Members falling asleep

Peter did preach one to death, Eutychus... he fell out of the window to his death.

Actually, I believe Eutychus was a picture of the man who was in the church, but had his mind on the world. Possibly dreaming of the things the world had to offer. I preached a message on him years ago. 'A Certain Fall' subtitled, 'Ye Cannot Serve Two Masters'.

 

I think it was Paul who preached. I'd probably fall asleep if someone preached until midnight.

I tell our people that I understand if they fall asleep, but I just don't want them bringing pillows.:laugh:

 

Tim,

I listened to your message "The mind of Christ" this afternoon. First I would say your preparation and delivery are fine.

If you are going to ask for an 'Amen' give your folks time to respond but for effect ask for confirmation less frequently.

You seem to have a good sense of humor therefore I would encourage you to use it for the glory of God take your time and allow your folks the time to respond to your humor.

Thirdly I would encourage you not to be afraid to hold back from giving all that you know. Your people will respond easier to one stressed point than several stressed points. Try to limit your messages to between 20-30 minutes not counting invitation.

Fourthly be practical within the context and flow of the message in another word show them the application as you preach and not at the end of your preaching by then you may have lost them.

Lastly use illustration especially historical but current events as well BTW I loved your hurricane illustration on death.

You did a fine job and you will do a much better job in the future. Read, read and read I would suggest two books both written by the same man. Homiletics from the Heart by John Goetsch and Mentoring and Modeling by John Goetsch and Mark Rasmussen.

Hang in there and don’t get discouraged. :thumbsup:

Thjplgvp

 

What I did to help myself, was to go to the church sometime during the week and practice my sermons. I varied the way I normally did the sermon and it helped me to find what worked better.

The dead will fall asleep. The half dead will say they do not understand or declare that someone else does not understand. The alive appreciate an alive preacher who walks with God.

It is not so much about style but about conviction and passion. That comes through a serious walk with God and prayer. When you have a burning conviction from God, people will listen. You can have the best oratory skills and no life. You can be full of life and not have very good oratory skills.

Do not be a Starbucks pastor/preacher. Preach what scripture teaches without compromise.

There are times when I have come down from the pulpit to the floor where the people are and it places me closer to them. Sometimes that seemed to help.

Sometimes a preacher can be smooth as silk and say nothing. I have never read a prophets words in the Bible which were so smooth that nobody caught them. People appreciate direct talk more than slippery snot.

 

But that didn't discourage Paul, he kept going till morning...

 

I don't mean to make light of the problem, but I heard this story. Oh, I guess I do.

The preacher noticed that a man was sound asleep, head back.

He told the fellow next to him, "Brother, would you wake him up?"

The fellow answered, "Preacher, you wake him up, you're the one who put him to sleep."

Now back to serious discussion.

 

Next time people fall asleep have the men take off their suit jackets and ties, lie them on the pew, and have everyone quietly leave, crank up the sound system, and put a mike next to the speaker for a blast of feedback, and then hide behind the pulpit.

They will wake up and think they were left behind .

Ok, so that's a bit extreme. You could do like we do and have coffee available during Sunday School. Have the class take turns bringing in donuts or whatever. I think a big problem is people wake up and in the rush to get to church, they skip their breakfast meal- and they are running on fumes until lunch. I'm guilty!

 

Tiptoeing in (how do you spell tiptoeing?) to quietly tell my wonderful brothers that I've been reading this thread and I've so enjoyed being on the fringes of your comradary and helpfulness and loving kindness. Tiptoeing back out :tongue3:

 

Interjecting here...some people have a tendency to fall asleep if the voice of the person speaking or preaching is a soothing tone of voice; they fall asleep, not out of boredom, but out of peacefulness and feeling calm in a comfort zone. Now if the whole congregation falls asleep, there might be a problem, lol. :laugh:

 

Take "closeup" pictures of those who fall asleep, with their tongue hanging out and post them on the walls of the Church. Name the wall "The Dunce Wall". I think that would keep people from falling asleep for sure, for no one would want to be posted on the dunce wall!

 

Or you can do what my math teacher used to do in Jr High.... Throw erasers at us!!

 

You could always hook electricity to the pews....

 

I remember a choir member one time who wore a toupee. He fell asleep, nodded forward, and the toupee flipped forward into his face....

There he set for a few minutes with his fake hair hanging down...
Now that was funny....

I all honesty, when I see someone dozing off, I like to pound on the pulpit just to see them jump....

 

How did you do Tim when you were by yourself?

 

He doesn't know, he put himself to sleep but like Paul, he kept on preaching

:sleeping_2: :sleep: :sleep:

 

Oh, you guys are mean!!!
Funny, but mean!!!

 

I used to have the problem of being the guy who fell asleep during service. My wife was sooo embarrassed that she prayed consistantly for God to solve this.

I had two factors working against me... Sleep Apnea and working midnights, my normal sleep time was 7:30 A.M. till 3 .M. so service was right in the middle of that time.

God answered her prayer, Dr. figured out the Apnea and God made me the preacher so I have to stand all service. Since then I haven't fallen asleep during service. I still work midnights, though and that is the best for a bi-vocational pastor.

maybe invite the sleepers to preach and then "fall asleep" for them.:sleeping_2: :sleeping_2: :laugh: :applause: or make sudden loud noises to awaken them.

 

The old crank up the PA and turn down the AC theory...

 

I used to have a cartoon plastered to the bulletin board depicting a DS...
Designated Sleeper.

Someone who was designated to asorb all the sleepiness out of the congregation... He was the only one allowed to drive....er, I mean sleep during the sermon.


This might get some laughs.... http://thebackpew.com/backpew/0_justsayamen.htm

Or what about this one... http://thebackpew.com/backpew/0_silenceofthelambs.htm