The purpose of this Blog is to introduce men and women all over the World to the Doctrines of Grace; the 5 Solas; Reformation Theology and the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Monday, January 30, 2012

3 Reasons I Manuscript

Every pastor preaches with a slightly different style of notes.

Personally, I’ve experimented with almost every style I’ve seen, finding some more effective than others. While I’m fully aware that different preachers require different types of notes, I also believe that every preacher should cut their teeth on the discipline of some form of manuscript. I believe this for the same reason I believe guitar players should learn to play an acoustic prior to an electric: It helps you cultivate healthy habits.

It’s become some strange badge of honor to preach with no notes. People argue that preaching with a manuscript often leads to dry and boring sermons that sound like someone reading a seminary paper. And while that can be true, it’s equally unhelpful when a pastor goes into the pulpit and precedes to wander all over the world for an hour under the guise of being “lead by the Spirit” and unconstrained by his notes.

Unless you’re an experienced communicator with rare gifts, preaching with no notes often leads to sermons that suck far more than we’d like to admit. We end up with sloppy structures, little focus, and a sermon that simply will not end while the congregation silently begs us to “land the freaking plane!”

This is the way I preached the entire first year of our church plant and it was not pretty much of the time! So, I started to write word-for-word manuscripts every week. It was difficult, draining and tedious, but it has made me a more faithful, fruitful and helpful preacher.

Here are the top 3 reasons I continue to use a modified manuscript… Continue at Ryan Huguley

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