Most preachers have memorable stories about notorious distractions they have endured while preaching. Cute babies, crying babies, bad babies, burping babies—pretty much any baby—is tough competition for even the most expert expositor. Cell phones used to ring during sermons. Now they quack, cry, call names, or play Marvin Gaye. The only thing worse than a ringing cell phone is when someone takes the call!

Though we’ve all experienced that kind of thing, that’s not the kind of interference that should concern us the most, bad as it is. The worst distractions, rather, are those that we bring with us in our heads when we step into the pulpit. Concentration—focus—is the secret of power. A million gallons of water in a field is just a swamp, but a million gallons of water passing over a hydroelectric turbine can produce power and light a city. In the same way, focused preaching is powerful preaching, but distracted preaching is always anemic and ineffective.

Distracted preachers have multiple internal conversations happening simultaneously during the sermon. “Why don’t they take that baby to the nursery? Did I forget to give them my second point? How much time do I have left? Is Deacon Jones still upset about the budget?” I do not worry about the distractions beyond my control that might occur in a service, but I go to great lengths to discipline my mind so that, when I step into the pulpit, the only conversation in my head is about the sermon and its most effective delivery. How can I anticipate and preclude the distractions that occur in me while I am preaching?

First, I discovered that rushed preparation is nearly as bad as no preparation. If I wait until the end of the week to study and to write my sermon, I am not going to feel comfortable, and that lack of confidence will manifest itself in a thousand distracted thoughts. The earlier in the week I begin my preparation, the more deeply I think about the text and the more I preach with singular focus.

Second, I leave Saturday night open to relax, meditate, pray through, and ruminate on my text and my sermon. I very rarely accept any invitations for Saturday night. I go to parties, receptions, dinners, and picnics at just about any other time of the week, but I need Saturday night to focus my thoughts and calm my soul for maximum effectiveness on Sunday. It’s not a rule I slavishly keep, but rather a friend with whom I have a weekly encounter. Professional athletes have their pregame routines; preachers should likewise take their task so seriously that they give ample attention to soul preparation as much as preparing the text.

Finally, I mix with and greet people on Sunday morning before I preach. This may seem counterintuitive, because people will use that greeting time to inform the pastor about all kinds of distracting things. Occasionally, someone will even be cranky about something. When I was younger, I hid from people on Sunday morning. I found excuses to stay in my study and emerge just in time for the service to begin. I told myself that it was necessary because sometimes, some disgruntled person would give me an earful, so I kept personal encounters to a minimum.

The Lord convicted me, however, that these people with all of their opinions, problems, and bad attitudes were the very people that God called me to shepherd, not merely to preach to. More significantly, these are those for whom Christ died. The solution was not to avoid them, but rather to embrace them. I had to learn the mental discipline of loving them enough to hear them and, at the same time, stay focused on the task at hand. Early Sunday morning, I go through my sermon one final time, but I prepare myself to hear the greetings, affections, burdens, hurts, concerns, and even the gripes of the people to whom I will then preach the Word of God. I have given the week to prepare the sermon, Saturday evening to prepare my heart, but I take Sunday morning to remind myself that I preach to real people with real problems. Then I focus and do the only thing that can change their lives for eternity. I stand before my people, and I preach the Word of God.

Hershael W. York is Dean of the School of Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Pastor of Buck Run Baptist Church in Frankfort, Kentucky.