Flannel Graph Memories

Proverbs 9:9 “Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.” (NIV)

When I was 15 years old I became a volunteer for a ministry called Child Evangelism Fellowship. As a volunteer I helped teach a weekly Good News Club. The club met after school and helped children, mostly from non-religious homes, understand the stories of the Bible, and especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of my training as a volunteer was learning how to use flannel graph to illustrate the stories. I collected a number of Bible scenes painted on to large pieces of flannel and had file folders full of various biblical characters that I could put on the scenes as a visual to tell the Bible stories. I had not seen flannel graph before and thought it was the coolest thing ever. I used those visual aids over and over again to help children learn biblical truth. Even after I was no longer working with Child Evangelism Fellowship, I kept all the different characters and scenes and used them to teach in a variety of settings, including to teens and adults, for many years. They were very helpful in illustrating the stories I was teaching.

That was 35 years ago. Now, I don’t know anyone who still uses flannel graph. Now we use video, PowerPoint, and interactive games on I-pads and cell phones as visual aids in our teaching. Every couple of years some new technology comes along and changes the way we teach. As a lifelong learner, I try to stay up to date. But sometimes I struggle to figure out how to communicate the message in whatever way is currently fashionable.

To be honest, there are times I miss my old flannel graph scenes and characters. They were easy to use and I was comfortable with them. Many children came to faith in Christ through them and so there was a real emotional and spiritual attachment in my mind to those teaching tools. But there came a day when I realized they were no longer as effective as they once were. Staying up to date with teaching skills is always be a challenge. At times I’m tempted to revert back to those old flannel graph visuals and do things like I did 35 years ago. In many ways it would be easier for me. But I always resist that temptation because I realize it would not actually communicate the message of the Gospel as effectively as I would like it to.

The question I ask myself often is “Do I want things to be easy for me or do I want people to actually understand the message?” If the goal is for me to teach the message of Christ, then I have to constantly upgrade my communication skills and abilities. I have to learn new teaching techniques that actually get the point across. I cannot just rely on my past training or experience. While the past does have value, I cannot live in the past. I must be a lifelong learning in order to continue the calling God put on my life as a 15-year-old to teach others Jesus. 

What about you? Are you a lifelong learner? When was the last time you upgraded your efforts to share the word of God? Ongoing training is essential and the message of the Gospel is worth the time it takes to learn how to share it well.

Lord, help us be lifelong learners so we can be as effective as possible in sharing Your Word with others. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett serves at the Executive Director of the Baptist Convention of New England. He has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

Six Key Elements of Powerful Sermons

In my role as a denominational administrator I get to hear a lot of sermons from a lot of different pastors. Some sermons are powerful, even life changing. Other sermons …. ah …. well …. to be honest, lack a little on the potency side. While I prefer some delivery styles over others, I try hard to look beyond stylistic differences, instead seeking what really makes some sermons more powerful than others. Over the years I have observed six elements that seem to make sermons stronger.

1.    Remember it is a sermon not a seminary paper.
Far too many sermons I’ve heard were basically running commentaries of everything the pastor had read about the verses he was preaching on. While study is important, the congregation does not need to hear five quotes from five theologians on each verse in the text. Sermons should give enough background to set the context but the focus should be on what the Word actually says, not on what a bunch of scholars 500 years ago think it said. Save that stuff for seminary papers and just give the congregation the Word.

2.    Make sure your illustrations actually make the point.

Jesus often used illustrations in His sermons and we should too. Illustrations help the audience connect the Word with real life. But we need to make sure our illustrations actually reinforce the point we are trying to make. Too often preachers tell interesting stories, or share funny jokes, but the listeners are confused about how it connects to the text. While this might be entertaining, it distracts from the Word instead of enhancing the Word.

3.    Keep the length of the text reasonable

I am not a fan of “sermonettes” that sound more like feel good devotional thoughts than meaty sermons one can wrestle with all week long. But I am also not a fan of sermons that are so long that no reasonable person can remain focused on what is being taught. On more than one occasion I’ve sat through verse by verse style sermons that covered an entire chapter of the Bible. A verse by verse exposition of 25-30 verses is just too much for one sermon. In most situations, 4-7 verses are all people can handle at a time. Honestly, it is all most preachers can handle well in one setting. Instead of preaching on a whole chapter at once, break those 30 verses up and make it a series. Congregations will be able to understand and apply the Word more effectively if preachers refrain from dropping the whole truckload at one time.

4.    Make your main point early.

I once listened to a young energetic pastor preach for 42 minutes (yes, I timed him!) before he made his first point. He gave us a lot of context, read a lot of quotes from people about what the passage meant, told a couple of stories of things that had happened to him that week, which I am still trying to figure out how they related to the text, and prayed a long pastoral prayer over the scripture that seemed more poetic than spiritual. By the time he made his first point, 42 minutes into the sermon, my mind had already checked out. Get to the point quickly, then reinforce your point with the rest of the text, tell us what to do with your point, wrap up your point, give us a chance to consider the personal implications of your point and then sit down.

                                                          

5.    Occasionally use a short sermon.

As I stated in point three, I am not really a fan of sermonettes. But if the best part of your sermon is the first ten minutes, or the last ten minutes, perhaps that is all you should have preached. If what you really need to say about a text produces a shorter than normal sermon, go for it! Sometimes I feel like a pastor had one good thing to say but didn’t think that was long enough so he added a lot of filler to make himself feel better. Trust me, the filler might have made the pastor feel better but it did not make the sermon better. In fact, it probably made it weaker. People can tell filler when they hear it. Though a steady stream of ten minute sermons may not be appropriate, having one every so often because that is all that is required can be more powerful than we think. My Christmas Eve sermons rarely lasted longer than 10-12 minutes because I knew that the vast majority of the people already knew the context and details, after all, it was the same story every year. I would try to focus on one aspect of the story that would make some fresh point people might not have considered before. People always seemed moved by them and not once did anyone complain that the sermon was too short.

