Comments on: Less Is More

By: Profbaugh

Profbaugh — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:12:19 +0000

As a tenured professor who teaches public speaking, I’ve always held to the advice my father gave me many years ago:

1) Stand up.
2) Speak up.
3) Shut up.

I think most preachers, teachers and public speakers would do well to heed this advice, especially #3!!

~Cheryl in St. Louis

By: Less Is More « Resources for Preachers and Teachers

Less Is More « Resources for Preachers and Teachers — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 05:06:03 +0000

[...] from Craig Groeschel on the Swerve blog [...]

By: Richie Shaw

Richie Shaw — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:18:12 +0000

I’m with you 100% on this topic. I believe one who preaches “too” long shows his lack of preparation…sadly I do it all the time…over-explain myself…it’s a disease! If you can’t say it in 3 minutes, you can’t say it in 30. Our “sermon club” has always been a good filter for what goes and what stays.

By: Charles E. Whisnant

Charles E. Whisnant — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:39:19 +0000

We are teaching the Word of God. If we believe the Word is God speaking to us then why do we want to limit God speaking to us by 8%. The truth is, those who are sitting in our churches, want less than more of what God is saying.

When God speaks by His word, we should listen, but too often people don’t want to listen, and thus we as preachers believe we need to do other things to get people to listen. This is bad theology and bad preaching. Taking 20% off the time you preach is not the correct idea of what God wants us to do.

Charles

By: JOHN. HO

JOHN. HO — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:16:24 +0000

YEAH

By: HEATHER FUNK PALACIOS

HEATHER FUNK PALACIOS — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:57:04 +0000

Aaaaaaaaaamen! Jesus totally set this example! His parables were preached in no time. He changed the world with the art of “less is more.”

By: Matt Lane

Matt Lane — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:45:46 +0000

Some are better at keeping people’s attention for sure. It is a talent and a gift. But I think many things can be learned.

From personal experience, it takes some time to work through a chunk of text. Explaining and making observations from the text, working through the interpretation and then bringing out applications from your life and others just take some time.

My advice: Don’t short change God’s word. The Bible is good and much more powerful than my own words and stories. Yes through a good illustration the Bible can be explained and known but it is a travesty when a pastor spends 20 min of a sermon telling stories and 10 minutes reading and working the scriptures. That is building your foundation on the wrong words. Give enough time for the text to sink in. Spend enough time in the text so that the Holy Spirit can burn the words into the hearts you are speaking to. The weightiness of scripture is so much weightier than a good illustration.

By: John Ireland

John Ireland — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:40:49 +0000

All I can say is…yes!

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:02:08 +0000

How many times have we as pastor written a message on empty, thus stretching one simple five minute thought into a 35 min. 3 point message?

Oh another thing. How many times have we visited thesaurus.com to come up with 3 message points that rhyme?

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:35:22 +0000

Plus Andy’s thoughts on making sure to communicate the Big Idea can still be implemented with a multiple point message. After you have gone through it a few times, ask yourself what is the big idea that I am trying to communicate even with multiple the points and then go back and insert that big idea throughout the message to reinforce the points. I find myself asking what is the Big idea after someone else speaks as well, in order to better increase by retention of what was said.

By: Craig Groeschel

Craig Groeschel — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:46:20 +0000

Mark, You asked if I think it is worth it to add extra creative elements f you have the time. My answer would be “possibly.” Do you think you’ll ever add more experiences and not have the time? If so, it is harder to cut back once you are used to 50 minutes.
John, I think Andy Stanley is one of the best communicators alive. His book challenged me and frustrated me because I’m not nearly as good at “one thought” messages as he is. Even though most will never come close to him, I still think his ideas are worth shooting for.

By: John Lambert

John Lambert — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:54:02 +0000

Craig, Have you known any preacher, other than Andy Stanley, who has consistently been able to stick to his one point message format laid out in “Communicating for a Change”? Great book, but practically, who has ever been able to pull this off every time they speak? Examples anyone?

