I’m learning coaching fundamentals through the Professional Christian Coaching Institute’s 13-week intensive tele-class. I’ll soon begin a new ministry helping senior pastors in mid-sized churches lead at their best. (If you are a senior pastor and would like more info about my coaching, leave me a comment here or email me at chucks9886@gmail dot com.)

This course has been invaluable. One of my teachers, Anne Denmark, professionally coaches church leaders and trains speakers. As a highly credentialed and experienced coach she shares her insights on her blog.

Recently she sent our class nine basic principles of adult learning. As I read them, I realized how each could apply to my sermon prep and delivery. Here they are.

Nine Basic Principles of Adult Learning

1. Recency – what is most recently learned is best remembered.
2. Active Learning – people learn best by “doing” through active involvement and participation. Confucious said,  “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand”
3. Multi-Sensory –  taking information in through all five senses increases learning. (more…)

I posted a blog entry a couple of weeks ago (see it here) about my plan to use my iPad as a virtual whiteboard.

I used an app called Airsketch which allowed me to create a virtual whiteboard. It connects to a local wi-fi network which lets a computer become the whiteboard. Then the signal can be sent to video projectors used during services.

As I taught on spiritual warfare, I was able to underline, draw, and write words just as if I had used a white board. Here’s a picture of one of the screen shots. Everything in red I added while I taught. The icons at the bottom don’t show up on screen, but are available to you as the presenter.

I used this tool two weeks in a row. The first week I included my prompts on screen. The second week, I pared down what appeared on screen and used printed notes to the side to prompt me.

Overall, I got lots of positive comments, with one negative one. Here’s what I learned. (more…)

I’ve been a pastor 30 years and only in the last few have I discovered the value of studying outside my church and home office. I’ll go either  to McDonalds (cheap food) or Panera (good atmosphere and the place I prefer). Both provide free Wi-Fi. I don’t recommend spending all your time away from the office, but I’ve found that doing so at least once a week benefits me and the ministry in these ways.

1. Productivity: Less interruptions from others.
2. Creativity: A different environment spurs it.
3. Focus: Less distractions help me concentrate better (like cleaning up our office or playing with something on our desks that can distract us in our offices).
4. Energy: A different ambiance/atmosphere gives me more.
5. Stress management: I feel less of it in a neutral environment.

One other suggestion. To block out noise, I use ear buds plugged into my iPhone and listen to nature sounds on the Ambiance app.

Have you discovered any other advantages of studying outside the office?

Related posts: The iPhone App that Improved my Concentration

I’ve posted a few blogs about my journey using the iPad to preach (see related posts below).

Thus far I’ve loved using it. I own the original iPad and I’m waiting to upgrade until next year’s version releases.

Here’s my current sermon prep and delivery process.

1. Write sermons on a Word doc on my Airbook.
2. Convert doc to a PDF.
3. Drop PDF into Dropbox on my Mac.
4. Open Dropbox on my iPad.
5. Open the PDF in Noterize.
6. Mark up my PDF.
7. Enthrall millions with my eloquent preaching (oops, Freudian slip there…I meant preach to a few hundred)

Here’s a snapshot of what one page looked look from last week’s talk on spiritual gifts.

This week I’m trying something new.

I’m using an app called AirSketch which allows me to actually create a virtual whiteboard. By linking my iPad to a computer in our sound booth through our local network, I can project each page of my PDF on our video screens without dragging around a cable. It works amazingly well (at least in practice).

I can then scroll through each page as I preach and use either my finger or my stylus to annotate and draw. MacWorld reviews 12 styluses [or is it styli] here.

Here’s a snapshot of the first page of this week’s sermon on  spiritual warfare. When it projects onscreen, you don’t see the stuff at the bottom however. The red shows where I’ve practiced annotating.

Next week I’ll blog on how things went.

If you want to get that blog and future ones as well, you can sign up  to automatically to receive them by clicking the RSS feed button in the right-hand column on this page.

Related Posts:

1. How an iPad improved my Devotional Life.
2. How Pastors can Benefit from an iPad
3. How and iPad improved my Preaching.

