is to preach effectively without notes.
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Whitefield and Extemporaneous Preaching

The Exiled Preacher has a post up on George Whitefield and Expository Preaching. Guy Davis, the author, writes about how difficult it can be to use a manuscript effectively. Certainly many of us have left our manuscript for a second to “riff” on a theme or go down a different direction. However upon attempting to come back to our manuscript we find it difficult to find the correct place.

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