Questions About My Preaching

A funny picture done by two ladies in the church for a prayer-walk experience. They have fun personalities!

I’m writing this because of questions I’ve been asked over the last several months about my preaching.  I have put them into a Q&A format in this post, although this was never done as an interview.  These are just real questions people in the church have asked me, so I thought I’d make some answers and info available here.

I hope this is informative to the people of the church, and maybe even helpful to other preachers in their preparation, organization, and delivery.
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Q- What version of the Bible do you preach from?

A- English Standard Version (ESV).

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Q- What version of the Bible do you study from?

A- 7 different ones- ESV, King James, New King James, New Living Translation, New International Version, New American Standard Bible, and Holman Christian Standard Bible.  I like the variety because they will show some word variations in our English language which then indicate you might want to really study original languages in those areas.

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Q-  How do you decide what you are going to preach?

A-  I prayerfully consider what my church needs to hear from God’s Word.  When I find peace with a certain theme/book/topic/etc., I begin preparing a year-long preaching calendar.  I wrote about that here.  I really believe that God has a message for a certain group of people at a certain time.  My group of people to preach to is Central Baptist Church, and I try to consider where we are and where we need to be as I seek God’s direction on preaching.

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Q-  What are the steps in your preparation for a sermon?

1. I write out any initial thoughts from reading the Biblical passage over and over, keeping the context of that passage in mind.  I use a sketch book for this because it has heavy, blank, white pages.  Without lines on the pages, I’m free to just let my thoughts flow and write out anything of importance.  This is where I do all exegetical work.  Below is a sample from one week.
2. I create a “skeleton outline” in that sketch book.  I organize all my notes into smoothly flowing points and look for my “bullet (main point).”
3. I write a manuscript.  I just started this about a year ago, and I found that it really helps me think clearer when I write everything out.  It helps me make smooth transitions between points, and gives my mind a chance to think through the entire sermon.  Here’s a pdf of a manuscript from this past Sunday’s sermon.

Sketch Book Notes

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Q-  What do you have in the pulpit with you when you preach?

A-  My black ESV thinline Bible and a small black 3-ring binder that holds 5×7 paper, with my sermon manuscript in it.  The manuscript is formatted to print in two columns on a standard size page in Word, then I cut it in half and punch 3 holes on the left side.  I use my manuscript only if needed, and mainly to read scripture other than where my Bible is open (if I’m just quickly reading a short passage and don’t want to take time opening my Bible to it).  By Sunday, I have the majority of the message internalized since it preaches to me first!  So the manuscript might help me with the general flow of points and some other content I don’t memorize but need to read (an illustration, statistics, or scripture).

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Q-  Where do your manuscripts go when you’re done (what’s your organizational set-up)?

A-  I buy a 3-ring binder for each year and keep all manuscripts there in chronological order.  I purchase a Franklin Covey binder (with a storage sleeve) that holds 5×7 pages so its a quick and easy transfer from my pulpit binder to the shelf binder.  So I’ve got every sermon I preached at Central in chronological order.

At the end of the year, I print off the sermon log I’ve been keeping for the year.  A sermon log records: date, sermon title, sermon text, Sunday School attendance, Worship attendance, Community Group attendance, % of Sunday School attendance (v. worship), and % of Community Group attendance (v. worship).  The log helps me quickly look at any week to see numbers, which could indicate different things:

• if people didn’t like a particular series (lower worship attendance might indicate this, like in 2010 when I did a mini-series on marriage.  I had slightly less numbers during that, which could be the result of our town’s high divorce rate–people don’t want to hear about Biblical marriage),
• if there are times during the year when attendance is generally lower.  This might affect when I do something.
• if there was unusually high attendance for a certain series, I would know which topics interest our people most (I distribute sermon information before preaching it, so our people are aware of what’s coming up.)

This binder system is nice for a couple reasons– I can quickly look to see when I preached a certain passage or topic, and if I ever get into an emergency situation where I need a sermon, I’ve got some binders full of them!  Also, I will be able to easily hand my children and grandchildren binders full of sermons one day.  I think that would be a pretty cool gift.

Binders on My Shelf from Sermons Preached At Central

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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These are the questions that I’ve been asked.  Is there anything else you’d like to know?