This week as I was preparing my message for this Sunday, something hit me.

It would be so easy to preach this text completely detached from it personally.

Hear me out, in any sermon, it would be so easy to stand up, teach through a text, boldly proclaim its claims and call people to obey it - all the while remaining completely unmoved by it myself!

Unfortunately, this is all too common. I want to propose a better way - especially for those times when you study a passage and realize you're not living up to it yourself - but Sunday's still coming!

We'll dive into all of it in this episode of the podcast!

One of the most difficult tasks we have as preachers is making our messages stick with people. We all want our listeners to walk out the door and take action on what they've heard from God's word.

But this is not an easy task.

People are distracted and there are many things competing for their attention when we preach.

One way that we can help this problem is by making our points stick in people's hearts and minds. In this episode we're going to talk about how to do just that!

When it comes to preaching, information transfer is not enough. We must aim for transformation in our listeners.

But how to do we preach messages that result in the transformative life-change we're seeking? Some say you gotta be super deep. Others say keep it really simple. So which is better? Which approach leads to life-change?

In this episode, we'll dive into this question and explore the best way to preach messages that are geared toward life-change in our listeners.

When you finish writing a sermon, it's important to make sure it's completely ready to go before you preach it.

But this can be complicated if you don't know what to look for or how to determine if your sermon is complete.

In this episode, I'm going to give you three simple questions you can ask yourself before preaching any message to make sure it's 100% ready to go!

It is important to evaluate every message you preach. Intentional evaluation can keep you from repeating distracting mistakes and help you know what's working in your sermon delivery.

But, many preachers avoid evaluation altogether because there's not enough time or it just feels like a negative process.

In this episode, I'll show you a simple, yet effective, way to quickly evaluate any message and gain the insights you need to make the next one better!

When you have prepared your sermon well, it's important to make sure you are just as intentional about the delivery.

How you preach your sermon can either make your hard work come to life or leave you and everyone else wondering what just happened!

In this episode, we'll explore some important must-do's of sermon delivery.

Just as important as what people see on the screens when you preach, is what people have in their hands as you preach.

Your handout, bulletin, listening-guide - whatever you call it - should be intentional.

There are three main ways to structure what's on the handout. In this episode, we'll explore all three and I'll let you know which one I think is most effective!

When it comes to sermon prep, slides and other supporting media can often become an after thought.

But what your listeners see on the screens in the room while you're preaching can make a big impact on your sermon.

It's important to be intentional about your slides, how they're designed, and what they display.

In this episode, we'll explore some best-practices and some things to avoid in your sermon slides.

One of the most neglected aspects of the sermon prep process is also one of the most important: rehearsing.

By "rehearsing" I don't mean memorizing like the lines of a script. Rather, you want to rehearse so that you fully internalize and understand the message BEFORE you preach it.

Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a rookie, in this episode I'm going to make the case for why every preacher should rehearse and give you steps on how to do it.

One of the things I've discovered over the years is the power of a good preaching team.

What is a preaching team? If you're not familiar with this idea, it can seem more complicated than it is.

A preaching team is simply a group of trusted people that you select to help you formulate your sermon at different points of your message preparation process.

Utilizing your preaching team is a vital part of the sermon prep process, and in this episode we will dive into exactly how to form a team and best use it when you write your sermons.