I love preaching. I absolutely live for Sundays and the opportunity to preach three times here at Grace Church. But almost as much as I love preaching I also enjoy studying through the week to preach. The better part of my week, week in and week out, is spent in this task. This involves two parts. The first, of course, is planning. I enjoy studying. But in the process we use here at Grace Church, my planning for a sermon literally begins months in advance:
6 months in advance I am praying and brainstorming over series topics. It is my goal to have a weekly message schedule that is always completed 6 months in advance and broken down so that I can look at any given Sunday over the next 26 weeks and know what series I will be in, what the main topic of that particular week in the series will be, and what Scripture passages I will be using. Obviously this 6-month preaching schedule isn’t in concrete but it’s pretty solid.
3 months in advance I have to have my tentative message outlines completed so that I can send them out to our Worship Design Team so that they can have them 30 days in advance of our planning meeting to read them, pray through them and begin brainstorming about them.
2 months in advance I meet with our Worship Design Team to go through the message outlines and to plan the specific creative elements of our services that we will use for that series.
1 month in advance I meet with our Executive Pastor and Worship Arts Director to be sure we are on track with all of our plans. We meet again one week in advance to confirm all details. We then actually meet 2 hours in advance for one last walk through. We will then meet again one week after to evaluate how things went and to discuss if we met our strategic goals.
But along with the planning comes the practicing. I am often asked how I can preach without using much in the way of notes while I’m talking. The reason is because the week prior to the message I practice it, practice it, and practice it some more.
At least twice through the week I go find a place in the church where nobody is (a hard task indeed around here) and practice my sermon just as if I were giving it. Every time I take a shower (and I take a minimum of 2 showers a day) I practice my sermon in the shower. Every time I’m driving, you can bet I’m going through my sermon until I get to my destination. And them on Saturday, I spend the entire morning in the church with the better part of that time spent practicing my message. I then get to church early on Sundays for the same reason. After our 6:45am pre-service meeting and sound checks, I have about an hour before it is time to head to the auditorium. I use that time to go through my message one final time in my office.
Planning and practicing are key elements to my life as a pastor. But there is also a third part that is even more crucial – praying! After all, nothing of eternal importance happens apart from prayer. All three our key elements in my mind. It goes back to what my High School Band Director taught me – “Proper preparation prepares for powerful performance!” So, planning, practicing and praying – those words describe my sermon preparation each week.
6 months in advance I am praying and brainstorming over series topics. It is my goal to have a weekly message schedule that is always completed 6 months in advance and broken down so that I can look at any given Sunday over the next 26 weeks and know what series I will be in, what the main topic of that particular week in the series will be, and what Scripture passages I will be using. Obviously this 6-month preaching schedule isn’t in concrete but it’s pretty solid.
3 months in advance I have to have my tentative message outlines completed so that I can send them out to our Worship Design Team so that they can have them 30 days in advance of our planning meeting to read them, pray through them and begin brainstorming about them.
2 months in advance I meet with our Worship Design Team to go through the message outlines and to plan the specific creative elements of our services that we will use for that series.
1 month in advance I meet with our Executive Pastor and Worship Arts Director to be sure we are on track with all of our plans. We meet again one week in advance to confirm all details. We then actually meet 2 hours in advance for one last walk through. We will then meet again one week after to evaluate how things went and to discuss if we met our strategic goals.
But along with the planning comes the practicing. I am often asked how I can preach without using much in the way of notes while I’m talking. The reason is because the week prior to the message I practice it, practice it, and practice it some more.
At least twice through the week I go find a place in the church where nobody is (a hard task indeed around here) and practice my sermon just as if I were giving it. Every time I take a shower (and I take a minimum of 2 showers a day) I practice my sermon in the shower. Every time I’m driving, you can bet I’m going through my sermon until I get to my destination. And them on Saturday, I spend the entire morning in the church with the better part of that time spent practicing my message. I then get to church early on Sundays for the same reason. After our 6:45am pre-service meeting and sound checks, I have about an hour before it is time to head to the auditorium. I use that time to go through my message one final time in my office.
Planning and practicing are key elements to my life as a pastor. But there is also a third part that is even more crucial – praying! After all, nothing of eternal importance happens apart from prayer. All three our key elements in my mind. It goes back to what my High School Band Director taught me – “Proper preparation prepares for powerful performance!” So, planning, practicing and praying – those words describe my sermon preparation each week.
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