How to Handle Distractions While Preaching

What is the most distracting thing that has ever happened to you while preaching?

For me it was when I was a youth pastor at a church in New Mexico. I was preaching to a group of high school students.

In the middle of my message, a boy stood up, jumped onto his chair and began to do what looked like an Irish jig. And before I could say anything, the chair flipped over, dropping the boy flat on his back. The room exploded in laughter.

Fortunately, except for his ego, the boy was not hurt. But he definitely hurt my sermon. All eyes were on him. All eyes were off Jesus. Some students were literally rolling on the floor they were laughing so hard.

How do you recover from something like that?

Another time when I was preaching a silent fire alarm was falsely triggered somehow. So as I was wrapping up my message, four firemen in full uniform come walking down the aisle, up the side of the stage, and disappear into an electrical room behind me.

What do you do in that situation?

Nobody prepares you for falling dancers and firefighter appearances in seminary!

If you have any experience preaching, it is inevitable that distractions will happen. Maybe a kid runs on stage, a baby screams, or your mic dies.

Distractions happen.

So what do you do when distraction strikes? How do regain the attention of your audience so the power of your sermon isn’t lost?

How to Handle Distractions While Preaching

The way you should handle a distraction depends on the severity of the distraction.

Ignore small distractions. Address and redirect big distractions. And take action in emergencies.

Small Distractions

If a distraction only lasts a second and isn’t noticeable to everyone, keep preaching.

Small distractions could be a person in front row walks out, a cell phone beeps, a baby cries before being taken outside, or people in the back talking.

For minor distractions like these you can power through.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep on preachin’ on.

Big Distractions

Big distractions are a whole different story. A big distraction is something that everyone cannot help but notice. They cannot be ignored.

Somebody’s phone rings with a Justin Beiber ringtone. A stray kid wonders onto the stage. Somebody shouts something out when you weren’t expecting it. Your microphone dies. A baby is screaming and the parents refuse to take the poor demon child outside. Your phone rings with a Justin Beiber ringtone.

In cases like these, the distraction is so big that everyone notices. You have to address the problem. If you don’t, people will wonder if you are blind or deaf. It will only become a bigger distraction.

The best way to regain control is to address and redirect.

Say or do something to acknowledge or address the distraction. Then redirect the audience’s attention back to the point you were making in your sermon.

In my opinion, the best way to address a distraction is with humor. Laugh it off. Crack a joke and move on.

Say what everyone else is thinking (as long as it isn’t offensive or rude). People will laugh, because they were just thinking the same thing.

If somebody’s phone makes a loud sound joke, “What in the world was that?” Take a moment to laugh if you need to. Then redirect saying something like, “As I was saying…”

You get bonus points if you can tie the distraction back in to your message. For a great example, watch this video:

Catch The Kid from Hickory Grove Baptist Church on Vimeo.

Something else that works is to pause the message, and stare in silence at the distraction with a funny look on your face. As long as your face is obviously comical – not red with anger and steam pouring from your nose – the awkward silence can make for a great laugh.

One pastor I know does this incredibly well. I have seen his mic battery die a few times, and both times he stopped and stared at the thing like he is trying to divide 1,973 by 17 in his head. Then he looked back at the sound guys with the same look, and back at his mic until somebody came and fixed it for him. It never failed to get a good laugh.

Acknowledge obvious distractions. Laugh it off to ease the tension in the room, then jump back to the message.

Emergencies

Finally, I have to mention emergency “distractions” (if it is even appropriate to call it that).

A man falls over in a seizure. A woman experiences a heart attack. The power goes out. The fire alarm rings. A tornado warning sounds. The building is hit by lightning.

I pray this never happens while you are preaching, but we have to realize that emergencies can even happen during sermons.

In the case of a serious emergency, there is nothing you can do to regain the audience’s attention. Do not even think about trying to power through or laugh it off.

The emergency must be addressed. You have to put the safety of your audience ahead of your sermon.

In an emergency situation, take action. If it’s a medical problem, ask if there is a nurse or doctor in the room and have someone to call 911. If the power goes out or fire alarms sounds, evacuate the building.

As difficult as it is to not preach a message you worked hard on, the urgency of the emergency trumps anything you planned to say.

What is the worst distraction you ever had while preaching?