* * * * T H E  P R E A C H E R ' S  S T U D Y * * * *
* * * * E Z I N E * * * *
"Energize Your Preaching!"
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http://preacherstudy.com

First Tuesday of June, 2000

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(Editor's note: The material in this Ezine is copyrighted. Reprint by author's permission only. You may forward it in its entirety to friends and associates. Please do not cut the articles out and paste them into other documents or publications.)
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WHEN YOU'VE FINISHED THIS ISSUE, why not visit The Preacher's Study Website? Thousands already have. In existence four years, it contains a wealth of sermons, lessons, and other items pertaining to preaching. There is a free section containing Bible studies and lessons for immediate reading or download and there is a section which contains more than four years of creative, full-text, illustration filled sermons, accessible by a password you may purchase for a very reasonable annual subscription fee. (Note that the password you received with this ezine will not work on the website.) To go there now, use the following URL:

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-Dave Redick

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IN THIS ISSUE:

[1] Greetings from the Editor

[2] Featured Article

[3] Preacher's Study Website Updates

[4] Contact Info

[5] Subscribe to this Ezine

[6] Copyright Info

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[1] ***Greetings from the Editor

Hello and welcome to this issue of The Preacher's Study Ezine. A
special welcome to new subscribers.

Preachers preach, but they also write - often prolifically. Even if they don't look at themselves as writers, they must write sermons and the volume of material produced is substantial. If my calculations are right, my own Sunday morning sermonizing produces at least 180,000 words per year. That doesn't include special messages at other times like Sunday evening. It's a lot of words and a lot of preparation. I know that anything that might help me maximize that time is a plus and that the sooner I can get it done, the better I'll feel.

"Getting Sermons Done" is the topic of consideration of this issue. I plan to continue it in the next. If you can enlighten me with your own ideas, your response by email is welcomed.

God bless.

Dave Redick
editor@preacherstudy.com

[2] ***Featured Article:

"GETTING SERMONS DONE: Maximizing Your Sermon Preparation Time" (Part 1 of 2)

My secretary and my wife tell me that they can spot it the moment
I enter the room.

"I see you got your sermon done," is the typical comment.

Reluctantly, I must agree that my countenance does change for the better when I reach that point in the week. My steps get bouncy. I suspect the corners of my mouth turn up just a little. The draft of my Sunday morning message is safely archived in its special folder on my hard drive and the paper backup is zipped securely in the outer compartment of my soft-side briefcase. Bring on the world. I feel great!

While I will probably fiddle with minor details of the message right up until the last printout on Sunday morning, the hard part of my sermon is done. The stars come out again at night and the sun comes up in the morning. Behind me are all the concerns of "What in the world am I going to preach to these dear people next Sunday," and the thousand details necessary to answer that concern. The actual preaching, if I'm confident it's a worthwhile message, is icing on the cake.

All of us develop our rules and routines from producing that final draft. Habits and attitudes we develop over the years either help or hinder the final product. In this article I want to share a few thoughts about getting sermons done.

**This One Thing I Do

Perhaps the biggest breakthrough in effective sermon preparation I recall in my own life is when I finally made the decision to make preaching my number one task.

"What do preachers do, daddy?" said the little boy who was learning all about life.

"Son, preachers preach."

This is profound theology. Read it again. "Son, preachers preach."

"I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word...!" (2 Tim 4:1-2)

Could Paul have stated it any more clearly?

Of course you and I know that preachers do several hundred other things in a month of ministry - everything from filling in for the vacationing youth leader to explaining to a teary Aunt Martha over the phone that the Bible doesn't say anything specific about whether her recently deceased Chihuajua went to heaven. I can't tell you how to sort out all of the details of human expectation versus divine mandate in your calling, but I can tell you this: Preachers preach. If you are going to do it adequately, they're going to have to make time to prepare. If you're going to get your sermons done you're going to have to guard and defend blocks of time for thinking and reading and writing and praying. You're probably going to have to say "no" to some things that won't make everyone happy - at least until they get adjusted to your priorities.

Someone once wisely said that sermons are 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration. Sweating has to be a priority.

**Leaky Cisterns and Bags with Holes

These Biblical metaphors portray a futile picture. Lot's of collecting. Little worthwhile result. They can explain what can happens in our work, too.

