Better Preaching Demands Courage If love is attention and if preaching is the stewardship of attention, then cowardice is the betrayal of attention. Better preaching oſten means confronting painful patterns: • fear-based religion • inherited legalism • nationalism or ethnocentrism • perfectionistic shame • institutional maintenance • injustice • complacency • exclusivity You cannot move the dial by keeping everyone comfortable.


But courage is not about volume; it is about love. Te preacher does not shout at the people. Te preacher loves them enough to tell them the truth—not because they are wrong, but because Jesus is better.


Better Preaching Is Clear, Not Complicated Te more attention you steward, the more clarity you owe. People do not need a catalog of your brilliance. Tey need a path to transformation. Better preaching is simple but not shallow. Deep but not


confusing. Serious but not somber. Hopeful but not naïve. Emotional but not manipulative. Preaching becomes better when the sermon becomes clearer. And the sermon becomes clearer when the preacher becomes clearer about: • the gospel • the text • the purpose • the people • the Spirit’s nudge


Better Preaching Is Spirit-Led Tis leads to the next truth: We steward attention, but the Spirit transforms hearts. Te preacher’s job is not to be impressive but to be responsive. Better preaching expects the Spirit to do what only the Spirit can do: • convict • comfort • illuminate • heal • awaken • restore • reorient • empower You cannot move the dial without the Spirit’s hand on yours.


The Future of Preaching We live in a distracted age. Attention has become the rarest, most contested commodity in the world. We compete with screens, algorithms, anxiety, news cycles, cultural noise, and the fatigue of modern life. But that makes preaching more, not less, sacred. Because every week, in a world that cannot look away from its own exhaustion, your people gather and voluntarily give you the one thing they give to almost no one else: their attention. Tey give it because—somewhere deep down, even if they


cannot articulate it—they believe that God might meet them in the hearing. Tey are giving you their time in hopes that you might give them Jesus. Tat is why better preaching matters. Because human attention


is too precious to waste. Because the gospel is too beautiful to obscure. Because the Spirit is too active to be ignored. Because the church is too weary to be entertained. Because the world is too broken to be impressed. Because Jesus is too good to be missed. Preachers who understand this will never again say, “I’m just


giving a sermon.” Instead, they will say: “I am stewarding the attention—the love—of the people of God for the sake of their transformation in Christ.” And that—more than technique, creativity, or eloquence—is


what makes preaching better. It is an honor to step behind these pulpits, on these stages,


and feel the hush and rush of the Spirit as life and wisdom are breathed into our words. Our preparation is our spiritual act of sacrificial worship, and the delivery is the blessing of being able to articulate the words that God has placed on your heart. Since I have leſt weekly pastoral ministry, I find myself sitting


in congregations, fighting to give attention to the pastor who is speaking. I didn’t realize how hard it would be at times. I have a deeper appreciation for those who stand with courage and proclaim the gospel of Jesus and the love held therein. I am also discouraged when I see a preacher who did not put in the time, does not take the text seriously, and wasted hundreds of hours of the congregation’s time. Better preaching is all we have mentioned, and this takes


work. Te best preachers—the most effective preachers I know— understand the labor that is involved. Never allow yourself to shirk the work. Never let AI do the work for you. It has no heart, no soul. Learn to use the tools available to you, but never let them become a substitute for the deep wisdom that comes from living and wrestling with the text. Tank you for the work that you do. And may the God who


spoke the universe into being grant you words that expand into the minutes and hours of attention you are given each week. May they be filled with grace, hope, and the joy of seeing Christ clearly. Amen.


WWW .A T OD A Y . OR G 25


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