Mark Messmore's Blog, page 6

Diversifying Your Preaching Approach

In college, I got tired of the cafeteria food.

This is not to say the food was bad. It’s just that when I ate there for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks nearly every day, I got pretty worn out from it. And, I’ll admit, I complained a fair amount about it.

Then I recall speaking to some friends who went to the university in my hometown. While not an enormous school, their cafeteria had won a variety of awards over the years because of both the quality and variety of the food they served. But you know what I learned? The students who attended a school with this award-winning cafeteria also complained about the food.

As it turned out, it does not matter how many awards your cafeteria may win or how large your school budget may be, when you eat in the same location for breakfast, lunch, and dinner day after day, you get tired of it. The same is true of your favorite restaurant, or even the dish you most remember from your grandma. If you had it multiple times a day, day after day, you would become worn out because of the uniformity of the cuisine.

The same can be said of how you preach. While chances are good your people are not listening to you three times a day every day of the week, approaching each message just like the last can create a sameness that invites our people to tune out, because this message is just like every other.

Think about it, when was the last time you added a significant twist to how you preached?

When was the last time you preached a topical overview or character sermon rather than an expository message from a singular text? Conversely, when was the last time you preached through a book of the Bible? How about an inductive style of message? Or perhaps what about even a first-person narrative or interview format?

One of the major goals I had when writing Simple Preaching Prep was to offer a transferable, flexible, customizable model that could be used by a diverse group of people. In fact several times within the book, I emphasize how the preacher needs to use what works best for their personality, their congregation, etc. That said, there can also be a tremendous benefit to you as a preacher when you push yourself to prepare or present a message in a way you have never done before. Similarly, your congregation will likely appreciate the variety offered.

Maybe they’ll like it. Maybe they won’t.

And that’s ok.

Maybe you’ll like it. Maybe you won’t.

And that’s also ok.

Give your people the heads up and they’re likely to be intrigued. A simple mid-week social media post, or even concluding announcement saying something like, “Next Sunday I’m going to be trying out something I’ve never done before. It may go very well or it might not. Regardless I hope you’ll be here to see it!”

So what are these varying approaches?

Over the next several weeks, I want to offer a handful of options that can be used to diversify your messages. While you may not like some ideas, understand that my baseline to any sermon, even those presented differently, is to be a Biblically-based sermon. Thus any one of these approaches, if done appropriately, can be faithful to Scripture and impactful in delivery.

I hope you will join me over the next few weeks as we explore some options for sermon presentation. Perhaps you will find another tool or two to add to your tool belt. Or, to state it another way, some approaches to add variety to your menu.

The Monday Morning Hangover

Mondays are hard.

Yes, I know that statement is as shocking as saying, “water is wet.” It’s not exactly noteworthy. In fact most people you know probably have a Garfield-style affinity for Mondays as they head from the freedom of the weekend back into the grind of life. Mondays are the day most of us have to drag ourselves out of bed and back into the responsibility-filled busyness of our weeks.

I recognize and sympathize with all of that. And while I’m not attempting to turn this into some sort of competition, I would submit to you that for pastors, Mondays are especially hard.

I’ve come to refer to this as the Monday Morning Hangover.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to generate sympathy or complain about my job. I LOVE what I do. I LOVE the opportunity to preach and help others understand God’s Word. I LOVE the opportunities on Sunday that I have to interact with and see the people of our congregation. I LOVE the energy of God’s people gathering together.

But, ask any pastor and they’ll tell you, all of that is also exhausting.

There is an old piece of wisdom that exists among ministry circles that says, “Never quit on a Monday.” That saying exists because of how easy it WOULD be for pastors to quit on a Monday. The emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual energy that goes into the preparation and execution of a Sunday morning creates a deep sense of exhaustion on Monday morning that is difficult to describe.

Over the years I have been intentional in an effort to learn what works best for me when it comes to dealing with the Monday Morning Hangover. Here are some different steps that I have taken:

Take Mondays Off

In each church I have served, Saturday was, by default, a day off. (This, of course, fluctuates with church events and activities) In these circumstances, a pastoral staff member could then select a different day of the week as their *other* day off. Think of it as taking your weekend and sprinkling it out rather than having it back to back. Why is this the case? Because the staff is working on Sundays and the two days off per week matches what might be found in other jobs.

I know that is not the expectation at all churches, however, that is the system I am most familiar with.

For a period of time, I used Monday as my selected off. This had positives and negatives.

On the upside, I was the most tired following a Sunday. I could then basically just exist at home in a vegetative state, which is precisely what I felt like doing. Then, when I returned to the office on Tuesday, I was more energized and ready to go.

A significant downside, however, is that I was often too exhausted to enjoy my day off. Furthermore, I missed having the two-day weekend-like pattern that exists when you choose Friday and thus have Friday and Saturday back-to-back. This ultimately led me to return to the Friday-Saturday pattern, but for a period of a couple of years, I did take Mondays off.

Do Administrative Tasks

Do you know what I absolutely do NOT feel like doing on Mondays? Sermon prep. Yes, I love preaching. Yes, I’ve literally written a book on Sermon Preparation. However, when dealing with a Monday Morning Hangover I want tasks that do not require a lot of creativity or strenuous thought. So I have come to use Mondays for administrative tasks such as:

Hand-writing cards to guests or particular leaders I want to thank.Making edits to the live stream and creating an audio version of the message for our podcastMaking a to-do list for the weekSending email communications regarding updates and/or meetings that need to be scheduledSitting down with different staff members just to get a personal idea of where they may be, what may be needed for them, etc.

The items change somewhat from week to week, however each Monday I have a list of tasks that can help me feel as though the day was not wasted.

Use the Time for Personal Growth

For many years I lived (and worked) under the assumption that if I was not being “productive” in some way, I was somehow not being a good employee for the church. Over time, however, I came to the realization that my personal growth counts as productivity since it serves as a benefit to the church. Therefore, Mondays have now become a regular time for me to do such things as reading books or listening to podcasts.

To be clear, these books or podcasts are going to be related to my job. The resources will likely touch on some aspect of leadership, preaching, prayer, discipleship, or the like. While I have a variety of other topics I take in purely for personal enjoyment, I do not use my time in the office for that.

I Treat Myself Gently

More than anything, I’ve learned to be gentle with myself on Mondays. This has not come easily, nor do I always succeed with it. In fact, too often I’ve internally criticized myself for my lack of productivity and for not getting enough of the to-do list done. Yet I’ve come to realize how unhelpful that mentality is. Therefore I try to treat myself as I treat others, recognizing that if I’m not at 100% (such as on a Monday), I shouldn’t expect myself to perform at 100%. It’s ok. I’ll put one foot in front of the other. I’ll accomplish what can be accomplished, and I’ll know that Tuesday is almost assuredly going to be better.

Those are some lessons I have learned and steps I have implemented to deal with the Monday Morning Hangover. What about you? I’d love to hear adjustments you have made in your own life.

Planning Your Preaching: PART 5 – Leveraging Your Sermon Calendar

This post is part of a series where I discuss the benefits and processes of planning your preaching.
PART 1 – Why Planning is Important
PART 2 – Getting Ready For Your Planning Session
PART 3 – Five Considerations When Sermon Planning
PART 4 – Nuts and Bolts of Sermon Planning

I have been to a fair number of church conferences over the years. These conferences have included ones that focus on preaching, discipleship, leadership, and more. If you, like I, have attended many conferences, chances are good you, like I have walked out from at least one thinking, “Well…none of that would work for me.” This might be particularly true when it comes to conferences hosted by mega-churches.

Now, to be clear, I do NOT have an issue with mega-churches. These communities of faith can, and often are, remarkable in what they can accomplish. However, when attending a conference at such a location, there are often concepts or strategies that do not translate to a church of 200, 100, or 50. Thus it can be quite possible to brush off what I am about to suggest as something for “those big churches” but not you.

But I would like you to reconsider.

Over the course of this blog series, we have examined the different steps involved in sermon planning. However, now it’s time to leverage that planning to make a significant impact across the ministry of your congregation.

Coordination across ministry areas

The schedule you have established can likely be built upon in a variety of ministry areas. What if you coordinated with your ministry team leaders in some of the following ways?

Small Groups or Sunday School Classes – If you’re teaching on the parables of Jesus, the book of Jonah, or even the topic of forgiveness chances are good one of your leaders might be able to identify a companion study that will help drive home this topic to your people. Is this novel? Nope. But it is an easy point of coordination that is often underutilized.Outreach Efforts – Are you preaching on the importance of Scripture? What if you used this opportunity, as a church, to partner with an organization like Pioneer Bible Translators that works to translate Scripture to groups that do not yet have access? Or, if you are in a military community, what if you chose to raise money for Military Bible Sticks (audio versions of the Bible sent to servicemen and women around the world who have requested it).On the other hand, maybe you will be walking through James and will cover how in James 1:27 calls believers to care for widows and orphans. Is there a children’s home, domestic violence shelter, or even nursing facility in your local community where your church could make a difference?I would not recommend a lot of these types of efforts as it is easy to burn yourself, and your people, out. However, planning one or two of these initiatives each year can energize and activate your people to put into practice what you are teaching from Scripture.Explore creative elements to add to your messages

As preachers, there is a constant rhythm wherein every seven days we’ll be standing up again to preach. Unfortunately, if we are not careful, this can lead to a pattern where all our messages are structured and delivered in much the same way. Don’t get me wrong, there is value in having such a pattern so that you’re not starting from ground zero every time you stand up to speak. Yet, the routine can become mundane, for you as well as your audience. However, when you plan in advance, you have the time and ability to look for creative elements to add to your messages.

But what if you’re not super creative when it comes to things like that?

That’s where a creative team comes into play.

Developing a creative team does not need to be rocket surgery. Nor does it need to be seen as something just for the “big churches.” To plan your first creative team session, do the following:

Pick a handful of people and ask them to attend a creative brainstorming session.Most people will not think they have anything to offer when it comes to sermon material, but they will likely be more ok with creative brainstorming.At this point, you’re not inviting them to help you every month or quarter (however often you plan for such a meeting to take place), you are just asking for help at one time. Then, you can determine if you would like this person to help again in the future.Types of people you may consider:The long-time church leader who may have witnessed something years ago that resonated with himThe new mom who just started to attend your church may bring up a perspective you had not thought ofThe musician may recognize a song either for worship, or a special, that will help drive home the pointThe retired professional may know of someone who can offer testimony about the topic.Put the brainstorming session on the calendarThe meeting does not have to be incredibly long, 60-90 minutes is a good start.Remind everyone a few days in advance and ask them to look through the sermon calendar before they arrive.Have the brainstorming sessionSet expectations early – just because an idea is brought up, does not automatically mean it will happen. However, we can’t explore an idea if you choose not to bring it up.Have printed copies of the sermon schedule, Bibles, and a white-board or post-it notes for discussionSnacks and drinks are appreciated, but not mandatoryDiscuss the sermon calendar one series at a time. Offer people the opportunity to toss out any crazy idea they may have in mind. Again, YOU will be the final say as to what actually gets in and what does not.Write down LOTS of the ideas presented. Sure, you may not preach from on top of a ladder to discuss pride versus humility, but perhaps you’ll end up having a ladder on stage with you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.Finish on time. If the planning session has hit a dead end, everyone involved will be glad to be done. If ideas are flowing easily, recognize the time and invite anyone that may need to leave the opportunity to go. This is an act of respect demonstrated to all involved.Find a way to thank the group participantsI’m a big fan of sending small, hand-written notes in the mail. Given the dearth of actual mail I receive, I know what a lift it can be to see that someone took the time to write me a card. This does not need to be lengthy, four or five sentences of thanks are sufficient. However, it can go a long way.Thanking the team, by name, within the context of a message can also be incredibly impactful. While none of us want to admit it, we all appreciate a public “atta boy!”A great way to do this is, when you’re about to use an idea that came out of that session, take 20 seconds to say, “Several weeks back I met with Ann Smith, Jim Phillips, Marcy Whitmore, and Don Jacobs and they gave me this idea to help emphasize this point.” This takes very little time but helps those involved feel as though their time was valued.

WHEW! There is a lot there. But I promise, in practice, this will feel much easier and produce plenty of benefits the more you do it.

So what are some creative ideas that you have built into your messages? How do you find your creative elements? I’d love to hear from you!

REVIEW: Stalled

Have you ever known that you need to go to a chiropractor? Right now I can tell that I somehow slept wrong, or lifted something wrong, or just fastened my seatbelt wrong and now my back is a bit out of alignment. And while I’m likely to stubbornly push through until I’m dealing with consistent pain or restriction, at some point I will make an appointment. At this appointment, the doctor will gauge where I am, twist me in all sorts of ways that make me think he’s going to snap me like Chuck Norris and get me back into alignment.

If you have ever had such an experience, you know a couple of things:

It hurts. Those cracks, snaps, and stretches move your body in ways that it has settled in order to get things correctly aligned. The process is quite uncomfortable.You feel better afterward. Sometimes this happens immediately. Other times this happens after your body has healed from the shock of your correction.

This experience is the best corollary I can give to pastors who read Stalled by Dale Sellers. It probably will hurt, and you may feel some sharp sensations of getting corrected. However, ultimately you will feel better afterward.

Who Should Read Stalled

If like me, you have ever attended a ministry conference of any sort, chances are good you have witnessed pastors casually comparing notes about their churches. Maybe it’s because the conference is at a mega-church and the pastors consistently remark about how nice it must be to have the large crowd, bright lights, and big stage. Or, maybe the comparison begins to happen over a table of snacks as mental notes are made about average attendance, number of conversions or church budgets.

