Chaplain Toolkit
You’ve delivered devotionals that worked and some that didn’t.
The ones that didn’t aren’t necessarily the ones with less content or less theological depth. They’re often the ones where something in the delivery created distance rather than connection. The room didn’t come with you. And understanding why that happened is how the craft improves.
Read this passage slowly.
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
Nehemiah 8:8 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood. That’s the standard. Not impressive. Not theologically comprehensive. Clear and meaningful — so that the people in the room understood what was being said and why it mattered.
The devotional that lands in an athletic context has specific qualities. It starts with the athlete’s world, not with the scripture. The opening gets in the room before the room closes. It names something real about the experience of the people in front of you — not a general human experience, the specific athletic experience of this team, in this moment, in this season.
It uses concrete language rather than abstract language. Athletes respond to the specific, the visual, the actionable. “When you’re in the third quarter and the lead is gone and the crowd has shifted” lands differently than “when times are difficult.”
It earns the scripture rather than leading with it. The person in the room who doesn’t have faith or isn’t sure what they believe needs to be in the room before the verse arrives. The opening creates the space. The scripture speaks into it.
And it ends before it should. The devotional that goes two minutes past where it should have stopped has undone some of what it built. Leave the room before the room wants you to go.
Start with the athlete’s world, not the scripture. Earn the verse. Use concrete language. End before you should.
Which of these delivery principles is hardest for you — and what would it look like to practice it specifically in your next devotional?
Specific application to practice. The identified weakness becomes the growth edge for the next delivery.
Make it clear and give the meaning so that the people understand. That’s the standard.
This devotional works well in a chaplain training context or a peer coaching group where chaplains reflect on their delivery craft together.