Sermon Prep Routine

My friend Tim over at Kinetic Leadership recently posted some details of his sermon prep routine and challenged us to do the same. Sounds like fun – here goes:

-For starters let me say that my brain works more like that of an artist than a craftsperson. That means a.) I work on my sermon when I’m feeling it and b.) my process has some regular components but I don’t intentionally follow a particular system and any component could be dropped, added, rearranged, or otherwise tweaked in any given week.

-My prep really starts when I plan out a sermon series. Every message is part of a series and I plan these several months in advance. Right now I’m planned through to Christmas. My record is a full year out though I’m not sure that’s the best approach. By the time I’m done planning a series I know what the text will be (I’m a textual/exegetical sort of fella) and what the big idea is.

-Next step is to sit down with my creative team a hash through the creative elements like video clips, visual illustrations, or response mechanisms.

-From the time a series is planned until I actually put my outline together thoughts are swirling through my head (for example Saturday night I laid awake in bed for about 45 min thinking about a series we are doing in November). I like to live with a message for a while before I preach it. If I have any great thoughts for how to explain or illustrate something I try to capture it somewhere, usually in the margins of my series overview sheet.

-Come the week of that message (I find it hard to complete a message if there is a Sunday between now and when I deliver it) I will print out the text with lots of margin space so I can mark it up, highlight it, and make notes. I read it and re-read it until I feel like I have a really good handle on it

-If I feel like I really don’t have a handle on some part of the text I will consult some commentaries. It really depends on how deep I am digging and how obvious the point of the text is.

-Next I take a legal pad and a pen and start writing something between random thoughts and an outline. Eventually I get stuck. Then I just start preaching it out loud off the top of my head and thoughts start to flow. I write them down on the pad. Sometime this goes back and forth several times.

-This is the part where some people start to think less of me. If I get really stuck. if the words just won’t come and my thoughts won’t congeal or I can’t wrap my head around an explanation I (are you ready for it?) take a nap. Yes, napping is occasionally part of my sermon prep. Actually I seldom get to the nap. I lay down, close my eyes, relax, and just as I’m about to drift off it will hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks destroying my nap but also my mental block and it’s back to work.

-Eventually I will have the rough skeleton of the message on paper so I fire up my computer and start to type up my final outline. Type, talk, type, talk, until it gets refined down to what I will actually take “into the pulpit” with me on Sunday morning. I take one slightly larger than half size sheet of outline with me clipped into my bible next to my passage.

-Then I practice preach it several times. I’d say on average 2-3 times. Sometimes only once, occasionally four or more. I’m at this point by Friday at the latest. Usually Wednesday or Thursday.

-Come Sunday morning I’ll head to the theatre and once I get the set-up crew on their way I’ll find an empty theatre and go in there to pray, get focused, and review my notes. Sometimes I just look them over sometimes I actually preach through them again.

-Normally this type of overview will include total number of hours spent a week in sermon prep. I have no idea how to calculate this. I’m always thinking about sermons. That’s my thing. Do I count that 45 min Saturday night I spent thinking about the November series? How about when I’m in the shower and an idea hits me? In one sense I don’t spend much time in sermon prep. A couple hours to pull together and refine the outline and a couple hours to run through it a few times. Usually in one afternoon. In another sense I spend weeks and weeks preparing one sermon. I’m like the crock pot of sermon prep. Throw some stuff in well in advance, check on it every once in a while and when it’s ready to serve just scoop it out, throw in a little salt and pepper and serve.

Prayer Tent pt 2

So we started the prayer tent last night and it went great. We (all 15 people who showed up!!!) met for a little training and orientation (thanks to my friend Kirk for some helpful ideas on that one) at the office and then we headed over to Grande Parade. We were set up and ready to go shortly before 11.

We talked to bunches of people and had the opportunity to pray with over 2 dozen people about issues as far ranging as the death of a family member, the success of a band, and my personal favorite, a chronic sweating problem. It was awesome to see.

Maybe even more awesome to see for me was so many Deepies pushing themselves past their fear and beyond what they are comfortable with. It was so exciting.

There are a few things we are going to tweak and a few peripherals we are going to try and get into place but all in all I think we planned and executed really well and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for this unique ministry. It’s gonna be fun.

Prayer Tent

This Saturday night will bring what for me will likely be the scariest ministry experience I have ever been a part of (and that may be saying something). We (Deep Water) will be launching out Saturday night Prayer Tent ministry.

The basic idea is this: we set up a tent in Grande Parade (read “the town square” for you lowly non-haligonians) late on Saturday night as folks are moving from bar to bar, ask people who drift by if there is anything going on in their life we can pray for them about, pray with them, and see what happens. We see this as a way to show Jesus’ love to people, invite Him to work in their lives, and build relationships between the the people of Deep Water and the downtown community in general.

It’s a simple idea (although getting the appropriate permissions took almost a year) and the only big variable is how will people respond. I expect to get some mixture of the following:
– Drop dead, I don’t need/believe in/like your God.
– Cool but no thanks
– Sure, I don’t really believe in god but what could it hurt
– Sure, pray that I get drunk and/or laid tonight
– Sure, thanks. I really appreciate it…

What do you think of this idea, what reaction do you think we will get the most?

PS If’ you are the praying sort please pray for this thing.

Travelin’, travelin’ soul…

I like to travel but it seems like I go in fits and spurts. I’ll be all over God’s green earth for a while and then home for months on end. It’s looking like I’m on the front end of a traveling season. Here’s where I’ve been and where I’m going this time around.

July: We headed to Beulah Camp on the Saint John River for a week of family camp. Good time, particularly with family and old friends. Also got the chance to represent Deep Water at district conference and I got to give an update to the Beulah family in general which is always a good time.

August: We load up the crew and head to Ontario to spend a few days with my parents at my brother’s place. I haven’t seen (or truth be told even talked to) him or his family in about three years so it should be nice to reconnect. This is the first time we will evet have all been together. Then we head to Pennsylvania to see Kelly’s family. I think the part I’m most looking forward to on this leg of the trip will be Baptizing Kelly’s 80+ year old grandmother. She became a christian under the preaching of Saint Paul but in all these years she has never been baptized. I’m guessing that at her age and seeing as how she is confined to a wheel chair I’ll forgo my preference for immersion and go with a light pouring.

September: I head over to PEI to speak at the the fall kick off my friend Elliot’s youth group. Should be lots of fun. Last gig I had with Elliot I ended up in the mountains of Central America so I doubt this one will be as cool in that sense but it should be awesome. This will only be my third time ever on the island so I’m looking forward to checking it out a bit.

October: I’ll be headed to an as yet undisclosed developing country in the Central/South America/Caribbean region with a small crew from Deep Water to do some recon on our international partnership. This should be an absolutely crazy experience! I’m expecting to be broken, humbled, exhausted, inspired, and motivated.

November: I’m back to my old stomping grounds in Sussex to speak at my alma mater Bethany Bible College’s “Encounter” weekend. Should be an awesome experience to talk to 400 or 500 teens and college students about what it means to embrace God’s will for your life (or something along those lines). I’m really stoked for this one.

After that I imagine I’ll hunker down for the winter (unless something really cool comes up) and wait for an invitation to come speak at a camp next summer. That’s probably my favorite gig of all. If you are the praying type and you think of it please pray for safety and effectiveness in all these travels. And if you read this blog and I’m going to be in your part of the world give me a holler, I’d love to see you.