How I use texting when preaching
Do not turn your cell phone off in church!!! The following are a few ways in which I leverage texting when preaching.
SERMON OPENERS: Occasionally I have people answer a question at the beginning of a sermon. I will pose the question and then continue on with the sermon. Then at an appropriate time I’ll share some of the answers. It creates massive engagement. I’ve done this both in serious and in fun ways. Here’s some examples of questions I have posed:
When preaching on work I had people text me their “first or worst” job.
When preaching on marriage from the book of Ruth once I had people text me their first date.
SERMON RESPONSES: Occasionally I will have people simply text me their response to the sermon. I’ve done this as a way for people to give their life to Jesus (Just text me “I’m in”) or to be baptized (Just text me “I’m down”).
ASK ME: This is one of my favs. I have done this a couple times as a sermon series and a couple times as stand alone sermons. Here’s how it works
1 .I open the sermon by giving the theme (i.e. prayer, marriage…)
2. I invite anyone to text in any question they would like about that topic. My cell phone # is placed on the screens.
3. I will preach 10–15 minutes on the topic in order to establish a framework and for time for texts to come in. YES…tons of questions come in.
4. I’ll leave the the last 20–30 minutes of my sermon to answer their questions live. I always have someone else manage my phone on these days. That way I am just presented with the best questions that come in. Occasionally I can anticipate what the questions will likely be and can have some prepared notes. But it’s especially fun to answer the wildly crazy questions. These are perhaps the sermons in which I have seen the greatest crowd participation and delight. Too often we preach on what we want to share but on these days I know for certain that I am preaching on what the crowd wants and needs to hear.
Small Group Leaders: We ask all small groups to either study the sermon topic or at least open discussion by reflecting on the sermon. To help facilitate this my communications director texts quotes and points from the sermon to them while the sermon is being preached. She texts them both the main points and items that seem to especially land during the sermon.
Any Given Sunday: Anyone can text me a question about my sermons ever week. My cell # is always in the sermon notes section of the bulletin. Our church is so used to this that there is seldom a Sunday in which I don’t receive some sort of question or comment. And no, people are not abusing this and attacking me or my sermons. Sometimes they ask a clarification question, sometimes it’s a request for a scripture I shared, sometimes it’s just a general comment. I think the most I have received on one Sunday is around 125 texts.
DURING THE MUSIC: I have used texting in the middle of a worship song. For example, once we sang the song Because He Lives by Matt Maher. We asked people to text in “Because he lives I can _____” (they were to fill in the blank). We had the texts scrolling on the screen during the song. This was like a live version of the cardboard testimonies. Powerful!
TWO SIDE BENEFITS:
Everyone has my cell number. Only rarely has this been abused. However, I hardly ever receive calls on the office phone.
I have everyone's cell number. Over time these contacts add up. I’m not sure what % of the church I have but it’s gotta be close to 100%. This is not only for members but I get visitors contacts this way also.
