When preachers one of the questions that comes up is "what are you preaching?" This sounds like a fine question, like a group of scientists getting together asking each other what they are researching.
This question generally breaks down into two types of answers: The "brag" and the "life changer".
The brag is when preachers talk about how innovative the sermon or series was. Generally it is expressed in modest terms but it is clear that the sermon was nothing short of greatness. It was flawless and it is shared that this sermon is just one of a 'typical' sermon. The brag also contains any gimmicks that were used: videos, text messages during the sermon, painters while preaching, etc.
The life changer is when preachers talk about how many lives were changed or affected by the sermon or series. This is a more nuanced version of the brag but it is much more acceptable because preachers feel that we are in the life changing/transforming business.
In the same way that farmers like to talk about the quality of the harvest, preachers like to talk about the quality of the sermon. But unlike farmers who also talk about the processes they used to get such a harvest, preachers are not very good or interested in talking about the process we use to craft sermons.
But I want to talk about the process of preaching. I really am not interested in the product of preaching that we call the sermon.
Here is why.
Regardless of how clear I think I am, people get from sermons things that I did not say or did not mean. People get from sermons what they get from sermons and I believe that God is the man agent of the preaching moment.
Rather than talking about the product, the sermon, of which the preacher has much less control over how it is heard and interpreted I would rather talk about the process of how the preacher crafts sermons.
Perhaps preachers don't talk too much about process because few lives are changed by sermon processes and it is much harder to brag.
