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Andy Stanley: Some Preachers “Preach Past the Point”

Orginally published on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 7:00 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Andy Stanley is one of the featured speakers at Catalyst this year (Click here to Register). Andy winces when he says it: "Some preachers preach past the point!" Andy Stanley's heritage is one of long sermons, but for his congregation at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, length doesn't equal depth-or impact. What could most preachers do to make their sermons more powerful?

Teach less material at greater depth. Less is more. Instead of leaving listeners with a list of five things to remember-which they won’t-plant one powerful thought. Most communicators make the same mistake: they have too much stuff. They miss their moment. When I listen I often think, If you had just spent 30 minutes talking about that one thing, it would have been a great sermon.

I listened to a man speaking on marriage. His second point was brilliant. I was ready to get in the car with my wife, go home, and try it. But he had two more points after that. By the time he ended, nobody remembered point two. It was irritating because he had something to say, but it got lost in all the other stuff he had to say.

Why do preachers “miss their moment?”

Preachers prepare with this fear: Am I going to be able to fill the time? The audience never worries about that. But every preacher sits down and thinks, Here’s this great idea, but I have to fill 35 minutes.

I say to the preachers I mentor, “You’ve got to get that fear out of your mind, because it will drive you to over-prepare. It will drive you to have four points when you should have just one.”

I ask them, “What is your theme? Don’t give me the thesis; give me a statement. If you can’t, you don’t have a punch line.”

When you’re preparing, how do you recognize that punch line?

I look for it. As I study I ask myself, “So what? What’s the point? What’s the takeaway?” I ask the guys I’m training, “What is your burden? What’s the thing you’ve got to tell them? The train is leaving, it’s the last thing-is there anything that elicits the emotion that says, ‘You just have to know this?’”

That’s what you build around, because that’s your passion.

When I build a sermon, I clear away everything, no matter how good it is, that adds or distracts from that one point. Then I crescendo to it. Preparation isn’t about finding a way to divulge everything I know, but about asking myself, “What’s the thing, Andy? Just say the one thing, and then stop your mouth from moving.”

This article courtesy of CatalystMonthly.com.

This post has been viewed 2306 times so far.

TRACKBACKS: (0) There are 17 Comments:

Posted by kent

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 7:29 AM

Right on the money
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8:22 AM

This is a great concept. The one-point sermon. We’d probably all like to hear more of them!
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8:41 AM

Glad Andy wasn’t mentoring Jesus before he gave the “sermon on the mount”
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 8:52 AM

“Glad Andy wasn’t mentoring Jesus before he gave the “sermon on the mount” I think this proves Andy’s point: You have to be divine to give a really good, long sermon.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:08 AM

Glad Andy wasn’t mentoring Jesus before he gave the “sermon on the mount”

That’s funny! I always think of the Monty Python sketch: “what did he say? Blessed are the cheesemakers?”

Anyway, Andy’s advice is good, I think. Too many times I feel as though TOO much information is shared in a sermon. I’ve grown a little weary of the three to five point sermon, especially the ones that have to spell something or all start with the same letter. (I know there’s a name for it, I just can’t spell it). For me, one of the best presentations I’ve ever heard was from Caz McCaslin, founder of Upward Unlimited. It was his testimony of how Upward was created. It was all centered around one point that he heard from Johnny Hunt: Whatever It Takes. That has stuck with me since I first heard it in 2003. Keep it simple.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:15 AM

And Jesus did indeed keep it simple. The point of the Sermon on the Mount? It could be perhaps expressed thus: “The economy of Heaven is not the same as Earth.”

Many of his sermons are short, simple, to the point, think parables… Some think that the five big discourses in matthew are culled from sermon materials from different times and seasons… clumped together in sections, too.

