Preaching Basics: Focus on Improving One Thing

When you first start preaching or public speaking, the number of things that you need to work on can be overwhelming. 

When you watch yourself back on video, you notice too many problems. 

The countless “um”s, stutters, awkward gestures, or distracting habits are painful to watch.

Maybe you thought that you were engaging and energetic, but the reality that you were scatterbrained and duller than you thought is hard to swallow.

There are so many things that we can work on in our preaching. How can you possibly tackle them all?

So here’s something I want you to consider: Rather than trying to become the best preacher in every area, take it one change at a time.

There’s power in focus. There’s power in pointing all your energy and attention at one thing. 

If you try to change everything, you likely won’t change much. But if you really focus on one thing, you’re going to change that thing. 

Then you can shift your focus to the next thing. And before you know it, over time, there’s immense power in incremental change.

So here’s the challenge for you: Just focus on one thing. 

What’s Your Biggest Weakness?

What’s that one thing right now, the most glaring weakness that you have in your preaching? 

Maybe it’s something like filler words: um, uh, like, you know? 

It’s distracting. They interrupt your sentences and are entirely unnecessary. Your preaching would be far more powerful if you could simply pause and resist the urge to fill the silence.

So focus on just that. Just focus on this one change. 

Have somebody record your sermon or sit in the audience and do this for you. But Watch yourself back. Get out a little notepad and every time you use a filler word, make a tally mark on your notes and then count that all up. How many times did you use a filler word in that sermon? 

Then look at your number and come to terms with it. “Okay, I used 50 filler words this time.” 

Your goal now is to beat that. Next week you are going to shoot for only have 30 (or whatever your number is). You’re going to try to bring that 50 down.

If you focus on one goal with each sermon, it’s going to help you overcome that bad habit. And then once you knock that out, you can move on to the next thing. That’s the power of small changes over time.

So what is that one thing? Whether it’s filler words, whether you’re too long-winded, you’re not concise enough, there’s not enough energy. Maybe you have a distracting habit like sticking your hands way down in your pockets when you’re preaching or crossing your arms, or perhaps you rock back and forth, or whatever. Focus on that one thing. 

Maybe your storytelling isn’t where it could be. Perhaps your jokes aren’t landing the way you think they would, and you need to work on the timing and delivery of your humor. Whatever it is, pick a focus, one glaring weakness, and work on that.

There’s Power In Focus. 

It’s like the sun. The sun shines and warms the earth. But a kid with a magnifying glass can hold it up to the sun, focus the power of the light, and roast ants with that sucker. Right?

You can set things on fire by focusing the rays of the sun into a pinpoint. In the same way, focus in your preaching development is going to help you make a much more impactful change in your sermons.

I hope you put this into practice.

What’s that one thing, that one most glaring weakness in your preaching that you need to change? 

Focus on that. Keep track of it. Have someone help you and hold you accountable. And if you don’t know what your problem is, ask somebody. They know.

So get out there, focus on that one thing, make that change, focus on that. Take the next month and aside from the most essential part of preaching, delivering the Gospel and teaching the Bible, set a focused improvement goal. 

I guarantee if you do that—focus on only one thing, get better at it, and then focus on the next thing—within the next year, your preaching will improve dramatically. You’re going to get a whole lot better. Way better than if you were to try to improve everywhere. 

Focus on one change at a time.

All right, so there you have it. I hope you found this helpful. 

If you want more resources and tips like this, I’ve got books and an online course to help. Check it out.