Why I Moved Away From Manuscript Sermon Notes

As of this month, I have now been preaching for 22 years. It is wild to think that more than half of my life has been spent in the rhythms of preparing and preaching a sermon week in and week out. I have grown and learned a lot about preaching but there’s one aspect of preaching that I became 100% certain of in the first few times I preached…

I am not a manuscript preacher.

I know many pastors who preach from a manuscript and they are some of the most amazing preachers that I have ever heard. The pastor of my church, JD Greear, is a manuscript preacher and awesome at it. Other well-known preachers like John Piper and Jonathan Edwards are known for their manuscripts. I am just not one of those preachers. I tried multiple times and struggled with having to navigate preaching from a written out sermon.

I made the switch to taking a brief outline with me in the pulpit (half sheet of paper with bulleted notations) early in my preaching and the changes were immediate and immense. Here are five benefits that I have seen that have come from preaching from an outline:

1) I immerse myself in the text

Between 90% to 95% of my sermon comes from memory, so that means that I spend a lot of time on the front end in preparation. In a typical sermon, I will spend between 8-12 hours in word study on the passage, commentary work and writing out the outline. I’ll spend an additional 2 hours committing the sermon to memory.

This rhythm allows me to spend a lot of time with the Scripture in both study and prayer. Using an outline does not mean that the preacher is out there winging a sermon in the pulpit. It is like a marinating process that requires time. I soak in the Word (Psalm 77:12) so that when it is time to preach, there’s plenty of focus on the Word of God and not my feeble attempts at being winsome or wise.

2) Keeps me mobile

If I put myself in the audience’s shoes, I realize that I can be tough to sit and listen to if I just stand still behind the pulpit to read a manuscript. I don’t have the grandiose gestures of Piper or Chandler, so I will appear statuesque if I am tied to a manuscript at the pulpit. The world we live in is built for the 1 minute digital attention span and I want to do all I can to help the congregation from having their attention drift.

Being able to move around from behind the pulpit gives the listener an opportunity to re-engage for those times when their grocery list takes the forefront of their mind and not the sermon. An added bonus for me is that once I begin to move, I will gesture with my feet instead of my hands.

3) There are seams in the sermon for the prompting of the Holy Spirit

Both memory and intellect are not exactly strong suits of mine. I forget where my phone is at least a couple of times a week and I often feel like my sermons lack rhetorical and vocal power. Yet, the good news for all of us preachers is that Paul was in the same shoes, “when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.” (1 Cor 2:1)

I am shocked at nearly every sermon I preach, the Holy Spirit brings a verse to mind – mid-sermon mind you – that I did not prepare in my outline or remember studying that week. Having the flexibility that comes with a loose sermon outline allows for more space in the sermon for these moments of Holy Spirit promptings. 

4) I can make eye contact with the congregation

I want to do everything in my power to be sure that the gathering of the church is less consumer-based and more communal. This is honestly a hard task to accomplish within the space of the sermon. The congregation simply sits and listens to a sermon for between 30-45 minutes. I want to do everything in my power to keep the sermon from feeling distant from the people.

Being able to keep eye contact with the congregation is a simple act that allows the sermon to feel less like a lecture and more conversational. Preaching – and communication in general – is not merely a verbal exercise. Preaching is not just an act with my voice, it is something that I embark on with all that I have along with all of the congregation gathered in the church. Be vigilant to see the people that God has called you to preach to as you preach.

5) I preach in a simple and clear way

People often ask me if I wrote my two books using voice dictation software and they are always surprised when I tell them “no.” The way that I write (even in this article) and the way that I speak are two completely different animals altogether. If I were to manuscript a sermon, I know I would fall into the rhythm of using words that the congregation may not know off hand.

The way I normally speak is often simple language – nothing overly complicated or even churchy. That’s what I desire for my sermons: something that is clear, understandable and focused on the gospel. I want every sermon to mirror the heart of Paul, “and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:4-5)

What about you? Do you manuscript your sermons or use an outline? What benefits have come from it?