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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci This is true if you are designing a product or giving a speech.  In some ways, achieving complexity may actually be easier than finding simplicity.  How?  Because it takes discipline to eliminate ideas, especially good ideas. Posted from WordPress for Android

I’m reading “The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs” and loved this quote in the chapter on simplicity: “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” – Hans Hoffman, German painter This is especially true in preaching.  The overriding concern in preaching is not to overwhelm our audience with [...]

With each passing anniversary, it’s hard to remember the young man with big glasses and a goofy smile standing next to my wife in our wedding pictures.  But she insists that it’s me. Tonya and I were married in Memphis, TN, on a rainy night in December (the 21st to be exact, in case you’re [...]

Passing along a good article about what makes for a “good” preacher.  Enjoy! ********************************* You probably have noticed that preachers come in all shapes and sizes. There are big, gregarious, sweaty-foreheaded preachers. There are short, slim, soft-spoken preachers. There are creative preachers who always have a slick gadget or a clever object of illustration. There [...]

I grew up in a tradition that talked about “gospel preaching.”  In fact, we had “gospel meetings” instead of revivals, even though the intended outcome was the same.  Although I have slid to the other side of the keyboard, I still believe in gospel preaching.  In fact, it’s a shame we don’t talk more about [...]

I’ve heard it said that preachers are interested in preparing messages while God is interested in preparing messengers.  Or, you might think of it like this: “What is God saying to me?” “What does God want to say through me?” “What does God want me to say to them?”

Every good message has two things: an effective beginning and a well-defined ending. Too many speakers and presenters just wander into a message.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that.  Or worse, they stick an irrelevant introduction onto their speech or sermon because they like it, not because it fits.  The introduction [...]

Back in college, I was amazed at guys who in private were warm and engaging but who clammed up when given a microphone.  The most common mistake was to read their speech (or sermon) in a flat, monotone voice.  No movement.  No color or emotion. The human voice is God’s most creative instrument.  Use it [...]

In 1960 when Adlai Stevenson introduced John F. Kennedy, who was then a candidate for president, he said: “In classical times when Cicero had finished speaking, the people said, ‘How well he spoke’ — but when Demosthenes had finished speaking, the people said, ‘Let us march’!” If you had to pick between praise or marchers, [...]

This quote will change your perspective on sermon preparation: “Preaching is not so much preparing a sermon and delivering it as it is preparing a preacher and delivering him,” wrote Bishop William Quayle.