Each year we teach a 4-5 week series on giving and generosity in Feb/March. This year we titled our series The Treasure Principle, based on Randy Alcorn’s book by the same name. We also sent a copy of the book to every giver on record the previous year and encouraged the church to read a chapter each week that matched the upcoming sermon theme.

If you’ve not read the book, it’s a quick read and probably one of the best on the subject. I highly recommend it.

If you’re a pastor, you probably feel the same angst I feel when I address the subject. Even though my heart is in the right place, I can’t help but think some people feel I’m being self-serving when I teach the subject.

Here’s what I do to help mitigate those thoughts in people’s minds.

First, I make sure my heart is right.

• Do I faithfully  give?
• Do I tithe and give beyond?
• Do I teach from a desire that others experience the joy of generosity or because we are not making the church budget?

Second, in my talk I acknowledge at the beginning what some people feel. I actually say something like, “I recognize that when a pastor talks on money it can appear self serving. I know that some of you may be thinking, “I really don’t want to hear some preacher talk about money.’ I would just ask that you lower you guard a bit, listen to what I have to say, and then decide how you want to respond. It’s between you and God.”

Third, I tell my giving story. In my message this past week I explained that my wife and I had faithfully tithed and beyond since we were married. I also shared that my parents taught me to give at an early age and that a comment from my 5th grade Sunday School teacher left an indelible imprint in my life that put me on the path to generosity. When people hear our honest stories, it can help lower their guard and resistance to the message.

When I began in ministry 30 years ago, I’d often shy away from the money subject. However, I now realize that giving is as much a part of discipleship as is Bible reading and prayer. I can’t shy away from it, but must approach the subject with tact and grace.

If you’d like a great guide to help you develop a stewardship system, I highly recommend Maximize: How to Develop Extravagant Givers in Your Church by Nelson Searcy.

So, what has helped you get the money message across?

If you are not a pastor, what advice would you give to us about how to effectively encourage people to give?

Related posts:

The 4 Reasons People Give to Their Church

Titherosity: Motivating others to Become More Generous

How much time should a pastor spend preparing a sermon?

Recently I watched a video where a rather famous pastor answered that question. His response, “I study and read all the time and it takes me about one to two hours to put a sermon together.”

Yikes! When I heard that I felt guilty because there’s no way I can prepare a sermon that quickly. I’m sure this pastor’s heart was right, but I wish he had qualified himself more. I doubt very many of us are that speedy.

In Haddon Robinson’s book, Biblical Sermons, he wrote that experienced preachers he surveyed spent an average of 16 hours preparing. That sounds more like it to me. That’s probably my average and I’ve been preaching for 25 years.

So, how much time should you spend? It depends.

It depends on…

1. how long you’ve been in ministry. If you been in ministry several years, you have a backlog of study material. If you haven’t you will probably need to set aside more study time. I did in my early ministry years.
2. how well you’ve kept your previous study notes, sermons, and materials upon which to refer back
3. how well you manage your time
4. what’s happening around you. Sometimes unexpected family and ministry demands arise that require our time that we other wise would have spent on sermon prep. No need to wallow in guilt when that happens
5. your personality…some pastors have the gift of gab and can ‘make up stuff on the fly’ , some of us don’t; some personalities require the preacher to process what he wants to say more thoroughly

Here are a few thoughts to consider as you answer this question for yourself.

1. Schedule your study and prep time during your best, most alert hours. (more…)

I’m convinced God gave me a ‘Geek’ gene.

From my monopoly on science fair first prizes in high school to my toy tank that fires bb’s to my radio-controlled helicopter that shoots plastic missiles, I love any gadget that runs on electricity. I’m also among an elite 50,000 who bought the very first Macintosh in 1984. I sold a life insurance policy and used the cash value to pay for it. Since then I’ve owned over 20 different Macs and I now sport a brand new MacBook Air. I also use an iPhone 4 and an iPad.

Like I said, God gave me a geek gene.

At the same time Mac blood has flowed through my veins, God infused into my bones a passion to teach God’s Word. I’ve preached over a thousands sermons and I’ve seen my preaching evolve over the years in this progression.

