10 Rules for Preachers to Stay Healthy, Wealthy in Spirit, and Wise
Spirituality, Process Lisa Cressman Spirituality, Process Lisa Cressman

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.

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

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.

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Process, Holiday/Special Sermons Shaundra Taylor Process, Holiday/Special Sermons Shaundra Taylor

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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