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A Week in the Life of an Extemporaneous Preacher

Preaching for the ear—orality—rather than for being read—literateness—requires not less preparation, but a much different method of preparation.

Dave McClellan

Introduction by Dave McClellan: For years I've been studying the differences between oral and literary approaches to sermon preparation and delivery. In fact, I focused an entire dissertation on it. Even more formative for me than the theoretical study, though, has been the chance to develop an oral homiletic before the patient congregation that I serve. The weekly practice has evolved into a rhythm that feels normal now, even though it's miles from how I was originally taught to preach. I've seen an oral approach yield dividends in terms of better rapport, freedom, and passion in preaching.

Our church now has a young intern named Ben who wants to learn preaching, and it's been great fun to pull him into the process.

The following is what I might say to him to summarize my homiletical week—a literary account of an oral practice:

Ben,

Considering that all our recent conversations on oral homiletics have been, well, oral, I thought perhaps it might help you if I put some things down on ...