Preaching Nuts & Bolts: Conquer Sermon Prep, Save Time, and Write Better Messages

Preaching is hard work. When I first felt called to ministry, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had never preached a sermon in my life. I never had a mentor walk me through the process. In fact, I was scared to death of public speaking. So I argued with God. I begged Him to let me do anything but preach. The thought of having to preach in front of a crowd every single week terrified me. But God didn't relent. I went to a Bible college. I thought, "Surely, Bible college will teach me how to preach " I applied myself. I graduated with honors with a ministry degree. But sadly, I was only forced to preach two times in the entire four years I was there. Since I was scared, I didn't go out of my way to seek preaching opportunities like I should have. Suddenly, I found myself in my first job as a youth pastor. I immediately had to preach at least once a week. PANIC Bible college did not prepare me for this. What should I do? My first attempts at sermons (if you could even call it that) were horrendous. I stood in front of my notes, shaking while reading the message word for word. This is not what I got into ministry to do I needed to get better. So I hit the books. I read every book on preaching I could get my hands on. The books were alright but mostly theoretical. So I asked a lot of pastors a lot of questions and started listening to as many good preachers as I could find. Finally, I started getting some practical advice. Slowly, I began to get better with each message. This little book is the kind of resource I wish I had way back when I felt the call to ministry. There were good books on preaching, but most lacked the practical tips I needed. I knew why I preached and what to preach. What I didn't know was how to preach. I needed short, practical tips to get me started in the right direction. Writing a sermon is not as complicated as it may seem. My hope is that this book will save you from the same panic attacks I had. However, if you are a well-seasoned preacher, don't think this book isn't for you. It never hurts to get back to the basics. Writing this book has been just as helpful for me, reminding me of areas I, myself, have strayed from. In this book, you will learn how to master sermon prep, save time, write better messages, build an amazing illustration database, and more. Thanks for investing the time to read this. Your preaching will be better for it.

My name is Brandon Hilgemann. I am the husband of an incredible wife, and father of two amazing kids. I’m also a pastor. I have served in multiple churches around the country from some of the largest and fastest growing to new church plants. For the last decade I have been on a journey to become the best preacher I can possibly be. I have preached multiple sermons a week for years. I have worked in different churches absorbing everything I could. I have read every preaching book, blog post and article I can get my hands on. I listened to thousands of sermons. And I’m still learning. In November of 2012, I started a blog about preaching to write my thoughts from this journey and decided to name it ProPreacher.com. Then I told no one. To my surprise, people showed up, came back, and shared it with their friends. I am blown away by the fact that the ideas and principles I have learned and shared on ProPreacher.com have been read by thousands of pastors around the world. I don’t pretend to be the world’s foremost preaching guru. I still have a lot to learn. However, my hope is that the things I have learned and continue to learn will help you as much as they have helped me. Thanks for taking this ride with me.