The Man Who Told Us to Preach 

During March Madness this year, I heard a commentator say something that stuck: Winners want to be coached. I wrote it down because I knew it applied to more than basketball.

A few days later, I sat down with Don Wilson for the Better Preaching Podcast, and he proved it. Don pastored Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona, for over three decades, preaching to 25,000 people a week by the time he stepped away. Six live services on a weekend. No executive pastor for most of that run. And the thing that defined his preaching more than any of that was this: every Saturday, he walked off the stage after the four o’clock service, and four or five people followed him into a room and beat his sermon up.

That joke didn’t work. That illustration was too long. Why did you say it that way?

Then it was up to Don to decide what to change before the next service. He did this for years. Not because he was insecure, but because he wanted to get better.

Here’s the part that convicted me. Don said that in his post-ministry years, he’s worked with roughly five hundred pastors. Most of them say they want critique. But when you actually give it to them — when you ask hard questions about why they’re doing what they’re doing — most of them don’t want it at all.

I think he’s right. And I think I know why. Preaching is personal. You pour yourself into a message all week, you stand up and deliver it, and then someone tells you the story ran long or the conclusion fell flat. That hurts. But then again, growth usually hurts.

Don also said something about giving his wife to critique his preaching. He told me: I don’t need a wife who worships me. I need a wife who loves me. He meant that he needs someone honest enough to say, That came across a little judgmental, or You lost them in the middle. Not because she enjoyed saying it, but because he’d created the space for her to say it and she loved him enough to walk into that space.

The green room is comfortable. The critique room is where you get better. Most of us know which one we prefer.

We also know which one we really need.

Engaging Generations with Variety and Creativity

Preaching multiple sermon styles is a strategic way to reach and engage generational cohorts. By using a mix of topical, expository, and narrative sermons, preachers adapt as needed for their congregation’s context.

This is the fourth post in a series about preaching contextualized sermons.

Why Variety Matters

The world today is accustomed to rapidly changing content and diverse media formats.

Monotonous, predictable sermon structures can result in disengagement. Offering sermon variety can maintain interest while addressing different learning preferences.

Sermons are most often written to fit three broad categories.

Sermon Types Explained

• Topical Sermons: Address a specific theme or issue directly. They can include multiple scriptures from throughout the Bible.
• Expository Sermons: Unpack a scripture verse by verse, emphasizing deep biblical understanding. Preachers who prefer this style often work through a larger text like the Sermon on the Mount or an epistle.
• Narrative Sermons: Use stories and personal testimony to illustrate spiritual truths. Messages delivered in the narrative style can feel more like a story than a sermon.

Balancing Styles

Preachers should be adaptable, choosing methods that best communicate the message and engage their listeners rather than sticking rigidly to one method.

Narrative sermons build emotional connections, expository sermons deepen understanding, and topical sermons tackle pressing concerns.

Creative Techniques

Preachers can integrate creative communication to make messages more concrete and memorable.

• Use multimedia (videos, music, visuals) to complement the sermon.
• Incorporate participatory elements like Q&A or discussion groups.
• Employ authentic storytelling to make the message memorable.
• Use props or object lessons to create strong visual connections.
• Enlist the help of others by sharing the platform when appropriate.

Embracing diverse sermon styles keeps sermons vibrant, inviting people from all generations to experience Scripture in fresh and meaningful ways.

I made a promise on this week’s episode of the Better Preaching Podcast, and my mother raised
me to keep my promises. So here it is.

My guest was Ben Cachiaras, who has preached at Mountain Christian Church for nearly thirty
years. We covered a lot of ground including a Mother’s Day sermon featuring a live eagle that
landed on a chandelier and … well … blessed the congregation in a way nobody requested. Ben
no longer preaches with live birds. Some innovations don’t survive the third service.

But the thing I promised to share is far more useful than eagle wrangling. At Mountain, they use
something called a T Doc—a simple planning document where every element starts with the
letter T. It forces the preacher to get clear about a sermon before the rest of the team has to guess.

Here are the T’s, as Ben described them:

Title — What are you calling it? (Mountain preached through Leviticus under the title “Hot
Mess, Holy God,” which is exactly the kind of title that makes me wish I’d thought of it first.)

Time — When is this sermon or series happening?

Talker — Who’s preaching?

Text — Where is this anchored biblically? You may touch several passages, but where’s home
base?

Topic — Is there a specific topic the sermon is addressing?

Theme — In a word or short phrase, what is this about? Repentance? God’s love? Salvation?

Theological concept — A little more room to breathe here. Is this sermon a pat on the back or a
kick in the shorts? Are we afflicting the comfortable or comforting the afflicted?

Takeaway — The big one. In a single sentence, what do we hope people will think, feel, or do
when they walk out?

Why bother? Because, as Ben put it, preaching is an event—and events take a team. When small
groups study alongside the sermon, their leaders need to prepare weeks in advance. When
worship planners are choosing songs, they need to know whether this message lands soft or lands
hard. A T Doc turns the preacher’s fuzzy intentions into something the whole church can build
around.

But here’s the sneaky benefit: the T Doc is a gift to the preacher first. If you can’t fill in the
takeaway line—if you can’t say in one sentence what you’re asking people to think, feel, or
do—you don’t have a sermon yet. You have a pile of notes.

So steal it. Ben won’t mind. Build your own T Doc, hand it to your team, and watch what
happens when everybody’s pulling in the same direction.

Because better preaching makes a bigger impact.