Less Is More
Andy Stanley has said it for years: Less is more. He’s right.
I’m as guilty as anyone I know of cramming too much information into a message. I’m working hard to communicate more by communicating less.
(Some preachers can cover a whole 4-week series in one message!)
Not only do too many preachers attempt to communicate too much content, but many take too much time to do it.
Why take 45 minutes to communicate 30 minutes worth of content?
Why take 35 minutes to communicate 25 minutes worth of content?
There are a few preachers who can hold a crowd for an hour, but not many. (Mark Driscoll, Perry Noble, Steven Furtick, and Matt Chandler seem to do it well. Most don’t.)
Many who preach an hour (or more) could say the same thing in 45 minutes. I’d argue they would probably be even better.
I’m not saying we should shortchange the amount of time we devote to preaching, but I do think most communicators would be more effective if they shaved some fluff from their messages.
As communicators, we can become emotionally attached to information others simply don’t care about. Find those areas and cut them.
In the past year, I’ve shaved about 8% off the time of most messages. I have done so without sacrificing the quality of biblical content. Hopefully my focus has made it better.
Less is more.
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