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Bryan, how would you define inspirational preaching?
Inspirational preaching is preaching that lifts people. It lifts people on a variety of levels. It lifts their understanding of themselves, of God, of the world, and of history. Most people's thoughts tend to drift downward. They get discouraged about life. They begin to doubt God. They question their own abilities. That downward drift of thinking needs to be uplifted. Paul says, "set your minds on things above." And so inspirational preaching helps people think higher.

It also lifts their sight, their vision of what life could be, from what life actually is. Like a hiker on a trail, after awhile our eyes drift downward, we begin to look at the ground in front of us, and walking gets tedious and tiresome. Inspirational preaching gets people to lift their eyes and look further down the trail, to enjoy the sights around them, and to think about where they're going. Inspirational preaching lifts people's sight so they can see what could be up ahead.

Thirdly, it lifts people's spirits. People tend to get beaten down by life, worn down, put down. Inspirational preaching helps people believe in God, believe in themselves, and see what could be, rather than what is. So uplifting is the best word to describe inspiration.

That's a great definition. Of the preaching you hear, how much is inspirational?
Not as much as ought to be. A lot of preaching is informational, telling people things they need to know, and certainly we need to do that. Part of preaching is instructive. Then a lot of preaching becomes exhortational, urging people to do things they should do. They should witness, tithe, serve, or pray. Exhortational preaching is creating a sense of urgency around those things. That is important. We need to exhort people.

Inspirational preaching encourages people to do things they already want to do. People want to be generous. People want to share their faith. They want to be closer to God. While it's important at times to exhort them to do those things, inspirational preaching taps into that desire they already have and liberates it, gives them permission to try things. It fills them with courage, which is what encouraging means.

Any other types of preaching that come to mind in addition to exhortational and informational?
Another might be confrontational, where we're correcting some false understanding of doctrine or behavior. There are times to be corrective or prophetic, but too often we leave out the inspirational element.

An example might be tithing. Every pastor sooner or later has to preach on tithing. A certain amount of that is informational, especially today when some people don't know what tithing means. So explain it, give them the information they need. And then move on and exhort them. You need to tithe. Start tithing. The church needs you to tithe. And that's appropriate, but don't stop there. Encourage people. Inspire them to want to tithe. Tap into that desire they have to be generous and help them imagine what life could be like if they became tithers. We leave that element out too often.

Any examples?
Recently I was doing a message from Romans 8 on the work of the Spirit. The congregation needed some information: "Who is the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit work in people's lives?" There was also an element of exhortation, as I reminded the people we can't live the Christian life in our own strength: "We need to rely on the Holy Spirit." But I didn't want to leave it at that—sending them out knowing and feeling they should—I wanted them to want to be filled with the Spirit. So at the end of the sermon I used a John Ortberg illustration.

He talks about the difference between rowing a boat and sailing a boat. It's a story about canoeing in the wilderness and how tedious and tiresome it can be to paddle a canoe hour after hour. But when the wind picks up, you can grab a poncho, tie it to your paddles, make a sail, and go flying across the lake. I said, "You can paddle if you want to, but it's a lot more fun to sail." People walked out of the message wanting to sail, wanting to be filled with the Spirit, and for weeks people referred back to that illustration.

That's great. I often find myself trying to categorize preaching in terms of answering the questions how, what, or why. Inspirational preaching seems to transcend those questions in some way.
It does transcend all of those. It captures all of them and lifts them to a higher plane, to where the congregation not only has understanding and a sense of urgency, but also the want-to, and the belief that they can live differently than they do now. Life can be better than it is. They can be stronger Christians than they are. The church can be more vibrant than it is. Helping people really believe —that inspires them.

So the sermon moves beyond the information dump to motivation.
Yes. I had a church member who was a motivational psychologist. He had done some research in the area of what motivates people in the workplace and contrasted extrinsic motivation with intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is rewarding people externally with a bonus, a pay raise, a vacation, or benefits. Many companies will motivate their people with those kinds of rewards. But research has found it's far more effective to tap into people's intrinsic motivations, their internal drive to want to be successful, to want to be competent, to want to belong. If you can tap into those intrinsic motivators, you don't need the external ones.

