Beyond Candles & Icons: 5 Items to Inspire Your Sermon Prep
These items help us to be more mindful of the Spirit’s presence, remind us that our preaching really does make a difference, widen our creative pipelines, speed our sermon prep, and add considerably to the fun and joy of our vocation.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
The Change Puzzle: Cracking the Code to Sustained Transformation
If change were easy, we’d all be doing it.
The Power of Purpose: Setting Effective Goals through Value-Driven Intentions
Goals in and of themselves do not produce fulfillment. Intentions, however, do—because they are rooted in our values.
The sermon 52 Framework
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Live Lectio for Sermon Prep (Free!)
Get an early start on your sermon prep by joining us live on Facebook (Mondays at noon Central) as we prayerfully discuss the coming week's gospel passage (RCL & NL).
I participated in the Lectio study today with a complicated and double-speak Gospel (John 17:6-19) and WOW! I received so much great insight and am headed in a direction I feel really good about. Thank you to all my colleagues! If you are wondering if this is worth it, wonder no more. It is.
—Donna G.
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The Gospel People Don't Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages was written to aid preacher’s in understanding what’s at stake for their listeners so they can craft sermons their audience can receive, even if they challenge cherished beliefs.
I just have to say WOW. I'm so grateful that I made the investment and joined The Collective. These Thursday [workshops] are a game-changer for me.
—Andrea M.