Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was shared by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world, sign up here.

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been sharing some ways to create tension in your sermon, based on the book The Homiletical Plot. Here’s a thought about how to create tension through story:

Another way to create tension is to begin a story early in the sermon, but leave it unresolved until the end of the sermon. One way I’ve found this particularly effective by listening to others preach is through partially resolving the story early on. People wonder in the back of their minds, Hm, is that all? I thought there would be more to that story. I guess that is all, only for you to fully resolve it later on.