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.

In my town, there’s a sign in someone’s yard that makes no sense to me. Maybe it’s a political slogan that I don’t know about, maybe it’s an inside joke, maybe I’m just smart enough to get it. But either way, I’m guessing the homeowners think they’re communicating something that they’re not actually communicating.

How many times has that happened to you in a sermon? I’ll think I’m communicating one thing and then someone will come up and say, “I love how you said…” and then say the complete opposite of what I meant. Maybe that’s on them for not paying attention, but maybe we could be more aware of what we’re actually communicating instead of what we’re trying to communicate.

One quick and easy way I’ve started using to ensure I’m communicating what I intend is by pasting my sermon into ChatGPT and asking, “What’s the bottom line of this sermon?” If what it comes back with is pretty similar to the bottom line of my message, then I’m probably doing a pretty good job of communicating what I think I’m communicating. If it comes back with something very different, I need to do a good bit of editing.

It’s not a foolproof way of ensuring we’re communicating what we hope to, but it’s a pretty solid start!