One Thursday afternoon I went for a walk with my pastor. He asked me what my sermon was about for later that night. Four minutes into trying to explain what my sermon was about, my pastor interrupted me and said: “SAY IT IN A SENTENCE!”

When I was 21, I started preaching once a month at The Santa Barbara Rescue Mission. I didn’t know how to preach and I wanted to learn (I preached my first sermon at age 16 without a clue of what I was doing).

On Thursday nights, 100 or more homeless people filled the pews to listen to me preach my mediocre sermons. After the sermon we ate dinner together.

I had just graduated from college. I worked as a waiter, served as a home group leader and youth leader in my church (where I preached regularly to the youth), and lived in an apartment with two of my college buddies and my younger brother.

I used spare time to work on my sermons for the Rescue Mission. I didn’t have a method. I generally picked a text or two, studied the text, then wrote down a bunch of stuff to say.

One Thursday afternoon I went for a walk with my pastor. He asked me what my sermon was about for later that night. Four minutes into trying to explain what my sermon was about, my pastor interrupted me and said:

“SAY IT IN A SENTENCE!”

Read More