The Powerful Prep Tool Every Preacher Has But Rarely Uses (Guest Post)
We tend to consider the physical aspects of preaching only in the context of delivery:
- raising or lowering the voice to emphasize phrases
- using gestures to enhance a point
- breathing in sync with the flow of sentences
But when is the last time you used your body and voice in sermon prep?
Or before you climbed into the pulpit?
Have you ever?
Beyond Good Intentions: Schedule God
This isn't another guilt trip or admonition to prioritize God. Our problem is not in our intentions. Of course, we want to spend time with God.
The problem is in the execution, which often comes down to our planning—or failure to plan.
With competing demands, many of which are worthy and important, prioritizing this time of solitude with the invisible God can feel abstract and therefore less important.
We're tempted to think it doesn't really matter. But it does.
So how do we make this time happen?
20 Tips to Increase Your Creativity Through Deadlines
It's a paradox.
Often, limits actually enhance creativity. Here are 20 tips to find and take advantage of your creativity/deadline "sweet spot."
How to Preach Without Notes & Nail It
It took me ten years in the pulpit before I tried preaching without a manuscript.
I wish I'd known then what I know now because I wouldn't have been nearly so anxious.
Why was I anxious? Bad assumptions:
- I thought I still had to have the sermon fully written ahead of time.
- I thought I had to have the entire manuscript memorized. Since memorization has always been hard for me, I was terrified of forgetting carefully crafted words and phrases.
- I didn't realize that as long as I had a map and knew where I was headed, I was ready to bring others along for the ride.
It turns out my assumptions were wrong. Preaching without notes was much simpler than I had realized.
Pray Your Easter Sermon Into Being: A Sermon Prep Resource for Less Stress
Discerning a message and prepping a sermon amidst the other demands of preaching is a challenge.
That's why we're offering this free guide to a process that will transform your sermon prep from work to respite—all while helping you discern a transformative message for your listeners.
Last week, we introduced BsP's lectio divina sermon prep process in the post "What if You Never Had to Search for a Sermon Message Again?"
In this guide, we go deeper to help you implement each step of the 5-day process.
What if You Never Had to Look for a Sermon Message Again?
Even the most experienced preachers sometimes wonder how to pull another message out of too-familiar lessons.
Sermons driven by fear—or avoidance of embarrassment—may get the job done, but not pleasantly.
What if there were another way? A better way?
What if we never had to look for a sermon message again? And no, I don't mean looking to the internet to "borrow" someone else's sermon.
I mean, what if we didn't have to look for the message at all?
Ten Tips for Keeping Your Sermon Prep Out of Your Weekend
Don't want to do sermon prep on the weekends? You don't have to!
Here are ten ways to reclaim your weekends.
How to Respond When Your Sermon Prep Time Gets Moved...Again
Some of us have manageable and set routines for the week which includes sermon prep.
Most of us don’t.