How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. How do you get to be a really good public speaker? Practice, practice, practice. As a pastor, being an effective public speaker is part of your job. It is important to know how to speak well, but it is also important to know some of the pitfalls to good message delivery and reception. You will never reach 100 percent of your audience 100 percent of the time — so let that fear go! Here are some things pastors do wrong in public speaking and how to correct them.

1. Not knowing your audience
Public speaking is a dance — a moving, ongoing relationship between the speaker and the audience. Pastors, you need to get out among the people who sit in your pews. Who are they? What are their lives like? What are the issues they are facing? What are the unique pressures they are under? Educating yourself on the real lives of your congregants helps you tailor your message and use application narratives that speak directly to their lives. Not knowing your audience can create disconnection. Worse, if your congregation doubts that you “get” them, they will be less likely to take what you say and apply it to their lives. Spend real time with people in your congregation. Go where they go. Eat where they eat. Build a relationship. This will allow your messages to be personal and authentic.

2.  Using Jargon or “Insider” language
Church language can be downright strange. Do you speak about being “washed in the blood”? Do you incorporate all the cool new church growth language into your sermons? Are you trying to impress your seminary professor or lead your congregation to a greater relationship Jesus? How we use language matters. “Christianese” can be creepy — avoid it. Your congregation has likely not read Sticky Church, so talking about them being sticky makes them want to wash their hands, not be more attractive to the lost. Varying the level of vocabulary will make you seem educated or smart, but without definition and explanation, you will lose your audience.

3.  Preaching to the Choir

Remember, your congregation is not just like you. Think about the words you use and the illustrations you share. Do they all involve families, children or your spouse? Do you overuse sports metaphors or make all illustrations around your favorite activity? What about the pronouns you use? Are they all male? White? American? Personal examples are a great way to make a connection, but too often the message does not resonate because your congregation is not you.

Spend real time with people in your congregation. Go where they go. Eat where they eat. Build a relationship.

4.  Trying to be Someone You are Not
While your congregation may not be you, they did choose you, so be yourself. If you are like me, you listen to a lot of other pastors and teachers. Avoid trying to mimic or adopt the style, cadence or tactics of your favorite preacher. Play to your strengths. You are not called to be an imitator of other successful pastors. Speak in your voice. Stay in your lane, and be true to who God made you to be. This way, your messages will be received as authentic and natural.

5. Not Knowing When or How to End Well
Conclusions are one of the most under appreciated parts of a sermon, but the most remembered. Write your conclusion first. What do you want your congregation to get from your message? What do they do with it? Call your audience to action. Challenge them to make the application. If you have a great 15 minute message, then do it in 15 rather than 40. Give room for the Spirit to move, but then get out of the way. Cut a point or two rather than drag it out just to say what you prepared. End it when it is done — then be done — and stop speaking.

Speaking week after week can reinforce ineffective public speaking strategies just as speaking well can enhance the effective strategies. Work on avoiding these five pitfalls and you will preach messages that resonate, motivate and change your congregation. And they will change you along the way, too.