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 and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.

I’ve found that the best time to use a quote in a sermon is when someone else said what you’re trying to say in a much better or more succinct way than you’re able to say it. Because of this, the quotes we use in our sermons are often rich and meaty. Therefore, our congregations can only digest a short sentence or two of a meaty quote before we’ve lost them. So keep quotes short. If you can shorten a quote in a way that’s shorter and more memorable, then you don’t need the quote. Even if you put the quote on a slide, more than two slides is too long of a quote (and if you use two slides, it better be worth it). Many people are going to try to write down a quote but they can’t write down many words fast enough. Then they’ll spend time looking over at their neighbor to see if they wrote it down. At the very least, they’ll be trying to think about the quote you just said while you’re explaining why that quote is relevant. So keep quotes short. As has been said before, “Less is more.” (see what I did there?)