* * T H E  P R E A C H E R ' S  S T U D Y  E Z I N E * *
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                    Third Tuesday of August, 2000

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IN THIS ISSUE:

[1] Greetings from the Editor

[2] Featured Article: CRAFTING ATTENTION-GRABBING SERMON INTRODUCTIONS
(Part 1 of 2)

[3] Preacher’s Study Website Updates

[4] On Subscribing to Our Website

[5] Contact Info

[6] Subscribe to this Ezine

[7] Copyright Info

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[1] *=*Greetings from the Editor

Greetings everyone. A special welcome to new subscribers. I begin this issue with an apology. For those who noticed, this issue was supposed to go out on the "Third Tuesday of August." It didn't. My explanation? I simply ran out of time. As you may know, I am a full time minister of the gospel, just like many of you. As such I must sort my priorities. For me, August was overwhelming, so when it came to what got postponed, it had to be the ezine. Hopefully that won't happen again (though I would be foolish to make you a promise.) I beg your pardon and understanding. I guess a part of being "authentic" is that you sometimes get "authentically overwhelmed." (Sigh) Besides, how much can you expect from a free publication with a volunteer editor? :-)

With the month of August 2000 not quite history, please allow me an attempt at redeeming myself. Let's focus on sermon introductions. Since writing sermons takes so much time and effort, I suspect that many who read these words do what I used to do - just tack on a quickly compiled introduction and/or conclusion in the wee hours of Saturday night or Sunday morning in order to get the job done. If your sermon is good, that will get you by but it doesn't take advantage of the great opportunity available if you take the time to craft good intros and conclusions.

As always, I present this material humbly, recognizing that some of my readers could probably instruct me on this subject with great benefit (rather than the other way around.) Kindly use what is here, and if it isn't useful to you but you judge it worthy, pass it on to someone who might benefit.

God bless.

Dave Redick, Editor


[2] *=*Featured Article

CRAFTING ATTENTION-GRABBING SERMON INTRODUCTIONS (Part 1 of 2)
By Dave Redick

(If URLs below wrap, they won't work by clicking. You must cut and paste them into your browser.)

A car accident has slowed traffic to a crawl coming out of a residential section of town. It's 7:30 Monday morning. Sleepy-eyed drivers, on their morning commute, are rubber-necking as they approach, then slowly pass by the wreck. Whatever thoughts that may have occupied their attention only moments before are now gone from their minds. Now it's the police cars. The ambulance. The fire trucks. The twisted metal. Could this be anyone they know? They simply must have a look. Who could possibly look away? Who could possibly keep eyes straight ahead and pass by unaffected?

A good sermon introduction grabs attention. It interrupts the "commute" of random Sunday morning thoughts and conveys that there is something serious happening here - something important that cannot be ignored. Done right, hearers simply cannot turn away.

O.K. I'll admit it. My sermon introductions don't always catch that much attention. But I want them to.

Many preachers spend the bulk of their preparation time working on the main body of their sermons. That's reasonable, since the substance lies there. But that substance is only good if it registers a hit on their hearers' attention.

Is there a method, short of staging an auto accident, for writing an arresting sermon introduction? I'll be first to say that some of it is art. But some is also science. Let's talk about that part.

A good intro will typically have at least three parts, though this structure will be unnoticed by those Sunday morning commuters I mentioned. It will consist of the first sentence, the body, and the transition. Let's take a look at these one at a time.

**The First Sentence

It is often pointed out that visitors to church services make up their minds whether or not they will return within the first ten minutes or so. It may be that something like this is going on in our listeners when we take to the pulpit. Thus, if we are going to arrest attention, we need to get right to it lest we miss that all-important opportunity. No, the sermon won't totally fly or fold on the basis of the first sentence, but you should not let the opportunity go by unused. Word it carefully. Turn it over. Re-read it. Run it over your tongue several times when you are preparing. Speak it out loud. Does it command attention or will it be forgotten as soon as the sound waves quit colliding with the eardrums? Don't promise more than you can deliver, but let people know, in the first sentence if you can, that you have something interesting to say to them.

Here are a few examples:

"Why is it that it seems God's people are always in the minority?" (Posing a commonly recognized question in the first sentence is a good approach because it brings up the possibility of an answer to a common, though perhaps unspoken, issue.)

"John Thompson had no idea when he woke that morning that this day would bring him the experience of a lifetime." (This one raises the possibility of an interesting story. Everyone likes good stories - especially those about people and especially ones that promise to contain "the experience of a lifetime.")

"When David Lofchick was born the doctors informed his parents that their son would never be able to live a normal life." (Again, this one promises an interesting story about a real person.)

"This past Monday, as most of you know, the President of the United States gave his testimony before a Washington Grand jury about an alleged illicit sexual involvement and subsequent alleged cover-up, perjury, and obstruction of justice matters." (This one, the first sentence in a sermon on trust, would normally have been too long for a first sentence. Nonetheless, it grabbed attention because it offered something in an area that already had a high level of interest. Everyone was focused on the morning it was preached.)

Be aware of the potential of using the first sentence of your introduction to grab attention. Don't abuse it. Don't promise more than your sermon delivers. Don't say anything misleading. But use it.

[To Be Continued in Next Issue]

Copyright (c) Dave Redick, The Preacher's Study, 2000. All Rights Reserved. Reprint by permission only. Please do not cut articles out of this ezine and paste them anywhere else without permission. You may, however, forward this entire Ezine to friends freely.


[3] *=*Preacher’s Study Website Updates

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[4] *=*On Subscribing to Our Website

This ezine, The Preacher's Study Ezine, is actually an extension of our website, The Preacher's Study. The two entities work hand-in-hand to promote what is unashamedly our greatest passion: promoting accurate, interesting, relevant preaching of God's Word. If you enjoy these articles, please do visit the website. You'll find the same quality of material there. Yes, there is a modest subscription fee for access to part of it, namely the Premium area, but we believe that, as our current subscribers testify again and again, you'll find good value there. All of us purchase books and commentaries to enhance our understanding of the Bible and improve our preaching. Some of these simply become inert additions to already crowded bookshelves. We believe a subscription to The Preacher's Study will not become shelfware. Come see for yourself at:

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[5] *=*Contact Info

The Preacher's Study Website & Ezine
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"Energize Your Preaching"
Owner: Dave Redick
Email: editor@preacherstudy.com
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[7] *=*Copyright Info

The material in this Ezine is copyright (c) 2000 by The  Preacher's Study. Reprint articles by permission only. Please do not cut and paste this material into any other documents. You may, however, forward the email version to friends and associates.