Wanna be a Preacher? Learn to Fish!
During a teaching course in seminary, they taught me a method called "Hook, Book, Look, and Took." This is where a preacher gives a captivating story to "hook" an audience, then brings them to the "book" (the Bible), then takes a "look" at how this impacts their lives, and then finishes with an application that the audience can take with them ("took").
But when I heard "hook," I pictured a fish hook. This might be because I grew up fishing the lakes and beaches of southern California. Please join me in picturing this story with me. Because now when I think about creating a sermon, I go back to fishing with my dad as a kid.
There are five stages to go fishing (each resembling a theological truth on crafting a sermon, noted in parentheses):
STAGE 1: PREPARATION
We would start by preparing for the trip a few days in advance.
Which tools do we need to bring? (What learning methods will speak to your audience?)
Do we have an extra line and backup bait? (Do you have a diversity of methods for a diversity of people?)
What season is it? (What has your community at large gone through recently?)
What have the trout been biting lately (we found this answer in the local paper)? (What have other ministries been doing well? Poorly?)
STAGE 2: BAIT 'EM (Hook)
Then in the cold, still, misty dawn, should I use a treble hook? Four-pound or eight-pound test? (Like the arduous labour detailing the message). The geese break the air with their wings gliding over the water. Black coffee is the only thing keeping me awake. My fingers, stiff from the cold, meticulously shape the bait into the most perfect, spherical breakfast. I try to think like a fish (know what your congregation is struggling with), avoiding any bumps that my finger’s pressure might add. I feel like a potter. The size of that bait will depend on how big are the fish I’m trying to catch. The location of those fish….well, the big ones are in deeper water and can be a little more difficult to catch (people who are hurt from their past and unwilling to hear a sermon). The goal at this stage of the process is to entice fish to at least sniff the bait. Get them curious. I strive here to answer, "What would get their attention upon this feast?" (We want the sermon to catch the attention and feelings of the listeners).
STEP 3: CATCH 'EM (Book)
The hook is what you really want your fish to bite & latch on to, not just the bait. I want to skillfully keep her attached to the line. I have to read the fish and get her hooked onto the sermon (I mean the bait). We do this with a “piercing” truth.
STEP 4: REEL 'EM IN (Look)
If your fish is in shallow water, then you’ll reel ‘em in within, say, twenty seconds, and all is well (a mature believer who takes in the sermon and applies it personally). But for those deep-water fish (people who haven't been to church in decades), the big kahunas (the people coming in with hurdles of pride), the 15-pounders, we get stoked if we see one of them bite! I’ll be walking with it as it goes up-shore…then back down-shore…then back to my spot (like working through the web of emotions that accompanies every human, sometimes it takes a few more compassionate steps before reeling them in). Others may be watching in anticipation of how big it is, but we want to work together as it gets pulled in (other people in ministry will look to you for advice after you successfully made deep impact). You don't want the line to snap (you must bear the burden with the person; do nothing rash that’ll hurt the other). Then, it shows face! Just a small encouragement of what's working beneath the surface! (You see humility and change in the person!) It splashes. Upon reeling the fish successfully to land, the congratulations might go to you, but the prize is that fish. (Heb 12:2 says that we are the joy that Jesus thought of when he was on the cross).
STEP 5: RELEASE 'EM (Took)
Now I love cooking what I catch, but we're talking about preparing a sermon here and this analogy requires this to be a Catch 'n Release day. After I meet the fish and we behold its beauty, I send the fish back into the water (after I help bring someone to saving faith in Christ, we equip him/her to go and impact others). Hopefully, to not get caught again. As it goes back, it has a new lease on life. The goal is that that fish would not have to relive that same experience in that same way, but that it would have learn, grow, and be redeemed from its mistakes. Further, his friends and family will have learned from his life as well.
To reiterate this analogy directly:
STEP 1: PREPARATION - You must know your audience. Spend time with them. Know what their struggles are. Don't just preach that the Bible changes lives if you don't know what in their lives needs to be changed. Also, spend time in the Word. Research what's trending in social media, thought, and lifestyle. Pray for them. The meticulousness of fishing might help you understand how this feels.
STEP 2: BAIT 'EM - Craft your sermon meticulously and prayerfully. This message ought to bring people to the Word so they can go home and look at it for themselves without you. Does your sermon impact mature Christians? Does it impact young people in the "shallow waters" of life? Does it reach out, by the strength of God, to the lost people in the "deep waters" of life? And fear not. Thorough truth, just like a well-prepared bait, speaks to all people.
STEP 3: CATCH 'EM - You don't want to captivate your audience. You want the Lord to captivate them through the Word. This is what God calls preachers to use.
STEP 4: REEL 'EM IN - Challenge every individual in the audience to feel that this specific message impacts him or her. Also, to not be so "individualistic" (which is an issue in Western culture), challenge the audience as a unit to consider how they as a community ought to apply this message collectively.
STEP 5: RELEASE 'EM - "Send them out." Give them an understandable and memorable way to go back home and live in the gospel message. "3 Points," "2 Considerations," "Sign up at the ministry booth on your way out," "Weekend Workshop," "A Challenge," "A Question to ask your family around the dinner table," "Faith & Work," etc.
So, you want to become a better preacher? Learn to fish.