I wish I could accurately capture my sincerity…

Thank you for your authenticity.

This blog, and this week’s topic, are so genuinely profound to me. It stirs something good within me to read what you’ve written for the past two days. God help us all to be so real.

Again, thank you.

I am an avid fan of OPEN and it is vanguard in its resource offerings. The balancing act discussed in earlier comments is one that I have been convicted off. In terms of research, I excel and at a rather large church I was once in charge of Research & Development. Yet, my weakness is bringing me-i.e. preaching from a script and not seeming like it is from a script. I do not want to make the sermon about me, but I need to bring myself. I need to study more-personally and in ministry.

Thank you!

I see the role of the worship leader in the same way. I try to get a pretty good idea of the flow and direction of the service at least a week before it happens so that I can play through the whole experience in my head several times before I get to rehearsal - I find doing that really helpful.

Bill, Love the phrase… “Soaking the beans!” For some reason, it makes me laugh!

Adam, The different translations is a great suggestion. Thanks.

Jarret, I’m with you on the morning study time.

Brandon, So glad the Open resources make a good starting point!

Loui, All this talk about cooking and marinating is making me hungry.

Tim, I wonder how many others would say some messages take years to prepare. Very powerful.

Ryan, Glad you picked up on the importance of interviewing others. In my mind, this is HUGE!

I take the outline or transcript and I read it through.
I then read the passage in a few translations.
I study commentaries.
I think about how I take the timeless truth and apply to today.
I go back and remove all personal illustrations from the transcript. I don’t do that right away because I value the insight from the person and want to let that sink in.
After that I work on it at different points during the week and really sense what God wants to say through me.
I write and rewrite.
I think about our people and how I need to communicate in a way that best connects with them. How do I say it so they hear it.
This process starts on Monday morning and ends on Saturday afternoon (with the exception of Friday - my day off)

Don’t feel guilty about getting a start from a message series on Open or anywhere else for that matter. It is God’s stuff anyhow. Some of us struggle with getting the ball rolling. Thanks Craig and others who make their material available - it helps me.

Craig, when you talk about studying a few hours a day I totally smiled. I do that!!! My biggest reason for it is that as a communicator with ADD I can’t do 12 hours secluded in my office or place of study - I have to clear my head.

Great post!

I finally found a place I feel competent to comment. I spend 4 mornings a week studying, I find the mornings are when I am the freshest, and my mind is working the best. Also I haven’t had a days worth of info and meetings floating around in my head.

I have sat through many sermons where you can tell they either got it off the web, threw it together over breakfast, or just read a passage and told a bunch of stories. I have vowed to God that I will not do that. By His grace, so far I haven’t…

When I first started preaching I was taught by a very wise older pastor that one of the keys to preaching is study. (One of the keys). I personally think it is a sin to be unprepared, giving the people who come to hear a “word from God” leftovers from my week. My mentor called it “soaking the beans.” He taught me to start prep 4 weeks ahead of time and you will avoid preaching angry and will avoid giving the people 2nd best. I still do that 30 years later. Except for the 3 or 4 times I have sensed God saying, “I don’t want you to preach that, I want you to say this” I have avoided the Saturday night “pressure cooker.” I am forever grateful.

As for rehashed sermons, have you ever had rehashed hash? Shiver…

Rob, I like the term “pressure-cooking” sermons.

Camey, I love it and hate it when that happens. Good stuff.

Jim, Great analogy! Fresh bread all the way!

Thanks for the post!

For clarification here… I am teacher, not a preacher. A couple of weeks ago, I had the lesson all planned out. I had spent much time on my knees and buried in the text. Five minutes into the lesson, it was like being bopped on the head. Needless to say, I change the direction of how I was teaching. I even shared with my class why I was doing so. I simply could not go about doing the lesson the way I had planned. Ahhh. Part of the lesson was understanding that even when we think we know the plan, plans can change and we must remain flexible. We must be willing to move when He says move or how He says to move. A couple of hearts that were relatively hardened… became softer that day. What if I had been unwilling to listen? I remain beyond grateful for that day.