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.