Meet online with colleagues and a mentor for one hour a day, Monday to Friday. By the end of the week, you'll have finished your sermon for the weekend and learned new strategies you can apply in your sermon prep going forward.
It is simply a fact of the preaching life that, at times, we will be required to set aside our prepared sermons and speak to the events which surround us, testifying to how we see God in and through them.
How do we decide when to continue with our sermon as prepped versus adjusting our sermon at the last minute?
We tend to consider the physical aspects of preaching only in the context of delivery:
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?
Should you preach on current events? And if so, how?
Discover guiding wisdom from preachers you respect on how to navigate the news headlines pummeling our social discourse.
When life throws chaos your way, prepping a sermon can feel overwhelming.
And it is if you prep the same way you always do.
But with a simplified process, you can write a solid sermon in less time that will leave your listeners pondering the Good News.
How?
Read on for five steps to a simplified process.
We're 7 Sundays from Labor Day weekend. How do you feel about heading into the next program year?
Are you excited and confident in your routines and processes? Or are you dreading the increase in activity, the weekly scramble to get it all done, the seemingly endless demands on your time and energy?
If you're dissatisfied with the way your sermon preparation and preaching went last year, the slower pace of summer is a great time for reflection and change.
A small investment of time over these next few weeks could transform your preaching life for the rest of the year. How do you make the most of the slower days of summer to make lasting change?
BsP is receiving more and more feedback that our ecourse is truly transforming the sermon prep process for preachers. Craft an Effective Sermon by Friday helps preachers not only preach better sermons but enjoy the prep, revitalizing their own spirituality in the process.
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?
“The Mainline Church is dying. Therefore, Preachers, you must do ______ to fix the problem.”
These stories suggest that “it” is simply waiting for each of us to imitate or discover. If only we find “it,” the congregation will revive. It’s up to us to keep looking for “it,” and if the church doors close in the meantime, we are responsible for not finding “it” in time.
Of course, pray a lot and rely on the Holy Spirit.
But in truth, most messages imply it’s really up to us.
Wow. That’s a lot of responsibility. But is it truly ours? What, exactly, is our responsibility here?
(A guest post). Ever wonder what your listeners are thinking week to week? Consider these three suggestions from a life-long parishioner to ensure your messages connect at a soul-level.