I recognize that it is too general a statement to say that all pastors struggle with comparison. However, I have seen it enough in my professional years (not to mention dealt with it enough), to know how prevalent an issue this is. In fact, the subtitle of Stalled strikes the issue directly, “Hope and Help for Pastors Who Thought They’d Be There By Now.” Most pastors, at some point, have internally wrestled with questions of their own effectiveness. This is exacerbated when well-meaning people in their own congregation remark on the amazing growth being experienced by another church in town. In a world where church success is often measured by “the three B’s: buildings, bodies, and budgets” more than one pastor I know has wondered, “Am I a failure when all these other pastors are experiencing such success?”

The Author’s Approach

Sellers does a good job of addressing the pastor personally and directly and challenging those performance-oriented thoughts. Broken into sections that discuss, “Why Can’t I Get There?”, “What Will I Find There?” and “The Fulfillment of Living There”, the author takes the reader on a journey to identify their own insecurities, approach them from a Godly direction and reframe their purpose and ministry.

Conclusion

If you are a pastor who has never dealt with questions of inadequacy or call, then this would be a read that might help you understand where other fellow pastors are coming from. Otherwise, this is an easy, valuable read that I highly recommend to any pastor willing to admit they’ve struggled with thinking they would be there by now.

Planning Your Preaching: PART 4 – Nuts and Bolts of Sermon Planning

This post is part of a series where I discuss the benefits and processes of planning your preaching.
PART 1 – Why Planning is Important
PART 2 – Getting Ready For Your Planning Session
PART 3 – Five Considerations When Sermon Planning

So how does sermon planning actually WORK? How does one go from a blank calendar template to something that can be handed out to church leaders for the purpose of planning, coordination, and saving one’s own sanity?

STEP 1: Identify series topics

Based on the PART 3 post in this series, I hope you have already begun to identify areas of need and potential topics that may be well-suited for your church in its current season. If not, take a look at these questions to help identify some of the topics that may be most pertinent.

For the purpose of this post, I am going to pretend that the focus of your church in this current season is an emphasis on loving God and loving people. So what topics might be most needed based on this theme? Here are some ideas:

Series Idea 1: Loving others, especially those who may not look/sound/behave/vote/believe like you.Series Idea 2: It’s easy to say we love God, but practically what does that mean? What does that look like? In this series, we’ll look at different Bible characters to get a better idea.

These two series are very aligned with the theme of loving God and loving people, yet as I begin to envision the end result, I believe the series themselves will be quite different. Notice I have done NOTHING involving series branding, creative elements, involvement of other ministries, etc. All I have done is identify potential sermon series ideas based on the needs of the church.

Step 2: Brainstorm the individual messages in each series

Once we have a few sermon series ideas we like, we can begin developing each idea into a series of messages. Of course, as we move forward the option always exists to circle back and add another potential sermon series to the list if something else comes to mind. Yet for now, we want to take the sermon series ideas and begin to give them shape and definition. I’m going to continue with the two series ideas mentioned above. REMEMBER, prior to leaving this session, EVERYTHING can be tweaked and edited. Do not hesitate to write something down and improve on it later. (See my post “Critiquing is Easier than Creating“)

NOTE: If you want to download this content, or just have it in a nicer-to-read format,
I’ve dropped it into my sermon calendar template and made it all available here.

