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.

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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.

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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:

  1. Loneliness
  2. Jealousy
  3. Greed
  4. Fear
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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.

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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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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!

Praying for the Moment

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