If you listen to some of the earliest biographical sermons John Piper preached at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors (which eventually took the name “Desiring God Pastors Conference”) you’ll notice each one has a Q&A session at the end. Evidently this was when only a small crowd attended and so the setting was right for reflecting together.

At the 1990 conference Piper delivered a message entitled, “Oh, That I May Never Loiter On My Heavenly Journey! Reflections on the Life and Ministry of David Brainerd.” During the Q&A time one attendee asked Piper about his practice of delivering a sermon — whether he preached with an outline, no notes, or a manuscript. Here’s what he said:

As one who preaches from a manuscript I especially resonated with his language of being “an intellectual cripple.”

You could check out my post “Some Merits of a Manuscript” for 3 reasons why I find it helpful to manuscript my sermons.