As a lay person, I've listened to hundreds of sermons. What has made an impact? Obviously a steady diet of consistent biblical preaching has nourished me, but perhaps you'd be interested in the sermons I've particularly savored, whose taste has lingered to this day. Here are some techniques I've seen pastors use with lasting effect in my life.

1. First-person sermons. One Sunday, my husband and I noticed the pastor wasn't on the platform as usual. When the choir finished the presermon anthem, we waited. Then, without preamble, a dark-haired, white-robed angel walked down the aisle from the back of the sanctuary. We were caught off guard by our pastor's unusual Sunday attire and by his sermon-a first-person, heavenly account of the controversial second half of 1 Peter 3. We tuned in.

Another Sunday, our pastor stepped up to the pulpit and began, "I came over the hill, leading my men, and there I saw the city ablaze!" Grief overwhelmed him as he described his family being taken captive. He ...