1. write sermon notes in the margin of a wide column bible (my eyes can’t see teeny-tiny print now )
2. type out the sermon on one half-page and insert into my bible
3. type up the full text and insert small pages into the bible so that it looks like I’m not using notes
4. print out the full text and place the full sized pages on the lectern
5. Preach from an iPad

I love using the iPad now. It took a few weeks to getting used to it, but I don’t think I will ever change. I see three advantages in using an iPad.

1. Easily mark up and highlight on the fly
2. Keep all your sermons in one place
3. You look really cool, especially when the house and stage lights are off…it casts a holy glow on your face

Here’s how I now prepare my sermons and get them to the iPad.

1. I write my sermons on my Mac with Word. Accordance (easy to use and trusty) and Logos (quite expansive yet rather slow and cumbersome at times) are my primary study tools. Note: My iPad still has not replaced my laptop and I don’t expect it to.
2. I save my Word doc as a PDF file
3. I drop the PDF into Dropbox (a free app that allows you to easily move a pc file to the iPad via shared wi-fi)
4. I open up the PDF in Dropbox and then open it in Noterize ($2.99). Many PDF markup programs exist. This one tends to be a bit slow in turning the pages, but thus far it works best for me. I would love to use Apple’s Pages program, but at this point they don’t offer highlighting options.
5. I then mark up, highlight, and make changes as needed. Our service production team always has a paper copy available in case my iPad goes down.

Here’s a screen shot of what an iPad page looks like.

If you are an iPad user, what apps do you use for preaching? Any tricks you’ve learned?

Related posts:

• How an iPad improved my devotional life
• How Pastors can benefit from an iPad

One of the most precious commodities a pastor has is time. Ministry always beckons us to do more than time permits. I once heard a researcher state that most people have 35 hours of unfinished work ahead of them. However, if we use the time we have most effectively, we’ll become more fruitful for the Kingdom.

Preparing sermons, at least for senior pastors, is one of the most time consuming Kingdom commitments. Although I don’t preach every week, I still must prepare over 35 original messages each year. Each week I study 15-20 hours to prepare one sermon. That’s a good chunk of my week which requires concentration.

A year or so ago I purchased a $2.99 iPhone app that has proved invaluable to help me concentrate when I study. When I fully concentrate, I make much more progress than when my mind gets distracted.

That app, Ambiance, is a simple collection of natural (and man-made) sounds that I play on my iPhone through my headphones. In case you are wondering, I don’t make money on the sale of this app and I’m not connected in any way to the company.

The standard iPhone headphones work ok, but I purchased a pair of noise canceling headphones (Philips SBC HN060) that block out most ambient noise. You can purchase more expensive ones, but this set works great for me.

So when I study at Panera or MacDonalds ($1 cokes there) I plug in, play a repetitive waterfall or beach sound, and become totally oblivious to the people and sounds around me. My ability to concentrate skyrockets.

As Paul the Apostle wrote in Ephesians 5.16, … make every minute count. (CEV) This simple $2.99 purchase has helped me put that command into practice.

Related posts:  How an iPad benefits pastors

For more Resources for Pastors, visit Pastor Stone’s main site.

I’m a techno geek … I stood in line for 5 hours to get the latest iPhone, I use a MacBookPro, I use an iPad on stage when I preach, I twitter, and I write a blog.

Our church is techno … we use video extensively, power point, YouVersion which allows people to follow the sermon on their mobile phone, and we’ve done texting feedback during services.

Yet, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in too much technology.

Recently during our programming meeting, our creative director suggested that we use a different medium to help the sermon delivery…the old flannelgraph.

In case you’ve never heard of a flannelgraph, it was a Bible teaching technique extensively used many years ago. Sunday school teachers would prop up the flannelgraph on an easle (a large piece of cardboard with flannel on the outside) and as she taught us the Bible lesson that day, she’d stick cardboard images of people and Bible objects on the flannelgraph. The flannel on the back of the images would stick to the flannel on the board. Thus, the flannelgraph. Today the flannelgraph is being used quite extensively in areas around the world with illiterate populations.

