by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
There is a difference between preaching and performance. This is not to say good preaching does not involve solid delivery or shouldn’t use any aids. It is to say there is a difference in focus, and the preacher does well to understand this.<\/p>\n
Performance aims at the mechanics. It can come across as staged, a production that takes the audience by storm and keeps them in rapt attention based on delivery. The content is secondary-important perhaps-but not really the main focus. The speaker has attention, and this is the thing. His is an art aiming at perfection of presentation, manner, gesture, and cadence. The cardinal sin is the slip-up, the stutter, or the mechanical failure. The speaker is the show, remembered not so much for what he said but how he said it.<\/p>\n
In contrast, sound preaching aims at truth and understanding. Delivery is important because it can draw attention to or away from the text, for the text that shows us our Lord is the thing. Delivery is secondary to the truth and the speaker knows his place in the order of importance. He is not a master, but a servant of the text and a humble minister to those hungering for truth. He is not on display, but rather he places the truth on display and lets it have its intended effect as God’s word. His is not a graded performance, but a missional service focused on the one thing.<\/p>\n
In other words…<\/p>\n
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 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<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:1-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Doy Moyer There is a difference between preaching and performance. This is not to say good preaching does not involve solid delivery or shouldn’t use any aids. It is to say there is a difference in focus, and the preacher does well to understand this. Performance aims at the mechanics. It can come across…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-54014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40491,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-good-sermon\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":0},"title":"A Good Sermon","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton A sermon is good if it is scripturally full and accurate because all scripture is good (II Timothy 3:16-17). The delivery may be lacking in some way because of human weakness both on the delivery end and on the receiving end. That always needs constant attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20232,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-can-be-done-about-a-preacher-who-puts-more-effort-into-delivery-than-into-content\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":1},"title":"What can be done about a preacher who puts more effort into delivery than into content?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u00a0worship at a\u00a0church of Christ\u00a0and have a concern about the preaching there. The sermons are really for show rather than substance. The preacher seems very pleased with his oratory style raising and lowering his voice and parading up and down in front of the congregation. I have mentioned this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24683,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-the-difference-between-a-preacher-and-a-teacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":2},"title":"What is the difference between a preacher and a teacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been wondering about this one for some time now, but still can't quite figure it. For all the similarities that one can see between \"preaching\" and \"teaching\" (and besides things like audience involvement), what is the real difference between the two? Focus? Delivery? Approach? I'm always thankful to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20234,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/alexander-campbell-as-a-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":3},"title":"Alexander Campbell as a Preacher","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Theories on Preaching by Carroll Elis via\u00a0The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 11, September 1952. Preaching is not for a lazy man, a sick man, or a tired man. Preaching the gospel is work. The greatest use which can be made of the human tongue is in the proclamation of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/Alexander_Campbell_young-263x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":48010,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/context-and-exposition\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":4},"title":"Context and Exposition","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gary P. Eubanks The burden of these remarks consists of three points: The value of (immediate) context for Bible interpretation has been overrated. This exaggerated conception of the importance of context has, in turn, been used to justify an over-emphasis on expository preaching. The over-use of expository preaching holds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42038,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-aim-of-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":54014,"position":5},"title":"The Aim of Preaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Frank Himmel Churches that are all about numbers gladly alter their activities to accommodate popular demand. While music usually gets special attention, preaching is no less targeted. Perhaps it would be timely to remind us all what God intends preaching to accomplish. Preaching is to Instruct In His wisdom,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/arrow-and-target-203x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}