People who are intrinsically motivated work better, last longer, and have more fun. They're better teammates. This psychologist helped us create that environment in the church. In fact, he challenged me to never use the words should, ought, or must in a sermon. For a couple of years, I tried it just to discipline myself never to use those words, and it was difficult. But I soon found myself using different language, words of invitation. Why don't you? You get to do this. What would it be like? Imagine doing this. It became more invitational rather than exhortational.

How can a preacher determine whether they are inspirational or not?
There are a few analytical questions you could ask yourself. One would be: How often do I use the words should, ought, or must in a sermon? Listen to yourself. Look over your manuscript. Chances are, you're using them more than you need to and more than what's effective.

A second would be: How many of your illustrations end negatively? A sad story or a story with a bad ending is gripping. The guy who ends up lonely because he doesn't join a small group or the married couple whose marriage deteriorates because they don't work at their marriage—those get people's attention, but negative stories don't inspire. Preachers will sometimes use those kinds of illustrations because we know we get people, but I'm not sure we get them where they need to go. So how many of your illustrations end negatively?

Next, think about content. Do you tend to preach more out of the Epistles or the Gospels and the Book of Acts? If you work mainly out of the Epistles, chances are you're more exhortational in your preaching. The narratives and Jesus' preaching tend to be more inspirational. If you're in the Old Testament, do you tend to work out of the prophets, which will be exhortational, or out of the narratives and Psalms, which can be inspirational. So our content has something to do with it.

Another simple question is: How do people feel when they leave the service? Do they leave smiling? Do they leave feeling optimistic and hopeful? Or do they leave feeling sad or sobered? There are times they need to leave feeling convicted. But over the long haul, how people walk out of the sanctuary is a good indicator of whether they've been uplifted or not.

Would you say there should be no more than one negative illustration in a sermon?
Every negative should be balanced by a positive. The sermon should either be equal or heavier on the positive side.

One weekend we celebrated the multicultural emphasis of our church. We had invited a speaker to come, a nationally recognized figure in the area of multicultural ministry, and he preached what he called a prophetic message. And it was a very prophetic message. I sat in the front row cheering him on, saying, That's it, boy. Let us have it. Tell us what we need to hear. But the people were disheartened by it. When I asked them afterwards why they had such a negative reaction, it was because all the illustrations were negative—the many times that the white suburban church had blown it. They were all true, and we needed a kick in the pants. But the end result was that the people ended up feeling guilty and disheartened, as if they'd never ever get it right.

So even in that prophetic word there needed to be some hope.
There needed to be some hope. And it was in the passage. There in the passage was a vision of what life could be like when God's people lived in unity, but we didn't quite get there.

How can we be more inspirational?
First, be biblical. In other words, inspirational preaching shouldn't be lightweight. It shouldn't be a string of stories and platitudes and self-help happy talk. That gets thin and lacks power. There's plenty of uplifting material in the Scripture. There needs to be Scriptural content. We're lifting people's understanding of themselves, of God, of the world, and of history. Be biblical.

A second thought is, be positive. It's easier to be negative. Negativity does get attention. It engages people emotionally. If you've been preaching for any amount of time, you know what will cause a congregation to feel convicted or burdened or sympathetic with someone's plight. We know how to evoke those kinds of emotions, but we don't want to leave people there.

It's harder to be positive. It's harder to create a spirit of joy and expectancy. But we want to work hard at being positive.

It's harder to be positive.

For example, I was listening to Preaching Today issue 262 with Leith Anderson. He spoke about "Good News for America," talking about the role of the church in American culture. Most of us, when we begin to preach about American culture and the role of the church, will quickly get negative—the decay of the culture, the inability of the church to address issues, the declining morality and distinctiveness of the Christian church. It's easy to get negative.

