Skill Development for the Preacher

Skill Development for the Preacher

We are going to take a turn now in this blog from learning how to preach the headlines,  to talk about skill development for the preacher.

I am a sports fan.  I played basketball into my 60’s.   Along the way, I watched with awe what some people could do with a basketball.  Magic Johnson, for instance, was magic with a basketball.  I remember one play where he was dribbling on the right side of the court.  A double team came, and he jumped up and made a pinpoint pass to James Worthy for a dunk.  The crowd went wild.  Another time, in the playoffs, the great center for the Laker, Kareem Abdul Jabbar was out with an injury, and there were predictions that the Lakers would lose.  Magic took on the center position, and had a game that was unbelievable to those of us who play.  Hook shots, passes, rebounding and great defense led to a finals win and a trophy.   What made him so great?  Natural talent, surely, but also skill development.  He worked at his craft.

I am also a musician.  I’ve played trumpet in several bands, and play guitar when the opportunity arises.  However, I acknowledge that I’m not the best.  I grew up in the time when Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass were on the radio and recording albums.  How did he get so good on trumpet?  Natural Talent, surely.  But he also developed his skill.  Hours of practice went into making him the trumpeter that he became.

10,000 hours

Back in 2008 Malcom Gladwell published a book that looked at what makes people great in their field.  The book is titled Outliers, and I strongly recommend it.  Gladwell’s research suggested that to become great in any field, sports, music, chess, acting, etc., requires 10,000 hours of practice.  If you want to explore this more you can check out this summary of his research.

Skills That Make A Preacher Great

In the next series of posts, we’re going to explore some of the basic skills that you will need to work at, develop, practice, to become a great preacher.

I recently talked with someone who is attending a church that has a poor preacher.  There are no studies that definitively conclude how many preachers are poor, but some  general numbers based on the reflections of seminary faculty who teach the skills of preaching are these:

• 60–70% of preachers are weak or inconsistent communicators

• 20–30% are competent

• 10% or fewer are genuinely strong or compelling

Conclusion

If you are reading this blog post, you are likely someone who wants to improve in the ability to present God’s Word in a compelling and powerful way.  So, what are the skills that you need to practice in order to move from poor, weak, or even competent?   I am going to loosely follow the ideas of a man named Wayne McDill here.  His book, The 12 Skills for Great Preaching, suggests that there are 12 such skills.

So join me on this journey.  One of the reasons I continue to do this blog is that I continue to learn about preaching–something I’m called to, but I’ve also spent hours (not sure it’s up to 10,000 hour yet) practicing those things that have been proven to make me more effective in communication.