How Long Should You Preach?

A blogger I read suggested that most preachers preach too long. I agreed. And posted the following comments:

“How long should you preach? It depends on how good you are” – John Maxwell. 

I once heard Bob Russell give a formula for preaching. He told a room full of preachers to rate themselves (in their minds) on a scale of 1 to 10. Then he said, “Whatever the number is, subtract two” (all of us overestimate our abilities). Then multiply that number by 5. That formula would suggest that even the very best (a “10”) should only preach 40 minutes (10-2x5=40). Of course there are exceptions to this rule. And some sermons do require more time. But very few preachers can hold the attention of a congregation for more than 30 minutes or so. And for those of us who preach every week, we get another shot next week. And those who say, “sermonettes are preached by preacherettes and produce Christianettes” usually are pummeling their people with their long-windedness.