Desert Highway Ministries

How Do You Differ Your Sermons, Illustrations, Examples, Style?

A minister friend of mine whose husband is a prison chaplain emailed me and asked me this question…

“Duane, when you preach in prison, how do you differ your sermons, illustrations, examples, style?”

This is how I answered.

The only way I can speak about how I “differ” in ministry is to look at the ways I minister.  

    I “preach” the same for the most part wherever I am in a preaching setting, ie. church, church services in prison, a chapel service at Teen Challenge, church service in Africa or Mexico, etc.  I may at times use different illustrations and examples depending on what will relate to the people I am speaking to.  The same could be said for teaching in a class room setting.  I am who I am and my “style” is my style.  I do not try to be someone different.  I believe people see right through when you are not yourself or you try to “do” a particular style.  In fact, in prison I think they are even more aware of anyone who is trying to be something they are not.  They can recognize a con job a mile away.  

    When I preach it is predominately lecture, but even then I generally will find a way to interact and get responses from the crowd or single out individuals for a response.  When I teach I prefer to use a discussion style teaching environment.  I ask and answer questions.  Groups of four to forty are better for this than a large congregational setting.  In the prison this has worked very well once you have earned the respect of the men you are teaching and have made them feel comfortable sharing and asking questions in front of others. The biggest difference in prison is that you usually have more time to preach or teach than you do in a typical church setting.  That and the fact that no one can get up and leave if the clock strikes twelve. 

    I might add that I do my best to communicate in vocabulary that a twelve year old can understand no matter who i am speaking to.  If I do that then those with a college education understand as well as those who are young in either age or education.  Too many people think using more advanced vocabulary makes them sound smart.  My assertion is: What good does that do if I have not taught everyone?  Two events made me re-think my ways and adapt to this way of teaching.  One was in a church where a deacon came up to me after the service in a small community and said to me, “That was a great message, but only half of the people here understood what you said.”   The other event was in a prison when I used the KJV during a teachings session.  One of the more educated inmates asked me afterward why I would use the KJV when the majority of the men in the room did not understand the language used.  From then on I have concentrated on using simpler vocabulary as best I can.  It has become my habit even when I write.   Sure.  I do not write or sound as smart as some of my peers, but I do communicate and that is my goal.  I will let my peers be admired as the super intellectuals.  That does not matter to me as much as communicating to the masses.

    All of that said, there are times when I preach and teach in settings that are not typical or traditional settings.  Those are settings that are more similar to what Dr. Brad was talking about that he has in the cafe.  In those settings I do not usually have a prepared message, notes, or even a bible.  You do not preach at, but rather answer questions.  It is risky in some ways, because you are on the spot and must spend as much time listening to both the person and the Holy Spirit at the same time.  The Holy Spirit will use their background and ways of understanding to guide you in how to communicate to them.  What is most essential here is having the respect as a spiritual leader from the people you are speaking to.  This is done either by spending time with them and earning their respect or by having someone they respect vouch for you.  The later is the way I do ministry in the tattoo parlor in El Paso.  I might add that I do not know how the Holy Spirit gave George, the owner, the respect for my ministry that he as.  He contacted me and not the other way around.  I think it was just a pairing that God did for both he and myself.  God does that part.   George hand picks people who are showing they are susceptible to the gospel but do not trust traditional ministers.  He brings them in to meet me and may say something like, “You have a lot of questions and this is the guy with the answers.”  (Talk about being put on the spot)  Then there is a time of them checking you out to see if they can trust you and a bonding time.

In His Service,
R. Duane Gryder
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    R. Duane & Janet Gryder              Motorcycle Chaplain
    Assembly of God U.S. Missions           Acct. # 2605988
    PO Box 13383          Odessa, Texas          79768-3383
    telephone: 432-366-0909          mobile: 432-557-8417
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    A voice is calling,
              “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
          make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.”  
          ……………………………………………………..Isaiah 40:3
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 11:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.