Pastor J.D. shares his process for developing his weekly sermons, from research to manuscript and everything in between.

A glimpse inside this episode: 

* Research


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* Big picture—picking the content of the entire sermon series. This happens anywhere from 3 to 6 months prior to the start of a particular series.

* I consult with several key church leaders to determine what to preach. (I let a lot of people speak into my process, from the very beginning even through the weekend I’m preaching.)
* We ask questions like: What parts of Scripture have we not preached recently? What is going on in our church that requires pastoral leadership? What has God been teaching me and our leaders?


* Alternate between book-by-book (Old Testament and New Testament) and then occasional topical series.

* Both are faithful methods.
* John Stott on the preacher’s role as steward’s (cooking for the kids, etc.)


* Listening to communicators and how they present the material






* From research to outline

* If I’m preaching through the book of Judges, I’ll read the book a dozen times. I want to get it into my blood.

* My weekly pattern

* Monday (initial research and rough draft)
* Tuesday (fill out the draft)
* Wednesday (feedback from campus pastors)

* Sermon ends up being preached to the 10 people the pastor met with that week, so we want to expand that net


* Thursday (flesh out the draft, incorporate changes based on feedback)
* Friday (generally let it sit and not fuss with it too much)
* Saturday (some last minute additions before my first sermon)






* Do you preach from the outline or do you use a full manuscript?


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* I wouldn’t necessarily advise this for everyone, but I write out my sermon outline almost word-for-word, so that it is written down just as I would preach it.

* The reason I say I wouldn’t advise this is that most people don’t write exactly how they speak. So when they try to do a full transcript, their preaching ends up sounding like someone reading a position paper. (Even though I say this to guys all the time, most people end up trying to do what I do. My advice would be: don’t.)


* Of course, anyone familiar with my outlines will recognize that there are certain illustrations, stories, and points that I don’t write out completely. Many times I’ll just need a word or two (“Karate Kid”) that makes perfect sense to me but would be essentially nonsense for someone who happened to pick up a manuscript later.



 





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