A Preacher On Preaching

I'm often asked about preaching.  Some ask about the mechanics of preparing and delivering a sermon.  Others ask about the experiences of preaching regularly before a congregation.  Still others ask personal questions--my opinion on preaching styles, sermon content, or my personal preferences in hearing other preachers.  I've decided to offer up some answers in a series of posts. 

How do you come up with sermons?

It started with an ideal.

As I mentioned a couple of posts back, when I started preaching I heard that Charles Spurgeon read a biblical text 300 times before he preached on it.  I determined that if it worked for the Prince of Preachers it would be a part of my game plan.  I set out to read the text over and over.  You can imagine how that went. "Was that 250?  No, wait, uh 248... 249... oh crud!  The last number I actually remember was 159... maybe I should go back and start over there."

There were weeks where I knew I couldn't get 300 if my life depended on it.  A really busy schedule and I might drop my goal to 250 or even 200 perhaps.  There were weeks when the wheels fell off completely and I'd literally be on my way to the church Sunday morning reading the text across my lap as cars swerved to avoid me.

Then (and shamefully, this is true) there were times when my daughters--toddlers in those years--would toddle into my den and disrupt my reading.  I'd become so irritable that I'd scold them and Shari for having let them interrupt my "important work."  Somewhere in there I realized I was the ultimate jerk!  I look back on those occasions with such regret.

At the same time, I had a professor at Bible College who made a practice of asking me 'How are things at home?'  He drilled into me that if I was going to be an effective minister of the gospel I needed to get an 'A' at home, and that 'C's' were more than enough at school. 

I came to conclude 300 times may have worked for Spurgeon, but it wasn't going to be my path to the pulpit.

So I decided rather than starting with an ideal, I'd start with a text.

On Sunday afternoon each week I read the text I'm planning to preach the following Sunday.  Easy enough.   On Monday I read it a few more times.  Still easy.  Sunday afternoons and Mondays are my "off" time, so I don't do much with it at all.  Just enjoy the reading and ruminating... and a nap... and maybe a Coke... and maybe a football game or NASCAR race.  Real spiritual you see.

Beginning on Tuesday I get a little more serious.  I read the text a few more times, this time making some observations of the text.  I'll usually pencil a few notes, underline a few words and, of course, highlight all appearances of the word but in the text.  Wednesday and Thursday are much the same, although as I read midweek I begin to outline the passage--how would I attack this in explaining it to someone?  By this point I've read it dozens of times and put together observations, notes and a rough outline.  Late in the week I start to look at things a little more broadly.  I use tools--check definitions of certain words, look up cross references, track thoughts and ideas in various directions from the text, and so on.  By Friday I might actually put the text address into google and see what others have said about it, and I might turn to my own old sermon notes to see what I've said the last time I preached on this text, or turn to some commentaries to see what some of the greats have said--like Spurgeon... I mean, the dude read it 300 times, right?

By Saturday I feel as though I've researched it fully, so I find time to write the message--which as I described earlier, really is a manner of penciling notes into my Bible to prompt my thoughts as I stand before the congregation on Sunday morning.

Throughout the whole process I'm also scanning my memory for stories, analogies, and anecdotes that I can recount hoping to bring clarity to my thinking, and maybe a smile or a moment of levity in our study together.  That's just me.

How many hours do I put into sermon prep?  I don't know.  I don't count.  It's actually pretty much a continual process--my thoughts turn the text over and over through the week, Sunday to Sunday.  How many times do I read the text?  I don't know.  I don't count anymore.  What references and tools do I use?  I don't know.  Differs week in and week out depending on where the Spirit moves me... and what book I trip over... and how many cups of coffee I've consumed.  Do I plagiarize?  I don't know.  I am sure very few thoughts that come into my head are original.  But I don't really read anyone else's take on a text looking for content--I usually have all that on my own.  So if I share an illustration someone else has used, is that plagiarism?  I gather whatever I can to make the text clear FOR ME, figuring if I can be blessed and challenged in thinking about it, maybe I can share that blessing and challenge with others.

One last thought to share on this: Over the years I've spent several seasons preaching through series of sermons, i.e. preaching my way through entire books of the Bible.  I love doing that for several reasons, but one of them has to do with my sermon preparation.  When I know I'm going to preach a series I have always shifted my personal devotional reading to those texts several months before the series begins.  That way I'm reading and ruminating through those texts asking God to illuminate them in and for my life months before I'm asking Him to help me articulate them for others.  It's always a blessing to do that.

So there you have it.  No rabbit in a magic hat.  Just me.  My Bible.  A pencil.  Some highlighted buts.  A cup of coffee... and now I welcome interruptions when my wife or my girls need me.  I hope you'll hear my heart on this: It's more important that I get an 'A' at home than in the pulpit.

Next time, sermon delivery.  The things that cross my mind on Sunday morning may surprise you.

Comments

[Connie]

Wow! What a process! And here I thought you had the easy job - just "presenting" once a week! Your heartfelt sermons have always taught me new things and helped me understand that big book! It's cool to see how you get there!
Thanks!

[Darin]

Thanks for the kind words, Connie. They're of great encouragement to me.

Marvelous book the Lord has given us--a living and imperishable seed!