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
