Fewer Whiffs

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. This is a common complaint among listeners. Unless they can follow you to the conclusion, they will not connect the dots and make application to their own lives.

Sometimes the problem is the lack of logical flow. Other times, there are simply too many dots. I once preached a sermon with nine major points and 14 subpoints. By about point six, the audience's eyes were glazing over. The sermon was filled with so much information, no one could possible remember it or process it. There were too many dots. The sermon had the potential to be a homerun, but instead it was a strike out.

Death By Video

You've heard it said that "too much of a good thing can be a bad thing." This is certainly true with video clips. Video can be very compelling, when used sparingly. Here are my rules for video use:

The 60-Second Rule. Keep it short. A minute is plenty.
The R-rated Rule. No clips from a film that I would not encourage church families to see in its entirety.
The Room-Size Rule. What looks and sounds good on a television screen in the living room may be inaudible or too dark when shown in the sanctuary.
The Simplicity Rule. If it takes longer to explain the clip or set it up than it takes to play it, don't use it.
The "Stories Rule!" Rule. Often telling a story is more powerful than seeing it. Don't feel like you must use video. Some sermons are more effective without it.

Adam Hamilton is senior minister of United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas.