Preaching: What are some of the things you felt came out of the sermon series that have really been the most helpful within your congregation?

Lucado: I think this might be one of the most practical sermon series that we’ve presented. The reason is because in our research we came across some phenomenal statistics, sobering statistics. 1 out of 3 Americans says, “I hate my job.” 80-plus percent say, “I’m ill-equipped and unenthused about my work.” I remember one Sunday I preached a sermon called something like “Surviving a Job Mismatch.” I said: raise your hand if you have ever been in a job you don’t like? And every single hand went up. And then I said: raise your hand if you are in a job you don’t like. And I was astounded -- it might have been 70% of the hands went up!

You know I love my work, and maybe you love yours, so I just assume everybody loves their job, and they really don’t. There’s a lot of employment dissatisfaction out there, which to me speaks to something which translates into marital difficulty. If you are 8 hours a day in a job you hate, you’re not going to be a very good spouse; it can contribute to chemical dependency, financial mismanagement. So I really felt in this series we were going way upstream and finding the headwaters of some of the problems of society.

I really enjoyed presenting that series of lessons; it seemed to connect right where people lived. I was a little surprised; I thought I would find more sermons and more books on being a Christian in the work place. Of course, I found some phenomenal works -- William Hendrickson did a great book, Your Work Matters to God -- but there wasn’t that much. And to me that’s always a little satisfying -- to find an underdeveloped topic and start developing it. That was another benefit.

Preaching: A natural question pastors would ask when they read your books is: where does he come up with these stories? To what extent are the stories you use original as opposed to finding stories from other sources?

Lucado: I have never thought about that. I could easily go through all my books and mark the ones that were original, mark the ones that were adapted or pre-published that I’ve found. I’m guessing though that probably 75% of them are personal events. I just love a personal story.

Here’s what I really love: I love a funny story that I can tag a serious line on the end of. My favorite story right now that I’m telling as I travel is this: I am eating some cookies that I found on the island in our house -- you know, on the kitchen island -- that I thought my wife had bought for me at the bake sale the day before. I ate three or four of them, and I just kind of over do it talking about how I didn’t like them that much, but they were ok; I know some amateur made them and I was hungry, so how could I complain, only to find out they were home-made dog biscuits. I’ve had so much fun with that story. That explains why, for the rest of the day, every time I when I scratch my belly my leg would kick.

You know, people by then are chuckling and they’re rolling their eyes and they are wide awake. At that point to try to find the right timing to say: it is important to talk to the maker. There it is: “Bing.” You kind of get that zinger in there. You’ve got to talk to the maker. Those are my favorite kind of stories.

I really enjoy making people laugh; I’ve discovered that’s a great technique. That’s as powerful as stirring their sorrow, stirring their compassion, because that befriends you to them. It engages you with them and then you can come in; they will remember that point. Why don’t you talk to your maker? I would guess that about 75% of my stories are like that -- personal experiences that I probably over-milk. I try to be honest though, Michael; I really do try not to exaggerate the story. I try to be accurate. I have caught myself -- I’ll confess -- I’ve caught myself a time or two adding or embellishing. I don’t think that pleases the Lord. I don’t think He needs my dishonesty to convey His gospel. So I’ve confessed it to Him. I’m pretty good right now. In my younger years, you know, I would kind of embellish and I would feel a stroke of guilt; I think it was from the Holy Spirit, saying you don’t have to be dishonest to communicate the gospel.

Preaching: I remember Bob Russell saying whenever he had a story he was going to tell in which he was the hero, he always tried to precede it with a story in which he was the goat. Have you ever think about that kind of thing in terms of these personal stories?

Lucado: I think you have to be very careful about any story that puffs you up. You cover 50 yards on the playing field of faith with a story that downplays your success. You cover 3 yards, or you may even end up backward, with anything that up-plays or promotes you. The pulpit is no place for self-promotion. It is a great place for self-deprecation.

Preaching: And they do enjoy that don’t they?

Lucado: They do, they do. (Laughing) And you know, I’m their pastor. They know me. I mean I’ve been there 19 years. They know my strengths and weaknesses. I don’t ever mention if the books are selling well. I don’t ever tell them about trips I’ve been on. That disconnects me from them. That puts me in a world in which they don’t live, and I don’t want to be there.

Preaching: We’ve been talking about story, and that’s maybe part of a broader area of creativity. What do you think of the place of creativity in preaching?

Lucado: I once heard somebody reflecting on a class called Creative Writing; I think it was Fredrick Buechner, actually. And I think he said: “Is there any other kind?” Well, I suppose there is, but actually I think “creative preaching” is redundant. All preaching should be as creative as we can make it. We’ve been entrusted with such a treasure. To have anywhere from 50 to 5000 people who give us 30 minutes of their time to hear whatever we want to say -- I think they deserve all the creativity that we can give. So I would think that creativity has got to be the warp and woof, the heart and soul, of our sermons. Let’s try to present the same gospel but in a fresh fashion, always looking for a better way to connect with the audience.

Preaching: Do you in your own preaching use any visual elements or other kinds of tools?

Lucado: We do use PowerPoint. We project verses on the screen and the main points on the screen. I really enjoy finding some kind of clip out of a television show or movie. Not too long ago I did a lesson on grieving and I found a clip from the movie Lonesome Dove, where Captain Call gives advice to the young boy; his best friend has just died and they buried him. His advice was, “Walk away from it son, just walk away.” So we talked about: is that how you handle grief? We played that two-minute clip and talk about is that how you handle grief? Walk away from it. I love doing that.

We have been known to even put a skit right in the middle of the sermon. I remember one time I did a sermon on sexuality and a friend of ours owns a cello that is an antique; it’s worth $50,000. And he let me use that cello. I didn’t even touch it though. He set it up on the stage on the platform on its holder and I told the church about it, and I kind of got real close to it, but I didn’t touch it. I said I wanted to help them see this is how valuable their life is to God. It is fragile, it is special, and it is valuable. And I just had it up there the whole time and I think that helped. So little creative things like that are very helpful in a lesson.