By: Rusty Williams

Rusty Williams — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:46:35 +0000

My grandfather used to say “a good sermon need not be long, and a bad sermon shouldn’t be”. I try to remember that every week.

By: Mark Broadbent

Mark Broadbent — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:45:05 +0000

Hi Craig

Excellent post. I really liked what you said in the comments section about asking 8-12 people what don’t they care about. Brilliant :)

Here is my question…

I have increased my sermon length over the last year. Not because I have tried to put more content in, but because I have tried to put more creative elements in the sermon.

Last Sunday, my message went for 50 min, but it included…
> Creative Introduction
> Someone interrupting me during sermon to give me flowers (this was a planned illustration, and no I’m not gay :)
> Showing 4 min of Bruce Almighty
> A 5 minute interview

Anyway - my question is this…

Do you think that if we have time, it is worth adding these extra creative elements? (I don’t seem to have trouble holding people’s attention because these elements actually draw people in).

By: Bill (cycleguy)

Bill (cycleguy) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:34:34 +0000

Great thoughts Craig! Several years ago I thought I wanted to preach like Swindoll and MacArthur (the 80s). I tried it and as Daniel would say, “I was found wanting.” My best critic (my wife) told me that after about 30 minutes I started repeating myself too much. So I decided that it would be wise to listen to her (I am a smart man am I not?) and do just that. I now try to keep my sermons at or just under 30 minutes. I am happy with that. The people like it. My wife is very happy with it. :) In fact, she says some of the best ones are when I say what needs said and say it. Upon occasion I have gone longer but not by much.

As for cutting out: you can cut out the Scripture. Just kidding. Pastors these days do enough of that. I would even go so far as to say use more Scripture and consider less humorous stories that many use as fillers. (I am not against humor or even personal stories). My two cents worth

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:47:43 +0000

A preacher must also consider the audience more than his own ego, there is too much self indulgance in telling everyone everything you know on a given subject.

When training young preachers i remind them that if they’re fixing dinner they would n’t dream of using everything in the refrigerator, so why do it when feeding the sheep?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:44:51 +0000

Most of my sermon series start life as a single message. It just grows and sub divides quite organicaly once i place upon it a 40 min limit.
I’ll regularly only deal with one aspect of a subject or scripture and save the rest of my notes for another day.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:40:41 +0000

But Andy doesn’t say it in a half hour. But that is OK, he is another one of those guys who can hold my attention for as long as he is talking. His messages are usually around the 42 minute range.

By: Sam

Sam — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:25:05 +0000

As a children’s pastor. I say amen and amen. Nothing is worse than a speaker who goes over their time (kills volunteers). In my opinion speakers who go on and on do it more for themselves because they are having a good time. The more clear and concise you can be the better.

You have to love Andy “if you can’t say it in a half hour you can’t say it”

By: Clif McKinley

Clif McKinley — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:23:26 +0000

Great post Craig, I wise man once told me “the mind cannot receive what the seat cannot endure, so keep it short & simple.” I have tried to live by that.

As for what to cut, you have to keep narrowing it down, most of what we say is forgotten before they get out of the parking lot, so we have to narrow the focus down to a few very impacting thoughts that will stay with them.
-Make your points powerful & memorable
-Use just enough scripture to prove the point sometimes we go way over board with scripture and feel the need to point out every verse that has to do with our topic. You can put all those extra verses in the handout notes and encourage them to study more at home.
-Don’t over illustrate, if your point is memorable, the scripture you have chosen is clear, don’t beat a dead house by telling 5 stories. Find ONE killer illustration, preferably from your own life & experience with the subject. And move one.
-DON’T repeat the entire message in the conclusion, restate your points and ask for a response.
-Another helpful tip, listen to your message afterwards and you’ll know very quickly what you can have cut out.

Communicating is an art form, so just like playing an instrument, study at the feet of the masters. Find the guys who do it well and study how they do it and make adjustments.