Every summer I take a little preaching sabbatical. We have an amazing teaching team so it's much easier now than it was five years ago. But I think it's healthy for me. You can preach for two reasons: you have to or you have to. One "have to" is because you are on the schedule. The other "have to" is because you have fire shut up in your bones.
My litmus test every summer is how I feel coming off of my preaching sabbatical. Am I excited about getting back into the saddle? If I'm not, it's probably time for me to hang it up. But every year I have this renewed excitement about what God is doing at NCC.
I definitely need the break. But it's great to get back into the flow. Excited about what God has in store over the next few months. I think it's going to be an amazing season at NCC.
My litmus test every summer is how I feel coming off of my preaching sabbatical. Am I excited about getting back into the saddle? If I'm not, it's probably time for me to hang it up. But every year I have this renewed excitement about what God is doing at NCC.
I definitely need the break. But it's great to get back into the flow. Excited about what God has in store over the next few months. I think it's going to be an amazing season at NCC.
6 Comments:
Glad to hear that you don't plan on hanging it up yet! As a young pastor, and someone striving to become a better preacher, I'm curious to know what your sermon prep is like. What's the process you go through, how much time do you spend preparing, stuff like that. Keep up the good work for the Kingdom!
Thats very wise. God bless you as you continue to pursue the vision God has set before you!
Paul,
wow. that's a big question. We have a weekly creative team meeting that is critical component. But we try to slot series for a year in advance--about 70% make the cut. then I can ready/study way in advance. During the week, it varies, but I have "study days" and "meeting days." I try to put parameters around days so I can get concentrated study time in. And then I use Saturday as a "fine tuning" day since we kick off with Saturday night services.
Hope that gives a glimpse.
Mark
definitely helps thanks!
so by planning the series way in advance do you feel that gives you an advantage in being able to mentally & physically store stuff away (scriptures, thoughts, stories, etc.) way in advance since you know that 6 months from now you'll be speaking on xyz?
Sorry for the questions, I just like learning the habits and practices of good communicators.
lead time gives us creative margin so we can do different things--especially with video. And it lets the topics marinate.
But I don't want to give the impression that we plan everything out way in advance. Lots of "week of" stuff too!
Mark
cool thanks again man!
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