6.    Make sure your preaching is genuinely gospel centered.

The current buzzword in the church growth universe is “gospel centered.” We hear all about gospel centered churches, gospel centered missions, gospel centered discipleship and gospel centered sermons. Though different people define that term in different ways, it must be in our church literature if we want to be part of the cool crowd. Sadly, many preachers who claim to preach gospel centered sermons are not living up to their claim. Preaching for 40 minutes about some other topic and then taking 90 seconds at the end of the sermon to mention Jesus is not being gospel centered. If we want to call ourselves gospel centered, then the gospel must be woven through the entire sermon. That does not mean we use the word “gospel” frequently during the sermon, it means we weave the redemptive message of Christ through the entire sermon. It means we offer the hope of reconciliation with a holy God throughout the sermon. The gospel should not just be a “tag on” to the end of our sermons. It must be the central element of our preaching.

While I am sure there are many other elements of powerful preaching, keeping these six ideas in mind is a great start.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has been a pastor, church planter, denominational leader and author in New England for more than 20 years. He is a happy husband, a proud father and adoring grandfather. He is a cancer survivor and believes that God works powerfully through times of suffering. He writes extensively and you can find all of his books at:

 http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY

Biblical Truth Matters

John 4:24 - God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.

We are living in a time when biblical literacy is at an all-time low. Very few people really know what the Bible teaches and many who claim to know are less knowledgeable than they realize. What is perhaps even more disturbing is that many leaders in evangelical churches do not seem interested in correcting biblical illiteracy in their own congregations.

This point was made clear to me at a worship service I attended a few months ago. It was at a well-known evangelical church. This church has a history of doing significant ministry, but in recent years has been sliding toward neo-evangelicalism in an effort to keep the crowds growing. At the service I attended the preacher addressed his lack of concern for biblical accuracy when he said “One hundred million people watched the Bible series on TV so it doesn't matter if it had a lot of theological errors in it." Those were his exact words. Since I only watched a portion of that particular TV show, I am not in a place to judge whether it was accurate or not. The point I want to make is that according to that preacher, if a large enough group of people watch something, it does not matter how theologically correct it is.  I was shocked to hear him say it. Truth is truth regardless of how many people believe it. If that particular depiction of the stories of the Bible were as inaccurate as that man made it seem, then one hundred million people now think they know something about the Bible when in fact they do not. And that preacher was okay with it! No wonder the American church is in trouble.

Biblical truth is important. Whether viewed, listened to or explained to a large number or only a few. If it is not accurate, then it is not biblical truth. Once we begin to accept that truth again, then our understanding of the Bible will begin to grow again.

Lord, help us understand the importance of biblical truth. Help us listen to Your Spirit’s voice when we hear error so that we recognize that it is false. Give pastors discernment as they preach, to only preach your Word. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has served as a missionary, pastor and denominational leader in New England since 1993. He is happily married to his college sweetheart and enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren. He is the author of numerous books including “The Heavenly Mundane: Daily Devotions from Ordinary Experiences.” You can find his complete list of books at: http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY/

The Challenge of Good Sermon Illustrations

Deuteronomy 32:2 - Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.

When I was in college I had a friend who had a Ford Pinto. It was a tiny car but somehow at the end of each semester he managed to squeeze all of his stuff in it and head home. But it was always a stressful time and he would begin to fret about it weeks before the semester ended. I knew lots of college students who had Ford Pintos. They were cheap. They got good gas mileage. They were cool, at least in a college student sort of way.

Many years later I was preaching to a group of college students. I was talking about how we often try to cram too much stuff into our lives and need to let go of some stuff (both physically and emotionally) in order to make life more sane. In an effort to visually illustrate my point, I referenced my college friend and his efforts to squeeze all his stuff into his Ford Pinto at the end of the semester. The group had glazed looks on their faces. They had no idea what a Ford Pinto was. The illustration made no sense to them. Fortunately, my son-in-law, who is a collegiate minister, called out from the side of the room “A Pinto is the same size as a Mini-Cooper.” There was a collective “OHHHHH” in the room as the group got the visual image of an overstuffed Mini-Cooper, and the point was made.

Many preachers struggle to find illustrations to drive home points in sermons. Recently I was in a fairly large church listening to a guest speaker. The service he was speaking in was designed to reach young adults. Though he was a good communicator, he built an elaborate sermon illustration based on a television show that peaked in popularity in 1968, which was before most of that audience was born. Most people in the room were not tracking with his point and I noticed they began googling the television show on their phones. As the sermon progressed, and the complex illustration continued, the audience began to grasp more of the point as they read about the series online. In the end, the point the speaker was trying to make probably did get across, but it would have been better to find a way to do it that did not require people to stop listening to the sermon while researching the illustration online.

The best illustrations come from our own real life experiences. But it is best to keep them short so we do not lose the point we are trying to make. It is also best to make sure they will connect to the audience we are sharing them with. Illustrations are helpful but we have to use them well. Take the time to do it right, or skip it altogether!

Lord, help all those who preach the Word use illustrations in ways that help, instead of hinder, our understanding of the Word. Amen.

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Dr. Terry W. Dorsett has served as a missionary, pastor and denominational leader in New England since 1993. He is happily married to his college sweetheart and enjoys spending time with his children and grandchildren. He is the author of numerous books including “The Heavenly Mundane: Daily Devotions from Ordinary Experiences.” You can find his complete list of books at: http://www.amazon.com/Dr.-Terry-W.-Dorsett/e/B00405U4NY/