Last week, I wrote that one of my mantras is “Never preach a message once.” And no, preaching a message in multiple services doesn’t count!

As promised, here are the remaining five best practices for your message run-through:

5. Gather an interested audience. Pull together your worship pastor and the other teaching pastors on your staff to sit in on your run-through. Assign someone to be the timekeeper and make sure they keep you on track. The best-case scenario is to deliver your message to a small group of people who have the service’s best interests in mind and who are willing and able to give you good, substantive, honest feedback.

6. Deliver the message exactly as planned for Sunday. Let me repeat: deliver the message exactly as planned for Sunday. Part of this is making the space feel as much like it will on Sunday as possible. If you have access to your pulpit, do the run-through there. If you are in a portable situation, pick a place for your run-through where you can re-create your weekend teaching area. You want to make your run-through feel as authentic as possible.

7. Elicit positive and constructive feedback. The feedback you get through this process can make your message infinitely stronger. You will see how your illustrations hit the listener. They can tell you if something isn’t translating clearly. When I’m finished doing the run-through, I like to open the conversation by pointing out the areas for improvement that I noticed. Then I ask my listeners to give me their honest feedback and suggestions. And I listen.

8. Pray together for Sunday. This one is pretty self-explanatory.

9. Re-edit your manuscript. Sit down after your run-through and put in the hard work of re-writing what needs to be re-written. Tweak what needs to be tweaked. Consider all of the feedback you received and move ahead accordingly.

Decide now that Sunday will never be the first time you preach a message. I understand that you are busy and that this may sound like a lot of extra work, but the reward is more than worth the exertion. When you choose to put intentional effort into refining your delivery, rather than simply practicing on your congregation week after week, you will be amazed by the renewed impact of your preaching.

Click here to read part one of this series.

Your partner in ministry,

Nelson

© Nelson Searcy. All Rights Reserved.

About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.