Cleophus LaRue’s next element of great preaching is an Astute Awareness of the Culture. The preacher must have a connection to real life if the preacher is to preach a message that connects to people.
LaRue states:
Improving Storytelling in Preaching Step 5 – Practice
The final step to preaching a sermon that effectively tells a story is to Practice.
Record yourself telling the story. Then transcribe the story from the tape into a manuscript. This practice will improve your storytelling and your preaching in general.
Improving Storytelling in Preaching Step 4 – Collect the Data
The next step in preaching an effective sermon that makes use of stories is to decide what details that you collected from steps 1 and 2 are useful to help the preacher fulfill the purpose found in step 3.
In short, the preacher should determine the feelings and the sensory data that are needed to preach a “15-25” minute sermon.
Improving Storytelling in Preaching Step 3 – Determine the Purpose
The third step in Martha Simmons and Henry Mitchell’s method for improving storytelling in preaching is the turning point towards putting together the sermon. Here you must determine the behavioral purpose of the sermon. You get this by asking yourself, What change in core belief or obedience is the Passage pushing the people to.
Do You Steal Sermons? – Thiefs In The Pulpit
Many have done it. You listen to a preacher say something catchy and repeat it. Perhaps you have heard a great sermon and re-preached it. Whatever the case, presenting other’s work as your own is stealing and false representation. Whenever, we front like the work of another is ours we are stealing!
When is it Stealing?
Improving Storytelling in Preaching Step 2 -Uncover Feelings
The second step to exegete the text so that you can more effectively tell the Biblical story as presented in Martha Simmons’s and Henry Mitchell’s book entitled Study Guide to Accompany Celebration and Experience in Preaching is to note the feelings you find in the text.
Here you once again read the text and place yourself in the text. However, this time you are looking for the feelings of the various people in the text.
Look for any feelings including the following:
- Loneliness
- Jealousy
- Greed
- Fear
Improving Storytelling in Preaching Step 1 – Sensory Exegesis
African American Preaching is about encouraging the people to have an encounter with the Bible story. How do you do this? How do you strengthen your storytelling ability specifically for preaching? In the next 5 posts, I will present Rev. Martha Simmons’ steps to help preachers “tell the story.” These steps are from her and Henry Mitchell’s book entitled Study Guide to Accompany Celebration and Experience in Preaching.
Why Preachers Should Listen to Other Preachers
Peter Mead of Biblical Preaching has a post up on why preachers should listen to other preachers. It should go without saying that a preacher should listen to other preachers if that preacher is to improve the preacher’s craft.
Some Preachers Don’t Listen to Sermons
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:
- Physical vigor kept at its highest attainable point. – The preacher must be as healthy as possible if one is to preach effectively without notes.
Storr’s General Suggestions for Preaching Without Notes
Richard S. Storrs wrote a book entitled Preaching Without Notes: A Series of Lectures. The book is made up of three lectures on this subject. Storrs presents some general suggestions in the first lecture.
Biblical Preaching Encourages Preachers Not To “Half Quit”
As you know if you are a regular reader of this website, the Biblical Preaching Blog is one of my favorite websites for preaching related information. Peter Mead, the primary contributor, has a post up where he encourages preachers to not “Half Quit.”
What is it to Half Quit
African American On-Line Lectionary is Live
I am proud to be an intern on The African American Lectionary. The project is live and can be found at the following link. I would encourage all individuals who are interested in the African American Church to go and visit this important link.
Preparing a Sermon for the Real Congregation
LaRue’s next element of great preaching is the significance of the waiting Congregation. In this element, the congregation is involved in the entire preparation process.
Napoleon Harris – My First Preaching Experience and Suggstions for new Preachers
My first experience was “all good.” HA HA…yeah right I was as nervous as hell on judgment day! I fasted the week of the sermon by eating only fruits and vegetables until the day before which I ate nothing. I was sooooo focused on delivering that message John 10 the Good Shepherd. I had no title, I still 4 years later and with a MDiv in sight don’t title most sermons!