How many sermons do you remember from when you were in the fifth grade or earlier?

I remember one.

Pastor Tim (I don’t remember his last name) was preaching on Elijah and the widow from Zarephath. It is a story about a famine and how our God will provide our needs. The key verse is:

1 Kings 17:14 (NIV) For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the land.’ ”

At just the right time, Pastor Tim pulled a small barrel from behind the pulpit and set it on a table beside the pulpit. The barrel looked like it was a hundred years old. He talked about how every day the widow would get flour from the barrel and the barrel never ran dry. The barrel never ran dry. My God will supply all your needs.

I remember this sermon because it seemed so shocking to grab a physical barrel and use it as an object lesson. I remember it because there is something sticky about a physical object that you can touch and feel.

Pastor Tim knew what Rick Blackwood quantified in his research for his DMin, and later wrote up in the book, The Power of Multisensory Preaching and Teaching: Increase Attention, Comprehension, and Retention. On average, when using multi-sensory preaching, you can expect that people will…

• Pay attention more (about twice as much; Rick measured)
• Learn more (again, about twice as much)
• Do more (twice as likely to have applied what they have learned)

Think about that last one. What if some small changes to your preaching could result in people practicing twice as much. Wow.

I have always been drawn to multi-sensory preaching, but have really been leaning into it in recent days. I recently was preaching on the verse that says, “You are the light of the world” and passed our flashlights as a memory aid. I preached on the idea that God is our “straightness” (the core meaning of the word “righteousness”) and passed out rulers. I spend a good deal of time each week prowling around to find videos that pack a punch.

I am working on a new website to share my ideas http://stickysermon.com/ Each sermon will include:

• An editable PowerPoint file—most of them with powerful videos embedded.
• A coaching video where I talk to you, the preacher and walk through what I have in mind for the sermon, as well as offer tips for communicating the message.
• A small group lesson—Good Questions Have Groups Talking—so your groups can digest what you have set out for them.
• A place for you to add your ideas.

If you use this resource, it will cost a lot less than what you are paying now for literature. It is a work in progress—I have only just begun. (Only one series is complete; I hope to have two more soon.) But, if you are an early adopter and would like to see a sneak peak of what I have in mind, check it out at http://stickysermon.com/ I’d love to get your feedback.

Josh Hunt
http://stickysermon.com/