He Stopped the Sermon

After many years in the pulpit, Steve Simms gave up preaching. He turned the floor over to his congregation. And he’s never looked back. Every Sunday at Berry Street Worship Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the faithful gather to hear and share personally what God is doing in their lives. It’s unscripted, and often surprising. Simms says, […]

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When Preaching the Word…Isn’t

Pastor Duane unloaded. “I don’t need to revolutionize the sermon time. I don’t need to entertain. I just preach the Word. Period. People need to sit and listen to the unadulterated Word of God proclaimed from my pulpit.” That was Pastor Duane’s reaction to an announcement about a new book that suggests some ways to make sermon times more effective. Allow me […]

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The End of Sermon Time as We Know It

The typical Sunday morning lecture time wasn’t working as well as it might. So, Pastor Rick Bundschuh set out to try some different approaches to engage his congregation, ignite their faith, and extend his messages well beyond the Sunday morning hour. Rick knew he’d be bucking centuries of methodological tradition–and challenging the self-identity of many  preachers […]

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Done with ‘Sit Down and Shut Up’

People are leaving their churches because they feel excluded. Excluded from participating in the communication of the message. This is one of the unanticipated findings in sociologist Josh Packard’s research on the Dones–formerly active church members who have walked away from all institutional religion. These are people who have heard countless sermons. They tend to […]

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Kicking the Sermon Habit

It may be well-intended. It may be well-researched. It may be well-executed. But, the sermon, as we know it, fails to deliver. The weekly lecture isn’t just failing those who sit silently in the pews. The form itself is repelling much of today’s population, particularly men and younger generations. One of the most often mentioned reasons […]

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An Epiphany for Lecture-Loving Pastors

The evidence mounts. The lecture style of teaching produces inferior results. A study reported in Scientific American exposes, again, how academia’s hardened use of the lecture method is stifling learning and growth. The journal’s writer put in bluntly: “If you’re going to college and you’re going to a whole bunch of lecture classes that require […]

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Sitting Through God School

In the beginning, when the Church-as-We-Know-It was invented, somebody asked, “How should we design this thing?” I imagine someone looked around and said, “Our job is to propagate the faith. We should do that like you propagate other subjects–like literature, or mathematics, or history.” Most likely, the committee chair said, “Good idea.” So they set up the […]

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What Children’s Ministry Can Teach Grown-up Church

As they filed out of church, several adults slapped the children’s minister on the back and said the same thing: “I got more out of that children’s message than I did out of the rest of the service.” Note to staff: They meant it. The more I’m around children at church the more I believe […]

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Lost After 6 Minutes

The evidence mounts. We’re learning why so much preaching and teaching produces thin results in the lives of the recipients. It’s not due to the speaker’s lack of charisma, or failure to prepare, or theological imprecision. It’s not due to the irrelevance of the message itself. It’s as relevant as ever. Rather, it’s due to […]

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Fear Not: Double Your Teaching Results

Here’s a guaranteed way to dramatically power-up your teaching and preaching. It works. But many teachers and preachers will reject it–before ever trying it. I’ve used this approach–with great effectiveness–for 40 years. It’s simple. It costs nothing. It’s described in our new book, Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore. Here it is: Dialog. […]

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