Making a Better Preacher Part 1 - Plan Ahead

Believe me, I have a long way to go in my preaching.  But there are a few things that have helped me improve along the way. 

One technique that helped me was to plan ahead.  Planning helps me because one of the most difficult parts for me about preaching is deciding what to preach about.  Don’t get me wrong – there is no shortage of material – but sometimes settling on one topic or passage is difficult.  Early in my career, it was just another reason to procrastinate, which is a problem I will address in a later installment of this series.  I found that taking a few hours planning once or twice a year was fantastic in setting the pace and settling the “What Should I Preach?” question.

So maybe you are having the same struggle – Sunday’s coming, and you don’t have a clue which direction you are going in.  So let me share with you some techniques that have been helpful to me.

1. Use the church calendar.  This means that you plan in advance for things like Lent and Advent.  Those two seasons alone take care of about 10% of your church year.
2. Find a lectionary online.  A lectionary is a week-to-week set of scripture passages that are designed on a three-year cycle to give a church a well-balanced diet of Bible.  This not only gives you passages in advance, it also follows the church calendar.  For example, Good Friday will include passages on the crucifixion, etc.  In addition, it avoids a common trap that preachers can fall into – only preaching from their favorite passages.  The Salvation Army's Southern Territory publishes a quarterly guide called "The Word and Worship Resources for Salvationists" that has a plan already developed that you can use.
   
3. Follow a devotional book.  In one congregation, we used “A Guide to Prayer for All God’s People.”  This gave us one year of sermon passages in advance, and also tied in everyone’s personal devotions to the Sunday messages.
4. Check the program calendar.  There are some Sundays that are special Sundays – Men’s Sunday, Women’s Sunday, Gospel Arts Sunday, Corps Cadet Sunday; that all lend themselves either to a themed meeting or the beginning or ending of a series.
5. Tie in with current trends.  Paying attention to the world outside can help you develop a sermon series that draws in visitors to your church.  Andy Stanley of North Point Church recently preached a short series called “He’s Still Got the Whole World in His Hands,” which addresses the uncertainty of the current economy and what our faith has to say about it.
6. Borrow from other churches.  Sites like www.sermoncentral.com have examples of nice series with catchy names that you can start with.  I used the concept of “Get out of Egypt” one year for Lent, which was borrowed from Mars Hill Community Church in Grand Rapids, MI.
7. Make manageable series.  Don’t preach a sixteen-week series on the chapters of Romans.  You will get tired of it, and your people will too.  Breaking it up gives some much-needed variety.  Usually a three-eight week series is a good length.
8. Share the plan.  I like to share my preaching plan with staff and volunteers who are responsible for designing the service, selecting music, etc.  I have used Google Docs online to create and share my plan so that the planning group can see it at any time, including updates as I change my mind or direction.  Sometimes, up to 18 months of plan has been available this way.

Maybe you have some planning tools that you use – I’d like to learn from you if you have a winning idea.