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THE PREACHING LIFE:
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Preachers

by T. Scott Daniels

I try to stay in the habit of listening to preachers I admire. When possible, I have tried to ask my preaching heroes what habits have shaped them into effective communicators of the gospel. This is certainly not a comprehensive study by any means, but here are seven habits I have gleaned from those I admire and have tried to make part of my own preaching life.

Habit 1: Let the Text Do the Driving

There is a place for topical preaching, but one of its dangers is that the preacher tends to start with the point they want to make and then go and look for a text (and even a translation) to back that up. I have found the best preachers start with the text rather than with their point in mind. Great preachers know how to get themselves out of the way and let the biblical text speak.

Habit 2: Think Ahead

It goes without saying that it is difficult to let the text speak when the preacher is writing the sermon on Saturday night (or during the opening hymns). Great sermons usually come after an extended time of ruminating and reflecting on a text. A mentor taught me to plan a preaching calendar two years in advance and to try and have the research for next Sunday’s sermon finished by Monday so that I can have the week to “walk around” in the text and allow the Spirit to reveal its voice to me.

Habit 3: Do Good Research

A sermon is usually only as good as the research put into it. The technological age is both a blessing and a curse on this point. The Internet has made weak, simplistic, and easily plagiarized material readily available to everyone, but it has also made excellent biblical scholarship accessible. Wonderful commentary series (my favorites are the Interpretation and the New International Commentary series) are easy to order and can be found at affordable prices. There are great singular works out there also that can easily be ordered online. For example, if you are preaching a series on John, do an Internet search for available class syllabi from courses being taught at seminaries and colleges on the Gospel of John and then order the books that seem most interesting from the list of required reading.

Habit 4: Read the Times

At one level I mean that literally. Great preachers tend to know what is going on in the world and are up-to-date on current events, but more important than that is the ability to interpret the times or exegete the culture. It is one thing to know how to exegete a scriptural text in its original culture, it is a unique and wonderful gift to know the current culture well enough to speak that biblical message in ways that are relevant for contemporary ears.

Habit 5: Work Hard at Communicating

A preacher can have the first four habits down and ruin a sermon by being a lousy communicator. It dawned on me a few years back that there was one thing my favorite preachers and secular speakers had in common, they did not use notes. Great orators, comedians, teachers and preachers learn to speak conversationally.

If you have never preached without notes, begin by reducing the amount of material you carry with you into the pulpit week by week. Start with your main ideas typed out with a few points listed underneath. Once you are comfortable with limited notes, go to a note card with just your main concepts. Eventually you will be comfortable enough to put that note card in the back of your Bible and refer to it only when you can’t remember the direction you want to go next. Once you put your manuscript and notes away you will never go back (in part because your congregation won’t let you).

Habit 6: Have a Point

Early in my ministry I had a parishioner shake my hand and say, “That was a great sermon pastor, but who cares?” After all the research is done, and before I begin to write a sermon, I ask that same question, “Who cares?” Great preachers have a way of letting the congregation know why they should care and what they should care about.

Habit 7: Leave them Responding

Week in and week out I believe the most difficult decision a preacher faces is how to help the congregation respond to the message. Many if not most Sundays the appropriate response is to gather around the Lord’s Supper to remember Christ and invite His presence into our lives so we might better become His body in the world. Some weeks naturally call for a decision of commitment and so inviting people to the altar is appropriate. Often the only appropriate response is praise, but every week I want to leave people thinking and reflecting. My favorite compliment as a preacher is when people say, “We talked about the sermon all through lunch.”

Great preaching is an art that requires calling and giftedness, but like most pursuits in life, the right habits can go a long way in helping us become the best preachers we can be. ?