Series Idea 1:Potential titles: “The Others”, “Who Is My Neighbor?”, “When Loving Others Is Hard”Potential sermons:Potential Title: “The Second Most Important Thing”
Passage: Matthew 22:36-40
Main Idea: When asked about what is most important, Jesus gave was is first and what is second. But why should this matter to us?Potential Title: “Won’t You Be A Neighbor?”
Passage: Luke 10:25-37
Main Idea: What does this idea of loving others really look like when we live it out? Jesus provides us with one of the most incredible examples…Potential Title: “Loving the Outcast”
Passage: Matthew 8:1-4
Main Idea: In the first century, contracting leprosy would result in not only dealing with the sickness but also being forced from the community. How did Jesus interact with this outcast of society?Potential Title: “Loving the Opposition”
Passage: Matthew 8:5-13
Main Idea: A centurion would have had significant authority, and would also have been seen as the enemy by those closest to Jesus. Yet how did Jesus respond when this centurion approached Him with a need?Potential Title: “Loving the Sinful”
Passage: Matthew 9:9-13
Main Idea: While the Bible speaks of how all are sinful, those surrounding Jesus had a very different perspective. Yet Jesus demonstrates an incredible truth about His purpose and ministry.Potential Title: “The Call to Love”
Passage: Matthew 9:35-38
Main Idea: In this passage, Jesus makes a simple observation. We often apply this specifically to located ministry, but the implications of the large crowd contrasted with the small group of followers paints a broader picture. We all have the opportunity to demonstrate love to those who are in need of compassion.Series Idea 2Potential titles: “Obedient Heroes”, “When Loving God is Hard”Potential sermons:Potential Title: “Abram”
Passage: Genesis 12
Main Idea: Before he was the father of many nations, Abram was a follower of God. God called him with nothing more than a promise that He would show Abram an abundant land and He would make Abram great. Yet despite the uncertainties, Abram follows.Potential Title: “Noah”
Passage: Genesis 6 & 7
Main Idea: Noah set out on a job and persisted, even though it would be 120 years until the promised reason came to pass.Potential Title: “Job”
Passage: Book of Job
Main Idea: Faithfulness to God does not always mean prosperity. Sometimes it means trusting God even when you do not understand.Potential Title: “Rahab”
Passage: Joshua 2
Main Idea: A woman, a foreigner, a prostitute, Rahab had EVERYTHING going against her, yet she stands as a great example of faithfulness to God.

Notice there are still a lot of unknowns, there are a lot of details to be determined. Yet, we now have something to work with as we move to step 3.

Step 3: Solidify your sermon series’ and put them on the calendar

It is at this point that we begin slotting sermon series into the calendar. It’s ok if what you have developed does not fit perfectly yet. For instance, imagine you have developed eight ideas in a series on the parables of Jesus. It is ok to remove one message to make the series fit in a space where you need seven weeks of messages.

Tweak. Massage. And also, realize it is ok to have a stand-alone message in between two that thus far just fit *perfectly* in regard to what you hope to accomplish.

Again, titles, branding, and creative elements can be developed later. However, this will be a great start when you leave this planning session.

Step 4: Distribute the calendar to appropriate church leaders

Let your leaders know that things can change. However veering from this plan should be the exception, not the rule. With this in hand, different groups will now be able to plan in a variety of ways. Here are some potential leaders to send it to:

Your elders/board – In my experience, leaders in the church are always grateful to know you are thinking about the future. Furthermore, people in these roles tend to not like surprises. Thus if you plan to have a guest speaker or are speaking about a potentially sensitive topic (divorce, sex, how the church should respond to those in the LGBTQ+ community, etc.) they will appreciate a heads up. In those instances, this allows them to prepare for criticisms that may arise.Your worship leader(s) – I have honestly been amazed how many worship leaders have zero idea what the sermon topic will be from week to week. Imagine if your worship leader can lean into the topic with special music or song selections that emphasize the theme of your message. All of this can dramatically increase the impact of your sermon.Whoever does your graphics/bulletin/social media – Advanced notice allows individuals serving in these areas to prepare and further emphasize your theme rather than just going with something generic.Small group leaders / Sunday school teachers – If you are preaching through Galatians, this allows these groups to dive deeper into the very content you’re covering on a Sunday. This helps lessons carry over beyond Sunday morning.Your sermon development team – Remember how we have intentionally NOT been concerned with graphics, branding, etc? This will be a team that helps solidify these elements of your upcoming messages. But how does a team like that get developed? How does it work? We’ll discuss that in the final post of this series next week.

REVIEW: Self-Publishing Secrets

This book is one of the most challenging I have had to review. So before I dive into my thoughts, a few disclaimers.

I have published a grand total of one book on Amazon.I do not expect to get rich from the micro-niche book I have published.You are still reading this with a desire to know my thoughts. If you weren’t, you probably would not have clicked the link.

The book itself was informative and easy to read. However, my first issue lay in the title. The title is Self-Publishing Secrets. Having published one book, and knowing the frustration of jumping from blog post to blog post and podcast to podcast to find information, I was excited to pick up items that I had skipped. “Is there a secret handshake that will boost my sales?” Yes, that is a ridiculous example, however, I went into this book with the hopes of learning some of the secrets I had otherwise missed.

This book, dear reader, was not about self-publishing secrets.

The subtitle, instead, is a much more accurate representation of the book’s contents, “How To Self-Publish A Nonfiction Book On Amazon, Create The Manuscript, Get More Reviews, Sell More Books, Create A+ Content, and Much, Much, More.” Granted, this subtitle is clearly an attempt to hit as many Amazon keywords as possible. However, to the author’s credit, this better summarizes the purpose of the book, teaching someone a step-by-step process to publishing their first book on Amazon.