It's shooting fish in a barrel.
It really is. Leith didn't do that. He brought a positive perspective. I was inspired. Listening to the tape in my car, I was ready to go out and do something, because it inspired me. He was working out of 1 Peter, and 1 Peter was written to a church that was persecuted, suffering, and scattered. Peter had reasons to be negative, but Peter said, "Live such good lives among the people that they may see your good works." The tone in Peter's letter is positive, and Leith captured it.

A third thought is, be passionate. Inspirational preaching has an element of emotion to it. We have to allow ourselves the freedom to be emotional, to laugh out loud, to smile. If we're feeling genuinely choked up, we need not be afraid of that, or afraid of having people feel choked up over a gripping story.

Probably the best example I can think of is John Maxwell. His enthusiasm is absolutely contagious. He's one of the most inspirational speakers I've ever heard. He carries you along by his sheer joy and enthusiasm for life, as well as the moments of brokenness he's felt in his life or experienced in others.' By the end of a Maxwell message, you've been engaged emotionally, and you're inspired.

Another thought would be to describe a preferable future for people. In other words, help people imagine what their lives could be like. "Wouldn't it be great to go to work every day knowing you spent half an hour with God talking over your day and allowing him to speak to you through the Scripture?" That's very different than saying, " You'd better not go to work without having your devotions." Another example would be, "Think of how liberating it would be to be able to give away ten percent of your income every year. Think of how free that would make you from the control of money in your life." Play out for people what their lives will look like when they begin to live this way, because people want to live that way. They don't need to be beaten into it.

A final idea would be to tell stories. There's nothing like a story well-told that engages people emotionally, helps them imagine what their lives could be like, and lifts their sights and understanding and hopes in the world. That could mean a personal story from your life or something you find somewhere about someone else. We did a series on getting people involved in service in the church, and we called it, "Getting in the Game." There was plenty of information about the importance of service. There was plenty of exhortation: "We need you to serve." But I sensed we were lacking that inspirational element. Why should people want to do this? So we used a clip from the film Rudy, about the Notre Dame football player. If you've seen the movie, you know it ends with him getting in the game for one last play, and being carried off the field. And there was no way I could create that with words, but that little film clip created that emotion. The people said, "I want to be in the game." That alone, without the teaching, without the exhortation, would have just been happy talk, but coupled with the content it was effective.

When using inspirational illustrations we need to be careful. We need to use accessible illustrations that the average person can identify with. For example, one illustration a lot of preachers have used, including myself, is the story of Telemachus, the ancient saint who, by his martyrdom, brought an end to the gladiatorial contests. It is a stirring story of someone who stood up for what was right, even at the cost of his life. It has an inspirational element to it. But it was a long time ago and in a very different world. If that's our only story, the average person thinks, This isn't Rome. I'm not a saint, and that doesn't relate to me. A similar thing happens on a lesser scale when we use spiritual giants as illustrations. The average person puts people like that in a separate category, and the illustration, while powerful, is out of reach for the ordinary person.

There's an illustration in the Preaching Today database about forgiveness. It's the story of a family whose child becomes ill, is treated by a doctor, but is misdiagnosed, and the child dies. Some years later, the couple's second child becomes sick in the very same way, and the same doctor asks if she can treat that child as well. The couple not only forgives the doctor, but also trusts her to treat their second child. It has a wonderful ending, and it is a powerful story, but it's almost out of reach for the average person. I wonder if some people sit there and say, Boy, I could never do that. So I'll just never be able to forgive. It doesn't mean you don't use an illustration like that, but if you do, make sure you use another one that brings it down to Earth, close to home. Think of a guy down the street, someone from the congregation that everyone can say, Oh, she's like me. If she can do it, I can do it.

So it might not be as powerful, but it is personal, and therefore it connects the truth.
Yes. That's right. It's not as powerful, perhaps, but it resonates with people. It's a wonderful way to preach to see people walk out of the room believing life can be better, that they can be people of God who make a difference in the world. It's a rewarding way to minister God's Word to people.

Bryan Wilkerson is pastor of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts.