Message Notes

I type out a manuscript every week that is color coded and I take it to the pulpit with me. I rarely even look at it while preaching, but it is there if I need it. I have used different methods, but I prefer the manuscript so that I have everything saved in one place for future reference and so that my daughters will have a copy of all of Dad's sermons when I am no longer here.

 

I have always had to type out full text and it always goes to the pulpit. I normally have to read through it three or four times before presentation and usually the last time I underline things I want to be sure and cover.

I've never been able to memorize or even remember things well so this is the only method I've found that allows me to function.

(Not that I always use the print out

 

I usually take a manuscript with me to the pulpit, and refer to it often. I've found out that if I don't, I tend to chase rabbits. I also want to say some things particular ways, and if it's not right there in front of me, I've been known to mess it up.

Also, I have one member who is very Japanese - English is not her first language. I give her a copy so she can follow along. (And yes, I'm her favorite preacher!!)

 

In English I always used a manuscript. I found that my sermons flowed better and where more colorful when I typed out every word.

Now in Spanish, I have to manuscript everything because my vocabulary is not as extensive (obviously). This has also helped me imporve my Spanish greatly. I am always finding new words and expresions to use.

 

I rarely use notes. I had done that more in my youth. We are such a small congregation that I am familiar with every face when I am preaching. When I have the opportunity to speak to larger congregations I tend to draw up an outline that I take with me to the pulpit. It tends to take my mind off the lager audience. For the most part I will mark the margins of my Bible with notes and references. I date them on the Sunday that I have preached and when I have pretty much used the margins it is time for a new Bible. I have many of my Bibles stored in my home office. When I pass those Bibles down they will be there for my children and grandchildren to read and look at. I will at times refer back to them when the need arises.

 

When I did regular pulpit preaching, I generally used a basic outline on either one sheet of paper or a notecard. I manuscripted a few times, one of which was because I had to manuscript a sermon for preaching class. Since I already had it and practiced it when I preached in class, I used it.

Now that I'm a youth minister, I don't generally use notes or an outline. When I use PowerPoint, I have some basic points on the screen, and if I have a handout, I follow it.

 

I got on my knees one day and told the Lord that I desired to preach without notes. I dedicated my preaching ministry to that end. I write out a full maniscript of every message, but I do not carry it into the pulpit. It has been the most rewarding experience of my life! I was influenced in this area by Dr. W.A. Criswell!

 

It varies. I try to prepare thoroughly. In a perfect world, I'd do a full manuscript, then pare it down to some bullet pointed notes that I would have. Sometimes I'll just have some handwritten notes. Sometimes I'll have a half sheet. Sometimes nothing. Sometimes a full manuscript.

The key, no matter what, is to be note-free more than you are note-less. I've seen preachers who have full mss who keep eye contact almost all the time. I've seen preachers with just a Bible bob their heads up and down like a chicken and never look eye-to-eye with their people. Guess which is better?

I was influenced by Criswell and Vines as well, and their note-free/less admonitions. Yet I found myself saying some of the same things. Not good for a man who is preaching to the same people 3x a week or more. And Vines and Criswell both repudiated their note-less views and both used notes extensively in their latter ministries. In fact, I heard Vines say he wished he never commended the note-less method so strongly.

 

I use one page outlines, A5 size (half a page), in both Japanese and English. I got this from my father. He once started a church in Kansas where the folks thought you weren't spiritual if you used notes. One day the window was open and the wind blew his outline off the pulpit and away from him. They watched with bated breath, but he just kept on preaching without the outline and that won them over.

For anyone interested, I have scans of a couple of John R. Rice's handwritten outlines on my website. He also would make one page outlines. Even if it was a sermon he had preached many times before he would write a new outline for it. :type:

 

I use the powerpoint slides printed off as reminders of where I am in the sermon....


(That way when I wake up, I know exactly where I am!!! lol)

 

Hmm. Does such high tech make a man a modernist? :smilewinkgrin: :smilewinkgrin:

 

Hardy, har har....

 

Now, I've been known to struggle to remain fully alert in church :sleeping_2: , but I've never fallen asleep in the pulpit.:laugh:

I tend to use 2 pages of notes. I need to learn to make actual outlines.

 

Do you remember a thread somewhere on this board about a year ago where one of the posters was condemning all you "new fangled fellers...?"

By the way, I use bulleted notes. They look just like a powerpoint slide might look!

 

I vary from no notes, to outlines, to manuscripts. I even use powerpoint. I do what works for the situation and the particular scripture. If I can type out a complete manuscript I do and read it from the pulpit. If I get bogged down and can only come up with points I take that to the pulpit and rely on the Lord to fill in the blanks. If I can't develop even some points because there are just too many ideas flowing in my head, then I go to the pulpit having prayed hard for the Lord to bring it all together. And, everytime He has. In fact, my noteless, outline less preaching gets a better response every time.

 

I take a manuscript with me but rarely look at it except to make certain of quotes. I also am a "modernist" :laugh: and use the power point to help keep me on point. I used to spend alot of time in rabbit trails.

I think regardless of what we take to the pulpit, it is prayer time before and preparation in the text that means the most.

 

Why would you ever read a manuscript from the pulpit?

 

I have never done a complete manuscript for a sermon unless required to do so for a class.

I generally take about 1 1/2 to 3 pages of notes with me in the pulpit. It helps me keep to the flow I have planned. I also write out key sentences that I want to use in conclusions or in transitions between points so that I say those key things exactly.

I preached through Hebrews a year ago and did several of those sermons without taking notes to the pulpit. I actually got comfortable doing this but have not made it a habit since.

One reason that I think Charles Stanley is an effective television preacher is that he appears to be preaching without notes. Perhaps he has a teleprompter or perhaps he has a photographic memory, but whatever he does makes him look "natural" in his TV delivery.