To that end, the content was beneficial. This book would have served me well a year ago prior to starting my own publishing journey. The content that I jumped all over the internet to find was summarized here in a tidy package. Yet, even that was not without issues. I’ll split these into objective and subjective to help differentiate opinion from observable fact.

Objective Issues

The author identifies editing and proofreading as one of the important steps once a manuscript has been completed. I wholeheartedly agree and understand how pivotal a good editor can be. Yet even as Everett wrote about proofreading, I found many errors that led me to believe he had not followed his own advice. Again, I recognize how easy it is for typos and mistakes to slip through no matter how often someone looks at the manuscript. However, at one point, I felt I could only laugh because I had yet again found something.

Subjective Issues

From the outset, I felt an aversion to the author’s approach. Toward the beginning of the book, Everett pitched to the reader writing a non-fiction book from one of a subset of popular categories. Then, after finding a niche, or even a niche-within-a-niche, research and write a book about that topic.

To be clear, this is certainly a way to write a book. However, for me, it had the feeling of a professor who just reads one chapter ahead in the book to stay ahead of the class. Perhaps this is 100% because Everett’s objective is to have you build, and then sell off a publishing empire. Perhaps I’m just too much of an old-soul fuddy-duddy who wants there to be some personal passion behind the books I write. Regardless, I didn’t care for this.

Conclusion

For a first-time author, this book collects many of the steps of self-publishing, especially those regarding Kindle Direct Publishing, and packages them together in a nice, readable format. Yet, this book is not without issues and should not be seen as unveiling any real publishing secrets

Planning Your Preaching: PART 3 – Five Considerations When Sermon Planning

This post is part of a series where I discuss the benefits and processes of planning your preaching.
PART 1 – Why Planning is Important
PART 2 – Getting Ready For Your Planning Session

So what now?

You’ve got your snacks, your drinks, your books and Bibles, your notepads and pens, you have a block of time where it is just you (or your preaching team)…now what? How does this process of sermon planning actually work?

As I have said previously, tweak these recommendations based on your needs and experience. Make these work for you. Yet with that being said, here are five considerations when going into your time of sermon planning.

1) Consider how God may lead

I have been in full-time ministry with a local church since 2006. I have also been guilty on more occasions than I would like to admit how I have planned much and prayed little. Before you start writing, brainstorming, branding, or questioning, take time to truly open your heart and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit. While I have mentioned this before, here is an outstanding reality – the Holy Spirit can work just as much in the preparation as the presentation. The Holy Spirit’s activity is not limited to when you are standing up to preach. He can, and will, be active even in your time of planning. He knows what will be happening at certain times, even if you do not. He will help guide you with wisdom if you are willing to ask and listen.

2) Consider what you have preached recently

Here is a question, “What styles of series do you tend toward naturally?” Do you tend to preach a lot from the Epistles while not a lot from the Old Testament? Do you rely heavily on topical preaching while avoiding multi-week expository-style messages that walk the congregation through a book of the Bible?

We ALL have tendencies. And those tendencies are not negative in and of themselves. However, if left unchecked, we may never veer outside of our comfortable tendencies and topics, which ultimately limits our growth as preachers and the congregation’s spiritual growth. Consider how you have structured your messages in the past and look to push your own natural tendencies.

3) Consider the calendar

Did you know that Christmas will be on December 25th of this year? Regardless of when you are reading this post, that statement will be true. Are you planning to do a Christmas series, a stand-alone Christmas message, or something altogether different? What about other days on the calendar like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, does your church have traditions that need to be considered on those days? What about the church calendar? Is there a Spring Festival or annual Homecoming that should be planned for? I am not saying you should or should not make a special message for any one of those days. However, you should consider those events as you plan out your preaching.

Note: I have provided a Sermon Calendar Template here. While I have adjusted the template over time, I have used some version of this for years. This will help you get a plan of the overall series, texts, and ideas you plan to preach.

4) Consider the needs of the church

As the preacher, you are charged with communicating truth from God’s Word to God’s people. Sometimes those will be words of comfort, speaking of God’s grace, love and compassion. Sometimes those will be words of admonishment, correcting improper beliefs and actions about topics like bitterness, priorities, or spiritual development in general.

If you recognize legalism in your church, a walk through the book of Galatians will provide an opportunity to address this issue in context without it coming across as an intentional attack. If you see infighting and competition among your people, walk through 1st Corinthians. Note how often these Corinthians got it wrong and how we can learn from this letter. If you see resistance to evangelism, preach a four-week series on Jonah demonstrating how the book is more than about a man swallowed by a fish.

Considering the needs of your local church can help you prioritize what is most important to preach. Here I have provided a variety of questions to help you consider the needs of your local church when it comes to preaching.

