In Part 1 of this series we dove into the first two steps of training ourselves how to preach without notes.

My desire to preach without notes started with this question: What if I could train myself to not need notes at all? What if I could prepare in such a way that I could deliver a message and never look down, but maintain eye contact and physical engagement with my listeners from start to finish? What if you could, too?

 So I began training myself not to use notes, and I am sharing what I’ve discovered with you. The first two steps are to reduce the amount of notes you allow yourself and build a flow of triggers and touch points. You can read more in Part 1 of this series. For today, let’s look at the next two steps to preaching without notes:

3. Rehearse and internalize your message

The next step is to take that one page with your touch points and triggers and rehearse. In my post, Preach what You Practice: Why Rehearsing Is...

Living things grow. If something isn’t growing, it’s dying. This is why a church that is not growing is a cause for concern. A church should be alive and one way to know if a church is alive is to look at the numbers.

Numbers aren’t everything, but numbers represent people and each person has a story and every story matters to God (I didn’t come up with that, but I love it).

Every church leader should be intentional about positioning their church for growth. I’ve pulled together my list of the best five books on church growth. Each one of these books will give you strategies and actionable best-practices to help grow your church. Here’s my list of the best 5 books on church growth:

 5. Breakout Churches by Thom Rainer

Thom Rainer writes about the common factors that result in forward momentum for churches. What makes a church move from mediocrity to exponential growth? What are the best practices that churches can discover to...

We’ve all seen this happen. The preacher walks up to the stage with a Bible, some pieces of paper, and a binder. He spends the first few seconds placing everything on the podium. While he’s doing this the audience is mostly looking at the top of his head as he looks down. As he begins speaking he reads from one piece of paper, looks up, finds another one in his binder, reads it, looks up again, and then looks down for his next idea. Aside from the sloppiness and the seemingly un-prepared vibe this gives off – it also risks not engaging the audience.

Let’s contrast that scenario with the preacher who gets up on stage and speaks with clarity and command of the room, engages everyone with eye contact and energy, and you never see him look down, fumble through pages, or read from anything but the Bible.

From a communications perspective, the preacher in our first scenario is far less likely to connect with his listeners. He is missing a vital aspect of capturing...

Change is inevitable. Everything changes … constantly. And the rate of change is not going to slow down. This is why every church leader needs to know how to lead their staff and congregation through change.  I’ve pulled together my list of the best five books on leading change. Each one of these books will help you navigate leading change in unique ways. Here’s my list of the best 5 books on leading change:

5. Who Stole My Church? by Gordon MacDonald

Let me first say I wish this book didn’t have to be written. I wish churches young and old were so mission-central and focused on the task Jesus has given to us of making disciples that they willingly embrace the changes necessary to reach the next generation for Christ. But, unfortunately we know that is not always the case. This book gives a glimpse of what it’s like for some who do not readily accept that the church must constantly change its methods without compromising its message. It...

You make points in every sermon you preach. You try to communicate at least one point. One idea. One bottom line. You may have one major point but a number of supporting points. The point is, you make points. Get the point? So, what do you do with every point you make? Is it enough just to say the words. “My main point is _________. Okay, let’s close in prayer.” Well, we both know that would be insufficient.

We have to do more than just say a point for it to stick. But how do we do this? How do we develop sticky points that land on people in powerful ways? I suggest doing at least three things with every point you make in your sermons. Using these as a base line allows you to do more if you’d like, but make sure you’re at least doing these three things:

1. Teach the point. When you teach the point you are explaining the concept and providing the biblical backing. In other words, you are showing how you derived the principle...

Every time we preach we have an opportunity to fulfill our God-given calling to impact lives with the truth of God’s Word and the hope of the gospel. But the effectiveness of our preaching is impacted by a host of variables we cannot control, including distractions in the room. But there is something we can control, and that is how well we prepare.

I’ve written extensively on several aspects of sermon preparation including forming a preaching team, nailing down a weekly prep schedule, and seeking healthy feedback. But I find one of the most often neglected aspects of effective sermon preparation is rehearsing the sermon. By rehearsing I mean preaching the entire message by yourself (or to a handful of people) before you actually preach the sermon to your church.

The reluctance to rehearse is varied. Some preachers might think it’s awkward to preach to themselves. They’re totally right, by the way. It is awkward,...

Nothing makes me beat my head against the wall more than trying to think of another creative way to tell the Christmas story. Christmas Eve is tomorrow and I’m preaching. I have felt the weight of this message for about a week now. It’s coming…

 Am I ready?

Will this message make a difference?

Will they hate it? Will they love it?

Is it creative? Is it lame? Does it matter?

Do I do the “simple, straightforward” approach? Or should I do the more “creative, imaginative” approach?

It’s agonizing.

It hit me today as I was reading through the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2 that there are truths in it for me. Four simple truths that serve as helpful reminders to those of us who preach. I want to share these because I think it will benefit you to keep them in mind as you preach your Christmas services this week.

In the passage, the angel comes to the shepherds and says these words: “Fear not, for...

It amazes me the insights and wisdom available to us in great preaching books. I’ve pulled together the books that have impacted my preaching the most. If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to find time to read every book that is recommended to you. Why not listen instead? Try Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks

Each one of these books will help you improve your preaching in distinct ways. I love all of them for different reasons, and my copies are all marked up. Here’s my list of the best 5 books on preaching:

5. Preaching & Preachers by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This is a classic work that speaks to the centrality and importance of preaching. It definitely should be a staple in any pastor’s library.

4. Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chappell

This book discusses the importance of preaching Christ in every sermon and out of every text. Chapell teaches the reader to see the gospel implications in every text and communicate them with...

I recently preached a sermon where I felt God was leading me to change up the introduction entirely. This occurred to me minutes before I was about to preach. I sat on the front row during worship and it was clear to me – the plan I had for the sermon opening just didn’t fit. The direction I felt like God wanted me to go was to share a personal story of my dealings with sexual temptation as a teenager and into college. This was a risky proposition when completely extemporaneous, but I’ve told the story many times so I went with it.

This experience made me think about the best ways to ditch your plan when you feel like God is leading in a different direction with the sermon. Here are seven pointers to keep in mind:

1. Prepare well. The better prepared you are the easier it is to deviate from the plan. You won’t be wondering how the sermon wraps itself up, you’ve prepared well enough to know. For more in-depth help on how to prepare...

One of your jobs as a preacher is to teach your listeners how to live out the truths you preach from Scripture. If your goal is simply to educate or inform your audience so they can be more knowledgeable, then stop preaching. Preaching, of necessity, requires application. We’re preaching for life-change. We’re preaching to make the written word become the living word in people’s daily lives.

But the application part of the sermon is often the most difficult to execute well. I once listened to a sermon where the preacher concluded with a list of 13 ways to apply the message. Thirteen ways! Most people struggle to remember thirteen different truths from one sermon, much less apply them. He was well-meaning, but the buckshot approach just doesn’t work.

With that said, drilling down on just one application seems too narrow. You have a varied audience with varied needs. The text has one meaning, and hopefully your message can be summed up...