PP043 Three Key Sermon Preparation Systems
Folks around Productive Pastor love a good sermon episode. And I’ve got one for you today. I go into three systems that can help you find more margin for creativity and ministry.
Are you tired of your sermon preparation being pushed off to the edge of your schedule? For some reason, Preachers struggle to find the time to prepare sermons. Here are three sermon systems that help find that margin, give ideas the time to marinate, and preach better sermons.
System 1 | A Preaching Calendar
A preaching calendar helps you win because you KNOW what you are preaching in advance. This sounds elementary, but it is valuable because it allows you to begin thinking through messages before the week of. It also lets you begin to think through preaching strategically, and build teaching and ideas throughout the year.
My 2023 preaching calendar in Trello
System 2 | A Capture System
Your capture system is designed in tandem with your preaching calendar. I typically build out my preaching calendar in Trello, but my capture and working system lives in Goodnotes 5. I try to have 3 months out of individual sermon notebooks created. That lets me drop in ideas, quotes, and charts, and anything else.
A screenshot from a goodnotes file on the beginning of Song of Songs.
System 3 | A Weekly Writing Rhythm
In what order do you write sermons? Ideas, Prayer, Research? What is it like for you?
Declare what you are working on each day.
When you begin working with a weekly writing rhythm, you will find the ability to write multiple messages at the same time. Think about what you will ALWAYS do on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Stick to the plan.
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