Easy Wins – Perfecting The PreIntroduction

This “Easy Wins” series is intended to help you preach and teach with greater clarity, creativity, and passion. Each post will address one element in the process, creation, and delivery of a message. These are not “the only way to do it.”  Instead, they are things I’ve discovered and implemented in my own 20+ years of preaching. If you use them, I think you’ll find they are easy wins for your ministry.

TOPIC: How To Begin Your Message (aka, The Case For Scripture And Prayer As A PREIntroduction)

The music ends, maybe a prayer is prayed, and you now stand behind the pulpit. 

It’s all been leading to this. Your preparation, the expectation of the people. The preaching moment has arrived! 

How do you begin? What’s the very first thing out of your mouth? Some announcements about upcoming events? A recap of last week’s message? A humorous story to set the stage?

The Easy Win for how to begin your message is this: Begin with Scripture and prayer. Nothing more, nothing less. Beautifully simple yet incredibly essential – Scripture and prayer.

Here’s the HOW:

1. Announce The Text – Announce the text you will be preaching and ask the people to turn in their Bibles to it. “Grab your copy of Scripture and turn to Luke 15.” Repeat the reference a time or two to ensure everyone knows exactly where to go. 
2. Wait And Listen – Give them TIME to get to the passage. Don’t announce the text and then go straight into reading. Give them time and listen to the wonderful sound of people turning pages in their Bible (more about building a Bible culture in the WHY section!). Hold off on inserting any announcements, comments, or jokes during this moment. Just wait and listen.
3. Read Well – Now, after allowing time for people to get to the passage, you will read the verses with maturity and appropriateness. If you’ve prepared well, then this will be a joy to do for your people. Find the balance between reading with no emotion/boring vs overly dramatic/Shakespearean. Just seek to read with maturity and what is appropriate for the text you’ve selected.
4. Pray – You’ve announced the text, given people time to get there, and now you’ve read the text. Finish by praying a brief prayer over the preaching of God’s Word to His people.

Optionals:

Have another person handle the Read Well spot. Can be a fine way to involve others in the process, get them used to publicly declaring God’s Word, and allows others to hear a different voice. IF YOU DO THiS OPTION – do not spring it on a person at the last minute or in the moment. Give them time to read the text several times/practice beforehand. 

Here’s The WHY:

1. Focuses People On God’s Word – you are commanded to preach and teach the Word of God (2 Tim. 4:2), not your own opinions, philosophies, stories. What better way to begin the process of focusing people’s hearts on the Word of God than starting WITH the Word of God? 
2. Teaches The Primacy Of God’s Word – when you begin each time with the singular focus of opening the Bible and reading the Bible, you clearly demonstrate the utmost importance of God’s Word. The focus of this time isn’t their entertainment or your personality…it is the preaching of God’s Word. THIS is why we are gathered here!
3. Begins The Repeated Reading Process For Them – how many times do you read a passage when you prepare to preach? Probably countless times because you’ve discovered how the Holy Spirit slowly unfolds the truth and opens your eyes as you read, reread, and keep rereading the same text. One of the key benefits of beginning your message with a reading of the text you’ll be preaching is: you begin that very process for your people! They hear you read it once at the start, but then (hopefully)many more times as you preach your way through it. They get to hear the same verse read multiple times – this is a win!
4. Builds A Culture Of Open Bibles/Using Bibles – I’ve preached in scenarios where Christians literally didn’t think or care to bring their Bible to the service. It’s happened multiple times. I’ve also preached in scenarios where I can see Bibles opened and notebooks/pens at the ready. It is clear when churches/pastors build a culture of opening/using Bibles and when they don’t. When you begin EVERY preaching or teaching moment with Scripture and prayer, you are contributing towards a positive culture where people prize the Word. This happens in the short term (I’ve seen it change in scenarios where I only have 4-5 sessions with a particular group) and it also helps in the long game. Build up the right culture by what you emphasize.
5. Reading Vs Rhetoric – My degree is in Speech Communications – I studied and learned countless methods and theories about communicating well. I’ve been teaching/preaching for over 20 years. I have seen and heard every “best practice” for beginning a speech/sermon/etc. What I’ve found to be true (an Easy WIN!) is that getting people in God’s Word and reading God’s Word is the BEST way to begin. The reading of God’s Word is superior, vastly superior, to ANY rhetorical device.

There it is – the how and whys of the PREIntroduction. Utilizing Scripture reading and prayer allows for an easy win as you begin.

**Be sure to check out the Easy Wins page on the blog where you will find more topics just like this. No expensive course or paywall here – my goal for the series is to bless and help others as they seek to improve. 

If you have a topic or question about preaching you’d like to see addressed here, email me at joshhumbert@gmailcom. If you’re interested in me delivering these as live training/development sessions, contact me through email.**

Thanks for reading.  Your comments and insights are always welcomed.  If you enjoyed this, please share it.  Want more content?  Check the archives, my youtube channel, or listen to me on the Cross-Cutting Culture Podcast.