Simplify the Message: Multiply the Impact

by Talbot Davis

Overview

Simplify the Message: Multiply the Impact is designed to help preachers break through the noise of culture and the cauldron of church to deliver sermons with clarity, passion, and boldness. This book meets the needs of two cohorts in particular: 1) young preachers developing their skills who need structure, a process, and hope, and 2) more seasoned preachers who may have “settled” needing tools to invigorate their preparation and inspire their delivery.

Paul told the Corinthians: “When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified.” (I Corinthians 2:1-2, CEB)

Author Talbot Davis shares the insights and habits that will empower the reader’s preaching and teaching to be:

• Both creative and disciplined;
• Both carefully prepared and thoroughly spontaneous; and
• Both rooted in history and connected to modernity.

Simple is the opposite of simplistic. Sermons with clear & unmistakable focus are best able to plumb the depths not only of Gospel beauty but of the hearers’ lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501884603
Publisher:	Abingdon Press
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	0.20(w) x 0.20(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Talbot Davis is the pastor of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, a congregation known for its ethnic diversity, outreach ministry, and innovative approach to worship. He has been repeatedly recognized for his excellence in congregational development. During his 10-year term as pastor at Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church prior to serving Good Shepherd, that congregation doubled in size and received the conference’s “church of excellence” award six times. Talbot has also received the conference’s Harry Denman Award for Excellence in Evangelism. Since Talbot began serving at Good Shepherd in 1999, average worship attendance has quadrupled, growing from 500 to 2000 each Sunday. Talbot holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Princeton University and a Master of Divinity from Asbury Theological Seminary. He lives in Charlotte with his wife, Julie, and they have two grown children.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

Chapter 1 From Clutter to Clarity: The Power of the One Point Sermon 1

Chapter 2 From InterestED to InteresrING: Delightful Exegesis 11

Chapter 3 The Pastoral Sherlock Holmes: Preaching and the Sacred Act of Noticing 23

Chapter 4 Keep Me Awake, Please: A Sermon Adventure, Not a Sermon Outline 37

Chapter 5 Play It by Ear: The Power of Wordsmithing 55

Chapter 6 Who Shot J. R.? Thinking and Preaching Serially 69

Chapter 7 Special Delivery: Preaching without Notes 83

Chapter 8 An Overlooked Opportunity: Preaching Funerals and Memorials 93

Chapter 9 Simply Irresistible: Preaching Christ and Him Resurrected 109