This past Sunday we tried it. I taught from Ephesians 2 and 3 where Paul uses several word pictures. These metaphors made it easy to find and cut out images.

Here’s how it added to my teaching.

1. It was drastically different from how I usually teach. Its novelty helped the message stick.
2. It helped those familiar with the flannel graph feel a bit of nostalgia, which endeared them to the medium which enhanced the message.
3. It helped me easily remember the next point. I simply picked up the picture and stuck it on the board.
4. As I walked back to the board, it was easy to keep reviewing the main points when I referred back to the images.
5. It built interest as the people wondered what was next.
6. It helped visual learners stay more focused.

So, if you’d like mix things up a bit, give it a try. All it takes is a board (wood or foam core), some felt, and some pictures (I used velcro on the back to make them more sticky) and … PRESTO, you have a flannelgraph.

Although we still used powerpoint images on the screens so people could see the images in detail, I now have a new tool in my preaching toolbox.

Related posts:

• How pastors can benefit from using an iPad, part 1
• How and iPad improved my devotional life

For more Books, Help and Resources for Pastors, visit Pastor Stone’s main site.

Drew Carey hosted a TV show called Whose Line is it Anyway that ran for several years until 2006. You can still see re-runs on cable.

The show, based on what is called ‘short-form’ improv, included four characters, most memorable being Wayne Brady. They would take suggestions from the audience and would create characters, scenes, and songs on the spot.

The few times I watched it, I couldn’t believe they just made that stuff up.

Well, about four years ago while at lunch with a professional speaker who attends our church, I asked him what he’d suggest I do to improve my speaking. He told me that attending an improv class in downtown Chicago was a great help for him.

I tucked that thought away until about a year ago I learned that a local comedy club, the Comedy Shrine in Naperville, IL offered improv classes. I signed up, and have been taking classes ever since.

To give context, I’ve always considered myself a very funny guy. The only problem is that hardly anybody else did. I can tell a joke in a sermon that I thought would bring the audience down only to hear cricket sounds in response rather than laughter. When I did get laughter my son would often say, “Dad, don’t let it go to your head. Those were courtesy laughs.”

I’ve finally surmised that my humor is at such a high level that most people simple can’t grasp it.

As I’ve almost completed five series of improv classes, the most recent a musical improv one, I’ve learned these lessons that have improved my preaching and made me a more rounded person.

1. I’ve learned to separate the language a person uses from their value in God’s eyes. Sometimes the language used in classes can burn your ears. I remind myself, though, that God deeply loves people, regardless of the language they use.
2. The classes have helped me connect more with current culture. Often we pastors can get so focused in the Word that we lose touch with what the world is thinking. We must be in the world but not of it.
3. I’ve built friendships with people who aren’t interested in God, and I really like them. I pray regularly for opportunities to engage them spiritually, yet even without the spiritual connection I have with those who know Christ, I truly enjoy being with these guys. I’ve had some great conversations about Christianity and two of my classmates have even attended our church.
4. I’ve been able to break the mold many people hold about ministers. I’m afraid many outside the church see pastors as legalist finger-pointers. At first when my class found out I was a pastor, everybody felt a bit awkward. But, now that they see I’m a normal guy that likes to have fun doing improv, I believe I’ve helped tear down the ‘sometimes true’ stereotype many hold about us pastors.
5. I’ve actually heard more laughs when I preach, even when I don’t tell a planned joke.
6. I’m more comfortable and loose when I preach. My engineering background lends itself to more linear sermons and a linear delivery style. Now, I’m more open to allowing God to use more of my creative right-brain when I preach rather than relying on my left-brain logic side.
7. Improv teaches you to respond to what your scene partner says or does, rather than to pre-plan how you will respond. As a result, instead of always pre-planning what I want to say, I’m learning to be more spontaneous with my thoughts and words. I’m finding that those spontaneous thoughts can become some of the most powerful. Perhaps I’m listening more to the Holy Spirit’s voice.
8. I’m learning to laugh at myself more and not take myself so seriously.

If you have a hankering for such an experience, give it a try. I bet you’ll find the experience will enrich your life as well.