What are You Doing?

This is a week I have been looking forward to for some time. It falls at a perfect time for me, and my prayer is that I take full advantage of it.

You see, our Gospel Meeting starts next Sunday, so I am not preaching or teaching class at all next week.

Now, some of you might be thinking, “That’s awful! A preacher who is excited about not preaching? That’s not good!” It’s also not what I mean. I love to preach, and I always enjoy studying, thinking, praying, writing, and presenting sermons.

However, there are times when it is good to have a week like this one. You see, I have been planning for this week for a long time.

What am I doing?

I’m planning. Yes, I have planned to plan. What am I planning? Lesson themes and titles for 2012. This is something I started a couple of years ago (planning a year ahead), and have greatly enjoyed doing so.

Usually, though, I have to work for a few minutes a day for a month or more to do this. This year, with our Gospel Meeting coming up, I am taking advantage of the week to do most of the planning (though I have already done several things to lay the groundwork).

Here are some tips and insights I use to plan out a year’s worth of material:

1. I don’t write entire sermons, just themes and titles. This week is not about outlining. It is about brainstorming. It’s about noticing what hasn’t been preached on in awhile. It’s about texts that have intrigued me for some time. It’s just laying out themes, texts, and titles.

2. I use the calendar. I mark holidays and church-wide events off, so I know what to work around.

3. I don’t plan a sermon for every Sunday. I used to, but learned that calendars change constantly! A guest speaker is called in. Sickness comes. An event is planned later than usual. It’s best to leave some gaps. My goal for this week is to have about 40 sermons laid out on the calendar for 2012, leaving open 12 Sundays.

4. I rarely plan Sunday nights. I might lay out a few ideas, but not many. This is not because Sunday nights are unimportant, but I like to use Sunday nights for lessons that are not in a theme (usually), so they take less planning with the calendar.

So, how do I do it? Here are some steps I have taken and will take:

1. Brainstorming a theme for the year. I have not decided on the actual wording of our 2012 theme yet, but I know the emphasis.

2. Brainstorm sermon themes/topics off that theme. What are the basic things that come to mind when I think of the theme. These provide a simple structure to sermon ideas.

3. Browse through Evernote. I keep tons of sermon ideas in Evernote, and some are ideas I have kept just for certain themes. I may not print them off at this time, but I can make a note of that in my brainstorming.

4. Decide how long to talk about certain topics. My longest theme at Lebanon Road was 12 weeks. Even for me, that was too long. My goal for 2012 is not go more than 6 weeks on any one subject, and to keep any others to about 3 weeks. Also, I am not going to end one theme, then start another one the very next week.

5. Spend time in prayer. Lots of prayer. I do not want these lessons to just be thrown on a calendar. I want them to be truly what is needed and helpful. God will grant that type of wisdom, but I need to pray for it. While you may not “catch” me on my knees in my office, there are scores of “silent prayers” being said this week as I think and write.

————————–

Some may think this is an easy week, since I’m only getting one lesson (this Wednesday night’s class) ready. But this week will be one of the most productive, if I will remain on task. Also, I further plan to spend a little extra time visiting and doing some general work on/in my office, since I am not preaching.

I hope this article has given you some insight into the work of a preacher, and has encouraged fellow preachers to do some planning of your own. It doesn’t have to be a year’s worth, but when is the last time you just took a little time to evaluate where you’ve been and where you are going in your preaching? It might e time for such an endeavor!