The Collective+
Your Go-TO (online) community for all things Preaching
Enrollment in The Collectives is currently closed as we focus internally on enhancements to the community as part of our work with Lilly Endowment, Inc's Compelling Preaching Initiative.
Sign up to be notified when enrollment opens again!
grow Your preaching SKILLS
CONNECT with Like-minded preachers &
reclaim your personal life!
Join the online community helping preachers write compelling sermons, protect their sabbath, and THRIVE week after week—while preaching with more confidence than ever.
“The Collective+ has enabled a transformation of my...preaching and ministry in ways I had hoped a sabbatical or D.Min. would.”
Compelling preaching requires more than a couple homiletics courses
Your training gave you a foundation.
But preaching is a craft—a practice where skill meets inspiration.
Where growth requires ongoing support, instruction, practice, and feedback.
But our current continuing education model relies on short-term, one-time conferences, workshops, and books.
Preaching is a Spiritual practice
So often, prayer and scripture study for their own sake get sidelined for the tyranny of the urgent—leading to stress, insecurity, and burnout.
When we approach sermon prep as prayer, we tune into God in our day-to-day lives.
The message reveals itself without grasping and desperation. .
We preach good news because we’ve been formed by the good news ourselves first.
Nurturing our own connection to God helps us offer the message only we can preach—authentically and confidently.
Plus, preaching must fit into the rest of ministry—and life
You’re determined to prioritize sermon prep this week.
But the church water heater breaks, a last-minute meeting demands your presence, and an unanticipated loss has you preparing a funeral homily in addition to your Sunday sermon.
Instead of spending Saturday night with your family, you find yourself writing your sermon at the eleventh hour…again.
Preachers need a reliable process to prepare an effective sermon within the limited time available.
“After 31 years of ministry, Backstory Preaching stokes a fire within me to excel in the living and proclaiming of the Good News. BsP provides the method & motivation.”
The Collective+ PROVIDEs
THE SUPPORT & Resources preachers NEED TO:
GROW IN SKILL & Confidence
BE spiritually RENEWED BY SERMON PREP
FINISH sermons without sacrificing personal time
The Collective+ was created for preachers like you:
take your preaching to the next level
finish sermon prep on your ideal schedule
renew your spiritual life so preaching feeds the rest of your ministry
connect with like-minded preachers
and feel inspired by preaching again!
Because OUR offerings are all online, you can join us from anywhere.
“I have found the wealth of curated resources and thought-provoking lectures all in one place to be not only a great time-saver but inspiring. There’s just nothing else like it anywhere.”
HOW IT WORKS
1. Make sermon prep your favorite time of the week:
Discover tools and a sermon prep process you can count on—and look forward to—week after week
Access Sunday-specific resources for the coming week’s texts (RCL & Narrative Lectionary) so you never feel stuck
Workshop your sermon message in live sessions midweek with colleagues and a mentor
2. Take your preaching skills to the next level:
Study exemplary sermons to discover and apply craft techniques to your own preaching
Enjoy continuing education via monthly guest lectures by the brightest preaching minds of our time
Participate in seasonal sermon planning so you begin each lectionary season with a story arc and a clear sermon plan you can share with your music minister, bulletin-designer, etc.
3. Revitalize your spiritual life for the rest of ministry
Reorient sermon prep as respite rather than task so you feel renewed rather than drained by preaching
Experience deep transformation through twice-monthly spiritual reflection sessions designed to feed the preacher
Create a sustainable preaching rhythm for a lifetime of fulfilling ministry
Sample Calendar of Events Held in The Collective+
Consider The Collective+ offerings like a fabulous buffet of preaching inspiration. You needn’t taste every dish to get a great meal. Try what most appeals, go back for what you enjoy, and leave the rest.
While we provide some resources specific to the Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary,
most resources and events are designed to be used for any sermon on any text.
“In over 11 years of ministry, this has been the only preaching practice I’ve found effective.”
A passion for preachers.
Meet BsP’s Founding Steward, Lisa
Her hope for you is simple but profound:
that you would Be good news
to preach good news.
“Being part of The Collective+ has brought better organization and increased scriptural insight to my sermon process. Even better, The Collective + has connected me to thoughtful, faithful colleagues.”
Collective+ (PLUS) Membership Benefits
With access to our members-only online spaces, you can take advantage of all these benefits independently,
or attend live Zoom sessions to enjoy community with like-minded preachers.
Benefits you can count on weekly
Weekly exegetical resources curated for the RCL and Narrative Lectionary lessons to streamline your research
Weekly live, online sessions to workshop your sermon message in community
Sermon Prep to Go! Everything you need—RCL & NL exegetical resources, audio Scripture readings, & writing prompts—in a guided prep process to craft a sermon from anywhere.
Creativity exercises to inspire new approaches to writing your sermon
Study Halls: Three types of online meet-ups offered daily to either read and pray, chat around the preacher’s “water cooler,” or work on your sermon.
BsP Virtual Chapel: A dedicated place to request and offer prayers with a weekly, live prayer session.
Benefits you can count on monthly or seasonally
Monthly, online guest lectures and Q&A with respected preachers, preaching professors, authors, and thinkers to help you become more effective in the pulpit.
A library of recordings from previous guest speakers
BsP's Preacher's Planner (made available ahead of each church season, Advent through Pentecost)—made by preachers, for preachers
5 guided, seasonal sermon prep sessions: look ahead at all the texts for the next lectionary and liturgical season
5 follow-up seasonal planning sessions: turn your ideas from season sermon prep into a sermon series, small-group study, or devotional
Sermon Prep Intensives for the busiest seasons of the year (Holy Week, Easter & Christmas) to help you finish a compelling sermon(s) ahead of the busiest weeks of the year
BENEFITS You can count on With ongoing access
BsP's Sermon 52 Framework to learn our foundational, simple but effective sermon prep process you can use week after week
BsP's "Heart of the Message" grid to help you clearly define your sermon each week
Twice-monthly spiritual reflection sessions designed to feed the preacher—led by BsP’s own spiritual director, the Rev. Mike Marsh
10% discount on all BsP courses and camps
Every event, resource, & tool is rooted in prayer So You can
be good news to preach good news.
“My preaching is better, done sooner, and my soul is nurtured in this community of preachers.
”
write compelling sermons faster.
Workshop Your message with Like-minded preachers.
Find joy in preaching again!
JOIN THE COLLECTIVES
Collective
$57/month
Collective+
$77/month
Sign up to be notified when enrollment re=opens.