You sit down at 8:00 AM with your Bible, word processor, and a stack of books. Hot beverage in hand, you tackle the task at hand. It's early in the week and you're feeling good about things. The phone rings. Twenty minutes later you hang up from talking to the photo-copy salesman about that needed replacement of the church machine. You're off track now so you pick up God's Holy Word and start reading again. Then into your mind pops the recollection of something someone told you about special prices on photocopiers on a certain website in Florida. Quickly you log on. ("This will only take a moment.") A half hour later you have a much better idea of going prices for copiers. It was worth the effort you tell yourself. You're feeling good about saving the money so while you're there you click on a link to see what kind of prices they have on paper. That takes you to a page where you examine prices, which reminds you of the fact that you promised one of the elders you would see about replacing that old desk in your office that is such an eyesore to people who visit. Off you go to another website or perhaps to the phone book to look under "office supplies." Off you are, too, from your sermon track. It's getting close to noon. You read the passage once through, then head off for lunch and an afternoon of appointments. Evening comes and you ask yourself how you're doing. Not too well, it seems. You did a lot of things but somehow you're not cheering on the inside. Sunday is one day closer. Tuesday is already full of appointments so Wednesday is your next best hope. But by then the week is half gone.

Until you plug the holes, you won't get your sermon done without that last minute cram you know so well. Your work will be a drudgery. A computer with a modem is a marvelous tool but it can be a great time-waster. With a telephone you have instant access to nearly anyone in the world but those same people also have instant access to you. Unless you control these things, they will control you.

Try this. Put a pad of paper beside your phone. Whenever it occurs to you that you need to make a call, write it down and call them on your break or at lunch or later in the day. Oh, and for two or three hours, turn the ringer off. Let your answering machine or voice mail or secretary or your wife pick it up. You're busy at the moment but you will call them back at 2PM (or whenever). Then group your callbacks and get them done all at once.

Or try this. Don't allow yourself to surf the web at random during sermon prep time. If you're so inclined, let surfing time be your reward for a morning spent on task - or save it for later, when you're home. The same goes for email.

You have to plug the holes or you won't preach well.

**Firmly Planted by Streams of Water

I only recently realized a nervous habit I have. You may have it, too. I get up a lot. Off the chair, I mean. Sit down. Think a little. Type a little. Get up. Get a drink. Go to the bathroom. Sit down. Type a little. Check the mail. Now that I've noticed, I think I've been doing this for years. Only when I've finally broken through the barriers of writing and gotten into the flow do I find it easy to keep by backside stuck to the chair.

In his book, WRITE MORE, SELL MORE (Writer's Digest Books, 1998), Robert Bly brought these jumpy habits to my attention. Let's see if he does the same for you:

"You've heard the term, 'seat of the pants' used to describe a method of working. Although it originally referred to a person who made decisions by instinct without a lot of planning or formal study, for writers the definition is different: You apply the bottom of your pants (your read end) to the seat (your chair) and stay there until the work gets done."

He continues: "This means getting into your chair, turning on your PC and *staying there*. No doing laundry. No walking the dog. No quick trips to the kitchen for a snack or to the den to watch TV news... To get a lot of work done, workers must stay at their workstations."

Ouch! He's right.

Bly is speaking to those who work at home. If you work at the church office you may have to change the setting - but what is the verdict? Are you jumpy, too?

Sit down. Get busy. Stay down until your daily goals are accomplished.

[To be continued in next issue]

Copyright (c) Dave Redick, The Preacher's Study, 2000. All Rights Reserved. Reprint by permission only. Please do not cut articles out of this ezine and paste them anywhere else without permission. You may, however, forward this entire Ezine to friends freely.


[3] ***Preacher's Study Website Updates

The volume of messages available in the Premium Section of The Preacher's Study Website continues to grow.

A new and growing funeral sermon section has been added.

A series on the life of Abraham is being written and posted.

A new father's day message was added this week and a second one
will be added next Monday for a total of three from which to choose if you're looking for some help with special observance.

The site is now searchable by text as well as keyword and type.

If you are a Premium subscriber, check it out at:

http://preacherstudy.com