As I travel the country, nothing I say creates more controversy than this: men would benefit from shorter, simpler sermons. In my Go for the Guys Sunday Action Plan, I advocate a one-point sermon, ten minutes in length, built around an object lesson.
People are freaking out over this. I get comments like:
- David, you have a low regard for men’s intelligence.
- Short sermons “dumb down” the gospel.
- With Biblical illiteracy such a problem, we need more teaching, not less.
- We don’t need shorter sermons; we need better ones.
- My pastor is so interesting I wouldn’t mind if his sermons were longer.
- The apostle Paul preached for hours, and many were saved.
- Men just need to learn to pay attention.
Let’s take these one at a time.
Continue reading In Praise of Short Sermons
The church loses almost all of its young men after high school. Research indicates that more than 70 percent of the boys who are raised in church abandon it during their teens and twenties.
Dan Schaeffer told me the sad tale of his son’s nine best Christian buddies. All were pillars in the youth group, but within three weeks of high school graduation all nine had turned their back on church.
Why is this happening? We work so hard to train them up in the way they should go. How can a boy simply abandon church after 16 years of Sunday school, 8 years of VBS, and 4 years of youth group?
I believe we can combat this widespread apostasy – if we rediscover young male initiation.
Continue reading Boyz to Men
