How (and Why) to Tweet a Sermon

One of the main things that I tweet are sermon notes. It will look like this:




This is the last sermon I tweeted. It was Jason Collins' (@jasoncollins75) message called "Decision Time" on Palm Sunday. It rocked.

Tweeting a sermon can be helpful for several reasons.

- It helps you put into your own words the things the preachers are saying. The pastors I tweet rarely make 140 character comments, so I have to summarize. That helps me internalize what they are saying and it sticks.

- It creates a record of thoughts. Truth is, people have been doing this for years, they've just been writing it in the margins of their Bible instead of in the twitterverse. (hint: if you make your notes in YouVersion, you can then share them on Twitter. It's like tweeting your Bible margins. More on that in a later blog).

- It lets the preaching pastor see what stuck out for others. I'll often go back after my sermons and see what was tweeted by the couple of people I know are doing it. It provides me with instant feedback on what was communicated well. Feedback is a good thing. Sometimes after the sermons when we are sitting down with our teaching pastors and going over last weekend's sermons, they will ask what we thought. I will just pull up my Twiter feed and share with them the things that stuck out for me.

- It allows others to follow along who can't be with you. As I tweet the sermons, I will sometimes have parishioners comment that they are glad I'm doing it because they are sick or out of town or something. I will sometimes even get complete strangers to follow along.

- It provides extra resources. If a pastor mentions a book or something I will quickly hop onto Amazon.com or other website and provide the link to that book. I will also provide links to the scriptures that they use.

- It gives people a chance to dialogue. Now and then a point will become a topic of discussion on twitter. You can model how to have a mature, Christian discussion on a theological topic right there on Twitter.

- You can tweet pictures. It gives people the ability to see what it looks like there even if they aren't there.

- It helps provide clarity. When I am preparing to preach, I will sometimes ask myself, "Could someone tweet this?" If the thoughts are incredibly complex, too complex to tweet, maybe you need to find a better way to say what it is you're saying. It's a great practice in communicating clearly.

I know some people don't like the idea of tweeting or being on smart phones at all during sermons. And maybe it's not for everyone. But for me, I actually find it helpful.

What do you think of tweeting sermons? Let me know in the comments below!