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Whether intended or not, private conversation becomes public when one is an ear-shot away. This morning at the gym I heard two people providing a scathing critique of preachers.One lamented that regardless of denomination, preachers preach too long. The response was at least at one church the sermon is 1-2-3 and your out. The conversation continued when as they continued to lament about the length and as one expressed it, preachers don't know how to conclude but are like air planes approaching an airport - they keep circling and find it hard to land.I wanted to join the conversation but refrained. Having served as a pastor for 28 years, I have preached and taught thousands of times. I became a little amused as they continued to roast preachers in general.I became more amused than defensive. Usually there is a kernel of truth to criticism. Even as pastor I've had to endure some sermons the preacher couldn't find an ending.As I tried to hone my preaching skills I tried to incorporate the following principles:1. Paul writes to Timothy (2:2:15) we should study to show ourselves approved so that we might not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. This passage suggests to things:a. rightly divide uses the language of the priest correctly dividing a sacrifice for presentation on the altar. So, I prepared messages with the mindset God will be present and I'm offering the message as a sacrifice to Him.b. rightly divide also suggest cutting the right path (Proverbs 3:6), so my intent was to hopefully cut a path for the hearer, one that wouldn't simply lead them to truth, but to the presence of the truth Provider.2. Peter declares, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God (1:4:11). Before picking up a commentary or word study, I would read the passage before me. For most of my preaching I preached expository, wanting to squeeze all I could not simply out of the text but each word. Rarely did I preach topically, I left that to teaching.3. Paul writes, ...my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. E.M. Bounds described this as the unction of the Spirit. Pentecostals refer to it, or used to, as the anointing. Anointing is not emotional, emphatic rhetoric - that is style. Anointing is the Holy Spirit enabling the speaker to communicate the message, clearly, profoundly.4. When I preached, I reminded my self to preach as beholding myself in a mirror, and rather preaching at people, I wanted to communicate with them.5. One axiom I kept in mind: People can only absorb what the bottom can endure. You don't have to tell people every thing you know. That's why preaching a series can be helpful. Leave enough interest to draw them to the next sermon.6. Another axiom: People only retain 10% of what you say, and usually the remember the beginning and the ending. Or, perhaps one should repeat the same thing 10 times to insure they get the message God-HonoringChrist-CenteredBible-BasedSpirit-Led

Good post my friend. You said a mouthful. And very true about that kernel of truth in some criticism. Our church once had a marvelous old gentleman and brother, name Hosea Garrison. Our pastor asked him to give an oral history of the local church.Hosea was a charter member and had been there over 60 years. Wednesday nights were dedicated to the process.I will never forget that series. He pointed out the good points and highlights of the church. The church had a pastor that run off with the piano player and move to Opp, AL. When he came to his name, that was not mentioned, but the fact he cared for the sick and widows and had blessed the church.Two preachers he mentioned something that stuck with me. This pastor was also a great communicator. The church grew greatly. He always left us wanting to come back for more. Nothing was drug out. Attendance records were set that still stand.Of course I liked that, one of those old pastors was my dad. An axiom of dad's was, when you say you are closing.... CLOSE! Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

I have worked hard through the years to reduce the time it takes me to effectively preach a message that is long on content but short on time. Even at that, I still must keep close watch on the time or I will revert back to my “old self”and keep right on preaching. Truth is, I sometimes wonder if part of the reason we preachers are long winded is that we just plain like to hear ourselves!In the business world I developed a lot of training classes for management level employees. One of the first things you realize is that if it takes longer than 10-15 minutes to make a key point,you’ve lost them. The old days of 4 or 8 continuous hours of “training” are dead, because we now understand that training must be dispersed in small increments if we are to be effective.I don’t imagine however that in the Pentecostal Church we’ll be seeing an influx of 15 minute sermonettes any time soon. “Hell will be filled with people that didn’t cuss, didn’t drink, and may even have been baptized. Why? Because none of those things makes someone a Christian.”

There have been several ministers I could listen and be blessed for over an hour. My problem is with some ministers who will say 'I am closing,' and go on 20 minutes. Some say 'In closing' three or four times.Unless it is a real God Thing, once a minister says In closing he should CLOSE SHORTLY!I heard once that Bill Sheeks was the master of the 15 minute sermon. I knew Bill pretty well and honestly did not notice it until he preached S.A. Lankford's funeral.No speaker minister or not, should kill the good he has spread, by dragging out an END! Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Re: You know what it means when a preacher says "in closing" don't you?

What is really funny (not) is that EVERY PREACHER has heard that exact statement, and thinks it is a joke, but it is NOT. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

HAHA, I was forced to watch one of my first classes in teaching. Then make a report on MY teaching. Then required to face my peers as they critiqued my presentation. You get pretty smart in a short time. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

A preaching mentor gave me this advice when doing my internship. He used the example of a preacher saying, Give me 5 more minutes or in closing and rambling on to a pilot announcing we land in 5 minutes. Once the pilot says that we look at our watches, figure out how long it will be until we get out of the airport and plan the rest of our day or night. If the pilot ascended for half an hour the passengers would become frustrated.When a preacher makes that statement people's minds go to everything but the message. If that was not enough to stop me from this mistake, he made the following statement. Any preacher can shout in 10 directions for an hour but it takes a Holy Spirit filled man or woman of God to make a point that sticks in 40 minutes or less.

That goes on for an hour