Yesterday The Rocket Company hosted a free online event, the Preach Better Sermons Conference. Over 15,000 people attended this online event and #preachingrocket was even trending on Twitter in the US yesterday. It looks like they’re planning to re-broadcast the material on May 16th as well (sign up here).
General Comments
- The conference was all interviews with some excellent preachers and communicators. I liked this format, as you often get more insight through the interview format.
- Each of the presenters said things worth remembering.
- There were many common threads and some divergent viewpoints.
- I appreciated a common emphasis on how desperately preachers need God’s power for any real supernatural work to happen.
Specific Lessons from Each Presenter
Steven Furtick
- The more I shift my attention from being impressive to being a blessing, the more God can use me and the less nervous I am.
Louie Giglio
- Freedom comes when you know who you are as a preacher.
- We are on stage, under the lights, with a crowd, being recorded. It’s a recipe for disaster unless you’re walking with Jesus.
Donald Miller
- You discipline yourself to study, write and teach because sometimes inspiration actually happens and you better be there in case it does.
Brad Lomenick
- Great leaders move people from here to there and that often takes inspiration.
Dave Ramsey
- Humor is essential because it disarms people, especially when it’s a tough or challenging subject.
- If you rush your prep it will sound like it.
Mark Batterson
- In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In communication, it’s metaphor, metaphor, metaphor. People can latch on to these controlling metaphors. They create cognitive categories in our minds.
- Would you rather be a great preacher or a great pray-er?
Darrin Patrick
- Would your sermon still work if Jesus hadn’t risen from death? If so, that’s a problem.
Jon Acuff
- If you go first in sharing your struggles, you give everyone else the gift of going second.
Crawford Loritts
- We make the mistake in thinking that our proficiency means we’re doing something with God’s power.
- Leader development is more important than leadership development.
- I’m not up there to impress people, I’m there to introduce them to the One who left the tomb empty.
Pete Wilson
- When our church reads, they grow. So it’s good to connect series with books.
Nancy Duarte
- We need to like our audience — take time to obsess about what life is like in their shoes.
- Most of the Best Picture nominations are also nominated for Best Editing. Same goes with communication.
Andy Stanley
- What makes preaching to Christians and non-Christians engaging has to do with approach.
Ed Stetzer
- Be as faithful with the stats you present as the text you present. Most stats are bad but preachers keep using them.
Mark Driscoll
- If I go to a steakhouse, I’m looking for steak. If I go to a swimming pool, I’m looking for water. If I go to a church, I’m looking for Bible.
- Does your preaching connect to a guy who drove to church in a truck?
- There’s no place in society but the church for fatherless men to learn about how to be a man.
- Do you see yourself as a shepherd of a flock or a speaker to an audience?
Impressive list of both speakers and learnings! It’s nice to be shepherded and taught by a learner!
Thanks!
Good stuff. I loved Giglio’s 6 rules for preaching too. It was a great day. Thanks for this.
Yes, those were good. I loved his emphasis on preaching the text. Too easy to overlook.
I SO wish I could listen to this … but I don’t think I can set aside the four hours.
Would love to hear Loritts unpack this:
“Leader development is more important than leadership development.”
Loritts fleshes it out quite a bit in his book, Leadership as an Identity. It’s a good book and worth the read.