Not a Good Sermon Sunday

There are diferent kinds of Top 10 lists, some worth heeding, others not. I came across this one from Nelson Searcy's Church Leader Insights Blog that made my day and I had to share. It's a list he saw from Preaching Magazine (http://www.preaching.com/):


The Top 10 Signs Your Sermon Isn’t Going Well
13. Your associate pastor is warming up in the bullpen.
12. The praise band begins playing you off the stage.
11. The congregation is filling in the blanks of your outline before you get there.
10. You think the lyrics to a bluegrass song are really connecting with your audience.
9. When you pause for dramatic effect, several people giggle.
8. Your cell phone starts ringing, and you answer it.
7. The person signing for the deaf just pulled on mittens.
6. When the children are dismissed to junior church, most of their parents go, too.
5. Your sermon took shape over a glass of wine and volume three of Left Behind.
4. Your interpreter just rolled his eyes and put your last statement in quotation marks.
3. Desperate mothers are pinching their babies.
2. The ushers are handing out refunds.
1. You began your sermon with “Top 10 signs your sermon isn’t going well.”

If you are a preacher, I hope none of these happened while you were preaching this past Sunday. If it did, go ahead and laugh, then try it again this coming Sunday.

Copyright © 2010 Johnson Beaven III. All Rights Reserved.

Johnson Beaven is pastor of Citadel of Faith Church of God in Christ (COGIC). He serves as a district superintendent and Episcopal assistant in the COGIC Indiana North Central Jurisdiction; human resources director for the COGIC International Department of Evangelism. He is the Indianapolis site coordinator and an instructor for the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) Certificate in Theology Program, and a religion columnist for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. His Twitter account is @jbeaven.

The Local Church is the Spot

According to recent research by International Bible Institute, approximately 100 million people in America want a quality and affordable Bible school education providing a good understanding of the Bible or to be better prepared to serve in their churches. Where do you think is the most appropriate of all locations for such education and training? Simply, the local church.

For many people, the local Bible institute serves a discipleship function as well as being a practical training ground for ministerial development and practice. -Bruce W. Jackson

If you are a pastor or Christian education leader who desires to start a Bible institute in your local church, you can through International Bible Institute (IBI) located in Santa Fe Springs, CA. As an IBI consultant, I can help you establish your own institute joining others in the growing trend and resurgence of the Bible Institute movement. According to the Hartford Institute for Religious Research, in addition to other forms of training, 20-30 percent of megachurches have maintained a Bible school or institute since 2000. The significant point isn't that megachurches have institutes but that the local church is the best location for offering training because that's where the people are, and their desire for quality and affordablility can be met.