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Being, among other things, a professional public speaker-which every
minister/pastor is-makes certain demands. One assumes that these demands are
understood and accepted by anyone who chooses the profession.

One of those demands, as most professional speakers know, is the cultivation of
memorization skill.

I do not mean any disrespect, but this may come as a surprise to many preachers,
since so much time and effort is spent in trying NOT to have to memorize
anything. Considerable work is put into making sure that as much as possible is
carefully and fully scripted; most of the effort after that, then, is concerned with
handling one's scripts as well as possible. In other professions, however, which also
have public speaking at their core, it is a given that one learns, and then practices,
the arts of memory. This is true from politicians to corporate executives to college
professors and countless others who "perform" in front of the public.

The effective preacher is not afraid of memorizing. The effective preacher is not
afraid to work at cultivating memory skills. In fact, the effective preacher knows
that one of the true keys to unlocking new joy and genuine creativity in ministry lies
in getting rid of all the scripts--including the sermon script-and becoming good at
memorizing. And what we are learning is that every single preacher can do that

The Twentieth Century has seen an explosion of research in the area of human
memory-most of it tied to the even larger explosion at all levels of education. The
questions about how learning and memory are connected to each other have driven
psychological, sociological, neurological, and even hereditary research. How-and
how well-are we able to remember things?

While the wide-ranging research has produced numerous results or
understandings, four are particularly important for the preacher as professional
speaker.

1. First, we have learned that we do not have a memory, as such: we have a number
of different memories, or kinds of memory. We have a long-term memory, which
lets us hang onto things that we do not really try to hang onto. These are the
memories of childhood, or events from the past, or even where things are at Ralph's
grocery store which we have visited often over the years. We have a short-term
memory, which is what we use when we set out to "learn" something by heart. We
study for a test, and we use short-term memory; we prepare a lesson, and try to
remember the details of the story-that is our short-term memory.

There are other kinds of memory that researchers are only now beginning to
explore. One kind is called "working" memory, with which we remember how to
"process" materials we have learned. There appear to be visual memory areas of
the brain, and even ones-different ones-that seem to be associated with the arts,
such as music.

For the preacher's purpose as a professional speaker, it is most important to learn
how short-term memory works, and how to use it well. There are ways to do it,
simple, straightforward ways, ways that are not only explored in my book,
Preaching Without Notes, but other ways as well that we will discuss in future
documents on this web site.

2. Second, we have learned that short-term memory is a practiced skill, like any
other skill. The mind is a muscle, in a sense, that learns to do, and do well, what it
is trained to do. And this, it should be said, applies to anyone whose mind is in
decent working order. One learns to commit things to memory by memorizing; and
the more than one commits things to short-term memory, the less time and effort it
takes to actually do it. Practice, in fact, makes perfect; or almost perfect. To say "I
cannot memorize very well" is the same as saying "I cannot type very well." But
you could if you practiced doing it. Again, that is what the educators are telling us.

3. Third, we have learned that there are some specific things that hinder one's
ability to memorize well. If one wants to memorize something quickly and
efficiently, those things must be dealt with. Lack of focus and concentration
hinders one's ability to memorize, short-term. Trying to memorize something that
is not well organized and or carefully put together also can short-circuit the
short-term memory process. Usually when we say "I tried to memorize that, but I
just can't do it," it is not because we do not have a good memory, but because the
normal "barriers" to memorizing have not been removed.

4. Finally, we know that when something is spoken to people "from memory," or
extemporaneously from a "memorized" outline, there is nothing that more
effectively communicates or touches more deeply. People like to say that he or she
spoke "by heart." Think about that. It was well prepared, well wrought. But then
its sinews were memorized, with clean modest effort. And he or she "just talked,"
and "I know that it came from the heart." Can you imagine people saying anything
better than that after you have spoken?

And all it takes is a little practiced memory!

--Joseph M. Webb