Contact:

josh@joshhhunt.com

575.650.4564

Four Steps to Better Preaching and Teaching

Listen to your own sermons. Nothing will improve your preaching quicker than the discipline of listening to your own sermons. I know, I know, it is painful. If it is painful for you to listen to, imagine how painful it is to your audience! Listen to your own sermons. You don’t have to listen to all of them. Listening to a few a year will really help.

I was listening to a preacher recently who had a distracting tick—he said the same little phrase over and over through the message. You know what I mean? After every paragraph he would repeat it. You know what I mean? It was really distracting. You know what I mean? I can’t help but think that if he would listen to one of his sermons he would notice and stop. You know what I mean?

Listen to great sermons. This is easier and cheaper than it has ever been. With podcasts, it is free and easy. You will get great content that you can fold into your own sermons, as well as learning from the masters as to how to communicate effectively. Don’t just listen to your favorites. Listen to people you like and don’t like. Listen for what works and what doesn’t. Listen to feed your own soul.

Read books on preaching. Read secular books on communication. Read new books and old on effective communication. Set a foundation by reading a dozen classic books on preaching. Then, read a book a year for the rest of your life.

Get honest evaluation. The best preacher I have had the privilege of listening to personally on an ongoing basis was Sam Shaw. Why was he so good? God-given talent was a start. Second, he had read every book in print on the craft of preaching. Third, he had a ruthless pursuit of excellence in his preaching. He would sometimes completely re-write a sermon between the Saturday night delivery and Sunday morning. I thought the Saturday night version was great. The Sunday version was even better.

One more thing. He insisted on honest evaluation on how he could improve. He asked me nearly every week how that sermon could have been better. Do you ask? Do you have anyone in your life that tells you regularly how you can improve? You don’t need a lot of friends like that; a few go a long way. But, you do need a few friends that will help you improve.

I thought my sermon last week was better than usual. A lot of people told me so. One person told me how it could be better. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Most pastors think the great need of the hour is to change the church. I have been in hundreds of churches. My opinion is, the great need of the hour is to improve the preaching.