I’ve noticed that when you speak, people will pick and choose the points they take with them. If there’s one that you really want to have them take with them… Just concentrate on that! You control the flow of information better…
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:17 AM

In response to Nora...Jesus’ sermon was both profound and practical...my question is, what makes His audience more able to digest more than one thought/subject than you, I or others in a church audience today? I believe this was part of the reasonng behind Andy’s thoughts, that the audience is not able to digest, remember more than one good solid point...and using his reasoning, the audience that heard the sermon on the mount could have been over preached too...that’s the point I was trying to make...actually, I am a big fan of Andy and read all his books...I just happen to somewhat disagree with him on this one...I do agree with you Nora, that is takes a profound messenger to deliver a powerful life changing sermon, one point or more.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:29 AM

Kenny, “what makes His audience more able to digest more than one thought/subject than you, I or others in a church audience today?” I think this is a really good question, in all seriousness. It could be that we really do have two different audiences, cultures that we’re dealing with. Today’s American culture is used to sound bytes, fast, flashy videoes, and commercial breaks every 15 minutes or so. I noticed that when I was on a missions trip to Honduras several years ago that the sermons were much lengthier down there. The people Jesus was speaking to were probably also more accustomed to a longer sermon style. (But I still think that being God is only going to help your communication abilities
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 9:37 AM

Good point Noran....got leave for work...will check back in this afternoon...I enjoy good dialog...blessings!
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 10:20 AM

I get what he saying I do. One Point driving it home so they really can get it. However, here is a better question to ask ourselves before we preach. “God what do you want your people to hear?” Not what am I trying to say, “What does God want to say?” God may have more than one point to make. The Holy Spirit will help us in that. Myself i don’t do topical preaching. I open up God’s word and whatever passage God directs me to, I let that passage bring out the points. Usually I stay in the same book for as long as feel God’s leading me too. Time and time again through God’s word God spoke to His people about the issue they were dealing with. Imagine that, God’s word being relevant to His people even today.
I think Andy Standley is a good Guy. My brother reads everything he puts out.
I don’t think there is a right way or a wrong way to preach, as long as you do it God’s way. If God’s is leading Him to focus on one point at a time and God is anointing it, PRAISE GOD!
I think the effectiveness of a sermon have nothing to do with how many points we make, as it does with being anointed by the Spirit.
Just my two cents.
Posted by Chris

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 10:34 AM

Funny. I was just watching a rerun of the Seinfeld where George decides to practice “showmanship.” When he tells a joke at work and everyone laughs he quits for the day, reasoning there’s no place to go from there but down.

And when I watched that episode, Andy’s remarks about preaching less for more came to mind. If preachers would get to the point, have their moment, and get off the platform, people would remember sermons better.
Posted by

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 at 11:43 AM

And the one-point sermon would allow the audience to listen and focus, rather than constantly referring to the 5 point, twelve sub-point, 28 sub-sub-point outlines that are distributed by the ushers upon entering the worship center. I’m not a big fan of those distributed outlines, if only for one reason: when the sermon is nearing completion and the notes-space on the outline is all filled-in, then the congregants make HUGE amounts of paper-shuffling noise as they file outline in their bibles and prepare for the pending exit…
Posted by

Friday, September 22, 2006 at 11:44 AM

I’m a member at NPCC where Andy preaches and have heard his sermons for the last 6 years. Prior to that I heard at least 3 sermons a week for 4 years at a Christian University (muliti-point messages) and before that grew up in a church with similar multi-point messages. I have to say that I can remember one sermon from college that made an impact that I can feel today. Along with one really long sermon about 24 reasons why you shouldn’t drink, but that is besides the point. The point is that I can remember the things that Andy says years after he says them when the need arises. I’m sure some of it has to do with spiritual maturity, but I have to think spending a sermon talking about one main point has had a greater impact on my spiritual life. Anyway, first time on here and I have really enjoyed reading all of your comments.
Tom
Posted by

Monday, September 25, 2006 at 11:31 AM

I’ve read some of Andy’s book on reducing the sermon to ONE point. I remember a college professor was once asked in sermon prep class, “Professor, how many points should a sermon have?’ His response was, “Well I hope, at least one!”

It seems to me the REAL issue here is that regardless of how many topics in the outline, many sermons do not seem to have ANY point.

The bigger question I have is - isn’t it possible to have ONE point, but three or five headings to flesh that point out?
Posted by Greg Atkinson

Monday, September 25, 2006 at 2:37 PM

Andy hit it on the head - Less is more! Some preachers stress over having 4 points, when they really only needed one. Well said.
Posted by

Monday, September 25, 2006 at 8:48 PM

Sort of a sermon and so very short and all of you will remember this among the dozens of his great quotes - Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never, never give up. “ Said it and sat down.
Posted by

Monday, September 25, 2006 at 8:50 PM

I heard a homiletics professor say it like this; Get up, Speak up, Shut up, Ive always liked that as an outline

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Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.