If you missed the free online Preach Better Sermons conference put on by the good people at the Rocket Company, don’t worry. I took a ton of notes. Here are a few of the nuggets I got from each speaker.
Steven Furtick
- He plans 4 months out.
- The creative team does a series brief for every series. Meet with Steven and ask questions. What is the theme? Feel? Scripture? Cultural references? etc.
- Gives his creative team a feel for the sources he is getting inspired from, then allows them to do their thing. He previews everything 2 weeks before the sermon.
- He is more inclined to micromanage creative elements rather than business elements of the church. The key is knowing when to weigh in and when to step away.
- It is not about my art. It’s about the vision.
- The whole worship experience is one thing.
- Urban Meyer said about his football teams, “The game is won and lost in transition.” We take the same approach to the worship service.
- The more I shift my intentions from being impressive to being a blessing, the more my nervousness goes away.
- Make it more about the people, less about the performance.
- Has Isaiah 55 ingrained on his pulpit and “It never returns void.” Put your confidence in God’s promise.
Louie Giglio
- You need to find your own method of communicating and refine it until you become the Michelangelo of you.
- You are you. And you are going to preach the best when you preach like you, and stop trying to preach like somebody else.
- When I prepare a sermon it’s like a birth. There is conception and then a gestation period. In the process of the 9 months going by, God is working on me and forming this message in me. Better than saying, “I need to have a baby today.”
Louie’s 6 Rules of Preaching Continue Reading…