NOTE: Please do not use your preaching to grind personal axes. The message of Christ and Him crucified is much bigger than our personal conflicts. Yes, the church may need to hear a message on righteousness, forgiveness, or financial giving. However, always keep it in the context of communicating truth from God’s inspired Word and never about a personal vendetta.

5) Consider your plan written in pencil, not in stone or chalk.

If you write a letter in pencil it can be erased. And while it might smudge, it is unlikely just to disappear with a gentle swipe of the hand. As you formulate a preaching plan for the coming months, you should see the result as a firm, but not inflexible plan.

On September 11, 2001, I was sitting in a chapel service at Kentucky Christian College (now Kentucky Christian University). As the chapel service began, we were informed that planes had been flown into the World Trade Center towers. I have no memory of what the speaker that day preached. I also recognize the challenge of changing a prepared message at a moment’s notice. However, this experience demonstrated to me just how important it is to be firm, but not inflexible.

The sermon plan you produce should be able to be handed out to the leaders for review. Plans for songs, companion Bible studies, and more should be able to be developed based on what you hand out. No, you don’t need a national tragedy in order to make a change. Yet, those changes should be the exception rather than the rule.

So there you have it, five considerations for your sermon planning time. What would you add to this list?

REVIEW: Reach

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity show up in my inbox to join the launch team for Becky Robinson’s (@beckyrbnsn) new book Reach: Create the Biggest Possible Audience for Your Message, Book or Cause. Before I go further, I want to identify a few things about myself.

I am a new author, with my book just going live on Amazon this month.I have no real platform.I am not famous.The idea of a “personal brand” gives me the heebee jeebees.There is a ton about the publishing, marketing, and writing world that I am ignorant about.

 

Throughout the entire writing and publishing process, I have consistently recognized my own need to push myself and grow. Thus, I thought this book may be a great way to do so. I signed up, was accepted, and have read Reach.

In short, I am tremendously grateful that I did.

First off, let me point out a couple of things that this book is not:

A get-rich-quick resourceA retread consisting solely of topics you will see on every book promotion site (e.g. sales funnels and podcast tours)

 

Robinson begins by tapping into her years of experience and laying out four key virtues that MUST undergird any effort to grow your reach. These virtues of value, longevity, consistency, and generosity are then connected to every facet of increasing your online reach. Robinson then demonstrates how any of these virtues if ignored, can potentially stifle the greatest possible reach you can have.

However, this book is not just a high-level discussion of abstract topics. Once these four virtues are established at the core of your efforts, Robinson then builds from the inside out demonstrating how other tactical approaches such as the permission-based email list, sharing content, building your brand, etc are developed on top of that.

Speaking of these tactical elements, Robinson challenged some of my preconceived notions about how I was marketing my book. I had felt that email-based efforts were a regression to the past and had focused all my energies on trying to engage an audience via social media coupled with personal interactions. However, in her experience-based, challenging way, Robinson made me rethink my entire approach. I now have a strategy to use and build a newsletter list with an aim to generously and consistently provide content of value.

But perhaps the most significant personal development of mine as a result of this book is the acceptance of developing a personal brand. As a pastor, the idea of having a personal brand seems disgustingly self-serving and egocentric. Yet, this perception stands in direct contrast with my desire to establish a far reach with a book that I am passionate about. At some point, I will likely write about my personal journey from avoiding to embracing a personal brand, but the short answer is this: Robinson demonstrated how a personal brand does not need to be smarmy. While still personally working through the issue, I am taking her instruction to heart and developing what my brand will be.

So why didn’t I give it five stars?

With all this praise heaped on Reach, why didn’t I give it five stars? While practical and well written, there were two chapters in particular that I had difficulty with, but for very different reasons.

Chapter seven focused on the topic of developing content. This coincides with Robinson’s virtues of value, generosity, and consistency. However, as referenced above, I’m a beginner. At one point in the book, Robinson classifies people like me as a “beginner beginner.” I felt this chapter breezed over how one begins in this realm of content creation and instead jumped deeply into how the content you’re already creating can be repurposed. Yes, at some point I will likely revisit this section and garner a great deal from it. However as a “beginner beginner” my head was swimming and I was considerably overwhelmed by it all.

The second chapter in question was Chapter 10 and bears the title, “Reach for Marginalized Voices .” While I felt the rest of the book was a practical take on how to increase your reach, this particular chapter seemed much more focused on the challenges of minorities in the publishing industry. Please understand me when I say this is a conversation that NEEDS to take place! I am not arguing against the value of such a conversation. However, I really felt like the topic was shoehorned in and fit rather awkwardly into the book as a whole.

