A one-minute sermon? Sounds intriguing, doesn't it? But what can one say in only one minute? Actually we can say a lot. Especially if we have to.
Where Can We Use a One-Minute Sermon?
Nearly every home has a television set. Realizing the great potential, many conferences sponsor their own telecasts: The TV Bible Class, Words of Life, et cetera. All of us support Faith for Today, our national telecast.
However, television time is very precious and it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain desirable time, especially for a half hour religious program. When we do, the expensive production costs are utilized at some early morning hour, generally on Sunday, when most of the TV sets are off.
A One-Minute Sermon Can Be Productive
The one-minute sermon can be produced at a minimal cost. And it can be released on prime television time daily for less than the thirty-minute programs cost per week at an undesirable hour. In other words, by releasing during prime television time, each sermon enjoys a larger audience than the thirty-minute program, and we have seven audiences per week instead of one! The potential volume of mail is far greater for the one-minute sermon than for the thirty-minute telecast.
And the one-minute sermon is adaptable. If finances will not permit a daily telecast, then it can be released weekly on prime time. Even free time may be obtained if we are willing to sacrifice the benefits of prime time for a less desirable hour.
In eastern Idaho, when I was piloting the one-minute sermon, the stations unhesitatingly offered me free time daily at the sign-on or sign-off hours. I chose to telecast at the sign-off, after the Johnny Carson show (some time after midnight), and averaged five letters a week even at that late hour. And the entire series of ninety-eight one-minute sermons cost only thirty-five dollars, and this for reusable slides purchased from the Review and Herald! This was less than thirty-three cents a telecast!
What Can We Say in One Minute?
Seven seconds of each minute are consumed in the introduction, fifteen seconds at the close in advertising the Gift Bible offer. This leaves thirty-eight seconds for the actual "sermon." During this time a brief thought on some doctrine, such as the Sabbath, the state of the dead, the Second Advent, is presented, or something on astronomy, archeology, creationism, et cetera. All the proof texts cannot be used in thirty-eight seconds, and I don't attempt to use them. I merely introduce the subject and appeal to the audience to send for the white Bible with study guides that will cover the subject in more detail.
The response has been marvelous. Laymen are trained to deliver the Bible and lessons, and they have done a very acceptable job. Many people today are looking for answers—answers which Seventh-day Adventists can supply.
How Is the One-Minute Sermon Put Together?
To cut production costs the one-minute sermon was produced entirely with slides and audio tape. I wrote the entire series of ninety-eight sermons in less than two weeks and recorded them at the studio in two afternoons. This required a minimum of time and gave me coverage for nearly four months.
Each introduction is the same: a slide of the speaker while the TV announcer says: "The Seventh-day Adventist Church proudly presents the ONE-MINUTE SERMON, with your TV pastor, Reuben Hubbard."
Use Plenty of Slides
The slide changes and I begin the sermon immediately. One sermon begins, "Archeology discovers and uncovers . . ." The color slide is of the Amarna Letters of Egypt. I generally use four or five slides during the thirty-five-second presentation, or a slide every seven or eight seconds. Many people think that the program is a live production and my parishioners have often asked me if I have to be down at the TV station each midnight!
Final Appeal
Each sermon closes with an appeal to study the subject further through the white Bible, with the study guides offer, and a slide flashes on the screen showing the Bible and the study guides. The final slide contains the address where the Bible and guides may be obtained. To keep the address simple we use a box number and list also a telephone number for those too busy to write. Several phone calls have been received as well as letters.
The Need to Use Television More Extensively
As ministers we need to make greater use of television than we have been doing in the past. During this great Gift Bible Evangelism thrust we must use every means available to place our message before the world. Personal Bible study is the most effective means of presenting the message. If we can use television to advertise our Gift Bible Plan of Evangelism, we will enjoy a much greater outreach than we have previously known.
Television is expensive, but it is effective! If every home in America could tune in to the one-minute sermon, think of the white Bibles with lessons we could place!
We Must Not Delay
Time is running out. We dare not delay to use the most effective means possible to present a message of hope to a hopeless and perplexed generation. And the one-minute sermon is an idea that could be incorporated conveniently into the evangelistic program of nearly every pastor in North America.
