Fewer Whiffs
Adam Hamilton
October 1, 2007
Reggie Jackson, Sammy Sosa, Andres Galarraga, Jose Canseco, and Willie Stargell. They hit a combined 2,500-plus home runs in their careers. They are among the greatest baseball players ever. But this list, in this order, also represents the all time leaders in strikeouts—more than 10,000 times. For every one home run, they struck out four times! When it comes to preaching, not every sermon is a homer. And while we occasionally whiff, we can minimize the likelihood if we remember—and avoid—a few of today's common missteps. The Passion Pit
John Wesley was once asked how he drew such crowds to hear him preach. He responded, "I light myself on fire and people come to watch me burn!" His fire was his passion for the gospel. People are drawn to preaching that is passionate and offered with conviction. Passion comes when the preacher has spent significant time with the text, and when God has spoken through the text in a way that addresses the preacher's life first. Another form of passion is humor. People will listen to even the most difficult of messages if we can make them laugh first. Humor is engaging and disarming, but it must be appropriate. I heard a sermon recently in which the pastor told a "joke" about suicide. Sometimes the subject matter of the sermon is so serious that it is inappropriate to introduce humor. But generally, appropriate humor is an important component to effective preaching. Dots That Don't Connect
I recently overheard two people describing the sermon they had heard at church that weekend. "There were a couple of good points the preacher made," they agreed, "but overall, I didn't follow where he was going." The sermon lacked a clear and logical progression that made sense and hung together. ...
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