The Preaching Calendar

In every field there are diverse approaches to particular skills. The same is true of preachers. There are a variety of sermon styles such as Topical (covering a topic with an overview of what the Bible says about said topic), Expository (expounding on a specific text), and Evangelistic (has the specific end of presenting salvation through Jesus Christ). There are variety of speaking styles verse-by-verse, narrative, or (could we include) monotonous.

Then there's the whole issue of preparation. For instance, some ministers preach out of a lexical book that prescribes which passage to use and what to say about that passage so that every so many years you've heard sermons on the whole Bible. Others focus on Topics with steps like "Three steps to overcoming time change", "Seven steps for sleeping well without your spouse with you", or "4,583,822.22 steps to get home from here". Some ministers prepare for hours, days, and some not at all (not recommended).

One of my approaches is to plan the years calendar of messages at the end of the previous year. Now, I don't fill in titles and texts for every week. But my planning is a means to evaluate what kind of series we will do. What individual messages we'll do. When we'll have missionaries, and other guest speakers. I want to have a plan to make sure that the spiritual diet of the church is well balanced. I love having the advantage of planning over longer periods of time for messages coming up.

It is a learning tool for me as well. I learned in 2007 more about the preacher that God has created me to be. I think that there is a specific voice (metaphorically speaking) that he has given me as a sweet spot. I want to lean into that strength. I found that Topics are much harder for me and so while we'll still have some topical series, this year we'll be more balanced with expository series than we were last year. Planning a preaching calendar helps me on both ends, and in the middle too.

So today I am taking some time to go for a walk, pray, and take the first steps in planning. Then I'll head over to the conference. It would be a great day for you to pray for me. That God will speak to me, guiding my decision making according to His plan.

--Ben