Process

The Key to an Inspired Palm Sunday Sermon (or Any Sermon)

The Key to an Inspired Palm Sunday Sermon (or Any Sermon)

Curiosity is a powerful driver in sermon prep. When we pay attention to our curiosity, brainstorm all the questions we have about a text, and then narrow our focus to our top three interests—we’ll save time in prep, discover information that sparks our wonder, and find delight in what the Spirit prompts and unearths for us. Read on for step-by-step instructions on applying this strategy to your Palm Sunday sermon and any sermon.

5 Biggest Blocks to Effective, Creative Sermon Prep

5 Biggest Blocks to Effective, Creative Sermon Prep

How we set ourselves up for sermon prep makes all the difference in our experience of preaching. Consider these five common mistakes preachers make that block effective, efficient sermon prep. When we overcome these obstacles, our creativity expands, and we craft sermons we believe in and are excited to offer. Are any of these blocks keeping you from a vibrant preaching life right now?

The Preacher's Trust: A Practice for Becoming a Better Preacher

The Preacher's Trust: A Practice for Becoming a Better Preacher

To become a better golfer, there are clear skills one can practice to improve. But what if you want to become a better preacher? The Preacher’s Trust offers ten areas to which preachers can dedicate consistent effort in order to see growth in their life, spirituality, and craft.

10 Rules for Preachers to Stay Healthy, Wealthy in Spirit, and Wise

10 Rules for Preachers to Stay Healthy, Wealthy in Spirit, and Wise

Whether we preach weekly or less often, there’s always another Sunday, another funeral, another wedding, another Holy Week circling back around that needs a sermon.

If we’re not careful, the things that bring us joy—our loved ones, our fascination with Scripture, and our connection to God—are in constant danger of being taken for granted.

Left untended, they wither.

How do we want to feel when we look back on our preaching careers? How do we want our loved ones to feel looking back on them?

Here are ten rules to keep us healthy, wealthy in spirit, and wise—for the long haul.

Preaching on Stewardship: Discern Three Meaningful Sermon Themes in Less than an Hour

Preaching on Stewardship: Discern Three Meaningful Sermon Themes in Less than an Hour

Stewardship preaching can be full of angst because it seems so much is at stake. However, the focus on outcome moves our sermons away from the true needs of our congregations. This stewardship guide will help you reframe your stewardship preaching with a process you can complete in an hour, dozens of scriptures verses, and an example of how the process can be applied. May it encourage you in this stewardship season.

3 questions to guide sermon prep for special occasions or crisis circumstances (A Guest Post)

“As people of faith, we believe God is present and active and has a word to offer to us in all times and seasons of our individual and corporate lives.” In their book, For Every Matter under Heaven: Preaching on Special Occasions, Donna Givers-Johnston and Beverly Zink-Sawyer address specific preaching occasions that arise from calendars, celebrations, or circumstances—leading preachers through a process of preparing sermons that seek and then speak God’s word for the occasion. They introduce us to their approach in this guest post.

Compelling preaching, efficient prep: Avoid these three common sermon prep traps

Compelling preaching, efficient prep: Avoid these three common sermon prep traps

Sermon prep is hard. And time-consuming. But we may be making it harder and more time-consuming than it needs to be. Are you falling prey to these three common sermon prep traps? Read on to find out and get practical tools to streamline your prep and offer more compelling sermons.

Three ways you’re (unknowingly) sabotaging your sermon prep before you even start

Three ways you’re (unknowingly) sabotaging your sermon prep before you even start

Many of us get stuck at certain steps along the way, and there are many steps: from praying to discerning the message to proclamation to review (yes, sermon prep continues after the sermon!).

After working with thousands of preachers, I’ve found some common reasons we get stuck. I’ve also learned from preachers how to get unstuck.

This is the first in a series of three about getting stuck during sermon prep and how to get unstuck. Today, we’re looking at three sneaky saboteurs that derail our sermon prep before we even get started.

From Chaos to Clarity: Simplifying Sermon Note Management for Seamless Sermon Writing

From Chaos to Clarity: Simplifying Sermon Note Management for Seamless Sermon Writing

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been through this scenario: too much time flies out the window searching and searching for a particular note or reference I know would be perfect for a sermon. I know “it” is there somewhere, but I can’t find it—or when I do mange to track it down, I don’t understand what I meant at the time I recorded it. It all adds up to a lot of frustration and wasted possibilities.

After some big changes the last couple years, however, I spend far less time and feel far less frustrated accessing my notes than I used to. I’ve spent the last few years learning how to take notes that allow me to read, mark, learn, inwardly digest—and retrieve and apply what I learn. Here are two key strategies to help you do the same.