Conclusion

While I believe there are some parts that could be improved, I see Reach as an incredibly valuable tool for individuals or organizations that want to increase their online impact. I highly recommend it.

REVIEW: Who Are China’s Walking Dead?

What is life like inside Communist China? Author Kay Rubacek uses interviews with a large variety of defected Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members to understand just that.

Based on her interviews for her award-winning documentary (Finding Courage), Rubacek uses this book as an opportunity to dive deeper into a myriad of topics. From the systematic extermination of a certain breed of sparrow to the unspoken, but directed persecution of the Falun Gong faith to the mind-boggling assertion that China was established in 1949 by the CCP, topics are grouped and explained to help Western readers understand the control exerted by the CCP over China.

For me, this book is similar in nature to Barbara Demick’s Nothing to Envy about life in North Korea. The difference, however, is how Rubacek takes effort to cue the reader into her thoughts and feelings as she wrestles with the realities her interviewees present. It is clear, based on her writing, that the goal of the CCP is predominantly profit for those in power – even at the cost of life and well-being of their countrymen.

While I found the information fascinating and well-researched, there is one significant reason I did not give this work 5/5 stars. The author makes several references to Marxist influence in American education and culture. However, I feel she does nothing to support her assertion. Perhaps there is an agreed-upon reality that those in the academic community know about that I am not privy to. However, these statements most often seemed to me like argumentative comments one would get on social media rather than well-researched findings. This did not permeate every page by any stretch, but happened often enough to make me begin to roll my eyes with the feeling, “here we go again…”

Aside from those statements, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the uncomfortable realities of life in communist China.

Planning Your Preaching: PART 2 – Getting Ready For Your Planning Session

This post is part of a series where I discuss the benefits and processes of planning your preaching.
Series Introduction

When it comes to vacations, my wife and I tend to plan very differently. In keeping with the differences in our personalities and upbringings, when on vacation I like to have copious amounts of leisure time. Kara, on the other hand, likes to maximize efficiency, squeezing out as many experiences as possible in the time available. Over time, we have learned and adapted to one another, figuring out a rhythm that works best for us.

I mention this because as you head into your planning session you may find it necessary to adjust from my recommendations into a rhythm that works more for you. That is entirely ok. As you become more experienced in planning out your preaching, you’ll find that you make your own tweaks and adjustments over time. Take these ideas as a place to begin and make them your own.

With that out of the way, here are recommendations as you head into a time of sermon planning:

Plan time in your schedule

While your rhythm may differ on frequency and process of sermon planning, the priority of blocking out time in your schedule needs to be non-negotiable. Yes, I know you are busy. Yes, I know 1,000 other priorities are screaming out for your attention. And no, no one on your leadership team is likely to check up on you to see if you have time set aside for sermon planning. All those variables add up to an activity that is easy to forego.

Don’t.

Pick a morning. Schedule an afternoon. Heck, just block off two hours where you will be offsite or in the office with your phone off and your door closed to visitors. This time is an investment toward the overall development of your preaching and the spiritual growth of your congregation. Put it on your calendar and stick to it.

Plan to remove distractions

I alluded to this in the previous point, but it is worth repeating. You may need to do some advance planning to help deter distractions. Perhaps you need to let your secretary know that on Thursday afternoon, you will be sermon planning offsite. Maybe you need to communicate with your church board that this Tuesday you’ll be in your office, but available for emergencies only as you plan out the next six months’ worth of sermons.

Realize, however, the distractions may not all be external. You may also need to prepare to keep YOURSELF from becoming distracted. Oh how easily a prep time can be derailed by opening up the laptop “real quick” only to find you have spent 45 minutes on something that caught your attention.

Get an idea of what you will need and have it ready to go. Do the advanced work so that your time has the best chance to be fruitful. Here is a quick list to get you started:

A calendar including holidays, personal vacations, church events, and more. Here is a Sermon Calendar Template similar to what I have used for years.Have one or two copies of the Bible. Yes, digital ones on your phone are handy, but we’re trying to avoid distractions remember?Notepads and pens or a room with a whiteboard and dry erase markers to sketch, brainstorm and createSermon planning questions (like these) that you can print out and have with you to spur ideasAny books you have been reading that might help trigger sermon topicsAny additional sermon ideas you have jotted downConclusion

If you plan time in your schedule and plan to remove distractions you’ll have a good start as you step into your prep time. But what do you do once you actually sit down? How does this process work? What about if you have a preaching team rather than just you? These questions and more we will look at in future posts as we look at different parts of the planning process.