How Steven Furtick Preaches: One Sticky Phrase, Said Until It’s Yours
Steven Furtick preaches to the room, the campuses and a big online audience at the same time, and he talks to the chat as often as to the seats. We studied eight of his sermons from 2025 and 2026. All eight share the same core: one main passage read early, a short phrase pulled out of it, and a room that says that phrase back until it belongs to them.
Who Steven Furtick is
Furtick planted Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2006, at 25, with seven families; 121 people came to the first service on February 5. He had felt called at 16 to plant a church in a major city after reading Jim Cymbala’s Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, and he earned an M.Div. at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary before launching.
A 2025 church census counted 20 Elevation campuses and 17,061 weekly attendees. He co-founded Elevation Worship in 2007, has written New York Times bestsellers including Sun Stand Still, Greater and Crash the Chatterbox, and has been on TBN weekly since October 2020.
The shape of a Furtick sermon
Every one of the eight sermons we studied reads one main passage early and repeats a short phrase from it as a refrain: “Same lies, new loops,” “Move it to the middle.”
Then he makes the room do something with the phrase. The congregation says it back, tells a neighbor or types it in the chat. That’s the part most preachers skip, and it’s why people leave able to repeat the sermon.
He also flips words into contrast lines, like debate vs. display or lifting vs. looking, and most of his illustrations come from home: his wife, Holly, and their kids.
He calls himself “a preacher at heart. You can call me an expositor.” He works the text phrase by phrase and often pulls in a second passage to widen or finish the first.
What made his preaching different
A sticky phrase
One short phrase, pulled out of the passage, carries the whole sermon: “Same lies, new loops,” “Hand him the plan.”
Say it back
He doesn’t just repeat the phrase. He gets the room to say it, tell a neighbor and type it in the comments.
Contrast lines
Words flipped against each other so the idea sticks: debate vs. display, lifting vs. looking.
What others said
“He’s incredible, he’s inquisitive, he’s intellectual, he’s articulate, he’s creative, he’s anointed, he’s amazing.”
— T.D. Jakes
“The pastor makes everything relate to you. He’s very modern, saying things in a new way.”
— Maggie Amos, 16-year-old attender (Appeal-Democrat)
What to take into your own pulpit
Find the phrase before you write
Look for the few words in the passage that could carry the whole message, and build around them.
Make the room use it
Repetition from the stage is good. Repetition from the seats is better: say it back, tell a neighbor, type it in the chat.
Preach from your own kitchen
His best illustrations come from home. A story about your family makes the text feel close.
Those are the ideas. The guide turns them into ten steps you can follow this week, plus the sermons we studied and a fill-in outline in his shape.
Free PDF · Preach Like the Greats
Learn to preach like Steven Furtick.
This post is the overview. The guide has the research and the method.
- The 8 sermons we studied, start to finish
- Ten steps to preach the way he does
- His sermon outline, movement by movement
- A fill-in template for your own text, 9 pages
Common questions
What is Steven Furtick’s preaching style?
Energetic, conversational and built around one sticky phrase from the passage. He gets the room to say the phrase back, flips words into contrast lines, and illustrates with stories about his family.
How does Steven Furtick structure a sermon?
He reads one main passage early, pulls a short phrase out of it and repeats it as a refrain, gets the room to say it back, and often brings in a second passage to widen or finish the first.
Is Steven Furtick an expository preacher?
He calls himself “a preacher at heart. You can call me an expositor.” He stays in one main passage and works it phrase by phrase.