Most preachers spend the least preparation time on the part of the sermon the congregation experiences first.

Before you announce your text, before you say a word about the passage — something has already happened in the room. The congregation has already begun deciding whether to follow you. Not consciously. But the moment you begin speaking, something in them is evaluating whether this is worth their sustained attention.

That evaluation doesn't wait for your first point. It happens in the first sixty seconds.

In this episode, Jonathan McClintock unpacks the three movements of the Open — the sequential framework that turns a rushed introduction into a well-crafted on-ramp to the sermon. Each movement has a specific job. Each depends on the one before it.

The three movements:

• Grab Attention — Start where the audience is. Create a point of entry.
• Secure Interest — Bridge the listener's world to the coming truth. This is the passage from the shore to the deep.
• Introduce the Take-Home Truth — Lead the congregation to the central claim. It should feel like an arrival, not an announcement.

You'll also walk away with a practical guideline for how long your Open should be — and the one diagnostic question that tells you whether it's doing its job.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. The Open is that one chance.