Some tips on speaking from a guy who has stage fright part 1: Preparation

Credit: Thomas Hawk (Creative Commons)

For most of my life, I've pretty much always hated to be in front of people. As a pianist, I would avoid recitals like the plague, even in college when my grade depended on me playing in a certain number of public performances. And speaking in front of people? The few times I couldn't avoid it, I would either read a prepared speech word for word like a terrible version of the speech-to-text tool that came with my family's Macintosh Performa 6200 series computer or just bumble through the whole thing. I'm not sure which one was preferable. In any case, the point is this: I am anything but a natural when it comes to preaching and teaching.

For some of you, speaking in front of people is something that comes naturally. Give you a topic, and you could speak convincingly for 20 minutes without preparing or even thinking. For others, speaking in front of people can sometimes be a painful experience. For those of us in the latter category, I've compiled a list of tips that have helped me along the way. Some are things others have been kind enough to share with me at some point, and others are simply things I've learned the hard (and painful) way. Today's tips are on preparing a "talk" or sermon. Later on this week, I'll post some tips on the actual delivery (update: you can read part two here).

1. Trust God with the process. Like any spiritual gift, there's this strange mix in preaching and teaching of how much of the process is God working and how much of it is the speaker. Some people believe that preparing for a sermon extensively (or at all!) squelches the working of the Holy Spirit. The fact is we all  are wired differently. Some people need a decent amount of time to prepare. In seminary, our preaching professor recommended 10-15 hours if we had it. Mark Driscoll prepares about one hour for an hour-long sermon. Whatever you feel is right with you, spend plenty of time in prayer, and trust God with the process rather than relying only on your own abilities.

2. Pick a "Big Idea" and go with it. This tip comes from Haddon Robinson's Biblical Preaching. Whether you're giving a 5-minute devotional or an hour-long sermon, chose one "Big Idea" and go with it. This is true if you're preaching from a single passage or on a particularly broad topic. Ask yourself what you want your listeners to remember about the sermon an hour after it's done, and that's your Big Idea. Repeat it, illustrate it, repeat it, apply it, repeat it. There's always more you could say about a topic, but you don't have to say it all.

3. Study and learn. Whenever I sit down to prepare a sermon or other "talk," I sit down first to learn and ask God to teach me what he wants to teach me. I realize that not everyone--youth workers especially--have hours each week to study and prepare. But however much time you do have to prepare, try to take about half that time to just learn. Don't start writing or outlining your sermon right off the bat, but first ingest and digest the scripture (or other material) and apply it to your own life. You will speak much more passionately and authoritatively on a passage or topic if you've first sat at the feet and Jesus and learned for yourself.

4. Stop studying. For some people, studying at all and diving into a text or topic is a stretch. For others, it's tough to stop studying. If this is you, then you love to read, factoids really get you going, and you would have taken an aorist active participle to your high school prom if your school would have let you. By all means, use the mind God has given you as you prepare. But remember, your job is to teach the Word of God, not just to teach about it. If you get too bogged down in details--however interesting they might be to you--your audience won't be able to catch the point you're really trying to make.

5. Catalogue stories, illustrations, and sermon ideas. I first heard this one from Doug Fields at a Youth Specialties Conference. (In fact, during this seminar, I was called up on stage to take part in a short illustration, and he made fun of my name. But I've forgiven him and moved on. Really.) Develop a system for recording great stories and illustrations that might work in a sermon. After all, not all great ideas come when you're at your desk preparing a sermon. At the time of the aforementioned conference (and this may still be his system), Doug kept, with the help of a volunteer, an extensive file of stories, news articles, and other illustrations, organized by topic. When he needs an idea for a story or an illustration to apply a point in a seminar or sermon he's preparing, he goes to the file he has on that topic. I'm not quite that diligent, but I do jot down ideas in a notebook or in a document on my computer. Find a system that works for you, and stick with it. You'll be surprised how many ideas you get in a week when you write them down!

Hope these are helpful for you. What tips would you add on preparing for a talk or sermon?

UPDATE: Part two (tips on the delivery) can be found here.

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