Some of the most helpful things I’ve learned throughout the years regarding sermon prep have come from hearing how other brothers go about the work week in and week out. Sometimes I’ve heard about a model that resulted in small adjustments to my current process. At other times I came across a preparation plan that was almost revolutionary. I thus personally love to hear how other preachers prepare their sermons. I doubt I’m alone in this.

Last week I had three different conversations with people inquiring about my personal process for sermon prep, so I thought I might as well throw up a post about what it looks like. Some of you might read this and take nothing away. No offense will be taken. But maybe, just maybe, some small slice of what I do can stir up something useful for your own process.

Here we go then.

Sunday

Our church currently meets on Saturday night—if you’re a church planter meeting on Saturdays is the one thing I’d never do if I did it all over again—so Sunday is something of my first day for sermon prep. I know brothers who like to take off “the day after preaching,” but I find that’s when my preaching energy is often highest. Why? To be honest, because I usually spend Saturday night in spiritual doldrums. I fall asleep thinking, “There’s no way I can do it again next week.” Yet, what feels like despair late Saturday night has morphed into, by Sunday morning, fresh vigor for the upcoming sermon. My mind wakes up eager with something like, “I can do better! I must do better! Time to get going!”

So, when my kids are taking their afternoon nap I like to spend 2-3 hours meditating on the planned text for the next week.¹ If it’s a short section, I try to memorize the text. If it’s a long section (for example, this week I’m preaching on Genesis 12-17) I read the text over and over trying to get a sense of its particular contours. As I’m doing this I have a document open on my computer where I can put down anything that comes to mind about possible points, illustrations, or quotes. By the end of Sunday afternoon I hope to have a fair idea about these four things:

1. The main point of the text (MPT). This is my restatement, in a sentence or so, what the main point is of the given passage.
2. The main point of the sermon (MPS). This my contemporary application of the MPT for my given congregation.²
3. Divisions. Think of these as headings for the text, or rhetorical signposts to guide the hearer through the text.
4. Final exhortations. While I desire to liberally sprinkle applications throughout the entire sermon I usually offer sustained application at the end of the sermon. I think the average hearer innately approaches truth in this order: “Tell me what the truth is, and then tell me what I’m supposed to do with it.” Thus, my final exhortations try to seize this natural progression by offering summary applications from the text that individuals and the congregation can be challenged by.

Monday

Barring any crisis or emergency I don’t schedule meetings on Mondays. This allows me to devote the entire day—often about nine hours—to sermon prep. Usually I read commentaries and relevant resources first thing in the morning, jotting down anything of value for the sermon. The books are also dialogue partners for question I wrote down about the text on Sunday. I then put the proverbial pen to paper and start writing the first draft of the manuscript.³ This is all I do on Monday—write, write, write. My goal is to have the first draft of the manuscript, usually about 3,200 words, done by lunch time on Tuesday, at the latest.

Tuesday-Wednesday

If the manuscript needs more attention I’ll work on it Tuesday morning, but it’s rare when the first draft isn’t done by 11am on Tuesday. While some brothers have told me before it’s crazy to have a legitimate draft done so early in the week, it bears noting that by this point I’ve often spent twelve hours in sermon prep. Once the first draft is done I set it aside until Thursday morning. This allows me about 48 hours to meditate on the finer points of the text and structural elements of the sermon. I find this meditation time is vital to having a warm, living sermon by the weekend. It’s during these two days that improvements to illustrations pop into mind (or new illustrations altogether), applications become more pointed, and explanation gains clarity.

Thursday

Thursday morning I read through the sermon twice as if I was preaching it. Although this may sound like a dry run rehearsal, it’s really not. I’m just trying to see how the language fits and I make edits as needed—there is regularly a substantial amount to change. The editing process on Thursday normally accomplishes two things, the first of which is cutting the homiletical fat. Rarely does a Thursday go by without the manuscript shrinking a fair amount. This, I hope, is a good thing as it usually means an increase in concision and precision. The second thing Thursday achieves is that the sermon writes its way onto my heart and into my head.

I take time in the afternoon to put together a sermon notes insert for our weekly gathering guide. This labor allows be to hone the language on my main points and key applications, which I hope provides the sermon with many different hooks on which the truth can hang.

Friday

I do nothing other than pray. I try as best I can to spend the day with family and turn off explicit focus on the sermon.

Saturday

It’s go time. Our church gathers at 5pm and I’m at the building no later than 12pm. My goal is to always read through the manuscript two more times to cement it into memory. My propensity to saturate the manuscript with color helps this happen quickly. After I spend at least an hour in concentrated prayer for the preaching time. I will sit in various seats in the meeting room and pray for whomever may fill that seat to have a faithful encounter with God through His word.

From 3:00-4:30pm I assist our musicians as they rehearse by running sound (something I still love to do) and dialoguing about the song arrangements. Then from 4:30-4:45pm I pray with a group of church members who gather to pray for the night’s preacher and preaching.

By about 7:30pm I’m on the way back home, in the doldrums, cataloging everything that went wrong with the sermon while simultaneously praying for the Spirit to supernaturally empower my feeble attempt at heralding the gospel. As mentioned above, this homiletical depression last about twelve hours and then I start the whole process over again.

Random Things of Note

• I hope it goes without saying, but prayer must saturate the entire process. There is always an inextricable link to my confidence in the sermon by Thursday lunch and the amount of time spent in prayer up to that point.
• As best I can tell I probably average about 20 hours a week directly related to sermon prep.
• I want to do a better job of getting feedback on the sermon before it gets preached on Saturday. Too often I’m the only one to look at it before Saturday. It’s more helpful to get other eyes to look at the text and offer explanations, objections, or applications I may not have seen.
• We have provide an “Upcoming Sermons Card” in the weekly gathering guide and encourage our members to read through the week’s text and pray for the planned preacher. I have an untold number of stories of how this little card has brought unique power to the church’s preaching ministry. It’s almost like a sermon prep guide for hearers.

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