Should I Create A Preaching Calendar?

by Chase | Ministry

In my last preaching class I had to create a one-year preaching calendar.

This project was massive to say the least. We had to supply graphics, 52 Sunday morning sermons, 52 Sunday evening services, and 52 Wednesday evening devotionals. Each sermon would outline the key passages, main points, themes, and spiritual direction of the church.

Some of the students loved creating and organizing their content. Others thought it was a waste of time.

Preaching calendars are an incredible tool that pastors should utilize to map the ministry’s spiritual direction, cast vision to your team, and enable pockets of creativity in your busy day. You are able to pair small group materials with your teaching content, regardless if you are

I know that there is an argument that the Holy Spirit may prompt you to speak on another topic or cover an issue that has come up in your community. Obviously preaching calendars have some flexibility.

If your preaching calendar doesn’t have the flexibility to respond to the Holy Spirit you might be more concerned with what you have to say, not what God has to say through you.

Don’t be that guy who ignored the Holy Spirit, whether that is nine months before a sermon or nine hours before you preach.

My sermon preparation has shifted over the past ten years into a system that works for me.

I learned early on that a pastor’s day is full of distractions and unplanned meetings. I also learned that teaching 52 lessons per year for the next 40 years is a holy endeavor that requires more than a flippant “what should I talk about this week?” approach.

“That is great, but I don’t have time to create a preaching calendar. It is too much work.”

Creating a preaching calendar isn’t a difficult as you may think. Remember, this isn’t a class assignment, you can create a calendar that has as much, or as little, information that your team needs.

I prepare my preaching calendar in three simple steps. These steps enable me to organize my content, address the spiritual needs of my ministry, lead my team to reinforce the passages I use, build momentum before and after camps, and allows me to be prepared, no matter how busy my schedule may become.  

I tend to have a detailed preaching calendar that is six to nine months long with a general calendar (like “preaching through Mark”) for nine to twelve months out.

3 Steps I Use To Prepare My Student Ministry Preaching Calendar

Prayerfully Consider The Spiritual Needs Of Our People

You can’t be a spiritual leader if you fail to prepare your spirit. While this is an ongoing discipline of prayer, I set aside one morning (8:00am-noon) to pray for our church, community, leaders, and seek what Jesus has for us.

The point of this time is to submit yourself to Jesus’ authority and leadership, not come up with five sermon series ideas.

Gather Passages And Topics We Will Cover

Throughout the year I am banking topic ideas and passages into an Evernote document and bookmarking passages as “Future Sermon” in my Bible App.

Don’t underestimate the power of capturing your ideas. You need an app, notebook, or stone tablet to capture these ideas when they pop into your head.

Remember when your students were talking about the troubles that experience when sharing the Gospel with their friends? Capture that struggle in a note so that you will are able to address that in the near future.

Ideas will come from your devotional time, the local news, conferences, or while you are eating pizza with a small group. Capture them so that you can add them into your teaching.

Map Out My Preaching Calendar

A few weeks after I schedule my morning of prayer I will schedule a morning of study. This morning is about organizing content. This is a content development session that fleshes out some of the ideas I have been banking. I lay everything out on a table, use note cards for each passage/topic, and start to map where we are heading spiritually over the next 6-9 months.

I don’t write my sermons during this time – I simply develop the sermon series name, the sermon title, lock-in the main passage, and craft the rough draft of the main point. I don’t want to become bogged down with the specifics of crafting a catchy main point and lose focus on the big picture.

Once I have a map of the passages and series I pull up our church and local school calendars and place those series on the calendar.

Once it is on my calendar I consider my preaching calendar set. From there we start to develop graphics, worship sets, and the specifics for weekly worship.

That is it. 

I don’t write sermons months in advance, but I do have a topic, passage, and main point ready. 

Each week I know what I’m speaking on, the direction we are heading, and the information I need to pass on to my team. Simple as that! 

Now What?

Do you utilize a preaching calendar? What process works for you? How far ahead do you plan?

4 Ways Summer Camp Can Transform Your Life

by Chase | Ministry

Today’s culture is busy and full of noise, and it seems harder than ever to eliminate distractions.  

Even if it’s only for a short time, escaping the noise of school, work, and negative habits is essential for Jesus followers. The best ways to remove yourself from the noise are to retreat daily for prayer and Bible study, weekly for corporate worship and service, and annually for spiritual awakening.  

I know you’ve heard pastors talk about the importance of daily spiritual disciplines and weekly corporate worship. But when was the last time you heard a sermon about the importance of going on a retreat like a camp or conference?

Jesus often retreated from the crowds to spend time in prayer. (See Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Matthew 14:23, and Luke 22:39-41 for examples.) If Jesus took the time to retreat, we should too.

I know, I know. You’re too busy — that’s everyone’s initial reaction to the idea of a structured retreat away from your normal routine. Everyone has too much going on to get away!

But isn’t this what a retreat is supposed to help with? Doesn’t a summer camp allow us to refocus our eyes on Jesus and realign our priorities?

[READ: How To Stay Excited About God – Even When The Retreat Is Over]

We can’t make changes unless we take a step back and see our current state. Retreats, camps, and conferences help us do exactly this.

4 Ways Summer Camp Can Transform Your Life

You Experience God Like Never Before

Removing distractions allows you to place your expectations on Jesus. There isn’t anything holy or magical about a camp or retreat facility. An individual who intentionally and purposefully sets aside his or her normal obligations and instead focuses on God will experience closeness with Him.

It’s not rocket science.

When your pastor encourages you to take time every day for Bible study and prayer, he is doing it because he knows it will change your life. You’ll experience God like never before.

When your Sunday school teacher tells you not to miss church, she is doing it because she knows it will help you in your spiritual journey. You’ll experience God like never before.

Similarly, camps, disciple now weekends, women’s and men’s conferences, and other structured retreats help you experience God like never before. Sometimes all it takes to wake you up spiritually is getting away from the distractions of your normal routine and your typical responsibilities to focus on God.

You Build Community

Feeling alone is common to all of us. Even though we know others go through hard things and struggle with sin and tough decisions just like we do, that’s difficult for us to admit or embrace.

Camps have a way of silencing the parts of us that feel so alone. When people get out of their normal day-to-day routines, they become more open, more willing to share, and more excited to bond with other people.

God’s desire for us is to be part of a body of believers working together to bring Him glory and make disciples of all nations. We can’t do that alone!

Embracing the idea of community — being part of a group that cares for each other and supports each other through all of life’s seasons — is messy. But it’s worth it. And the only proven method for creating it is simply to share life experiences with those you want to have community with. You’ve got to show up, show up again, and continuing showing up after that.

Camps and retreats act as a jumping-off point for many new friendships that will help you and those in your sphere of influence in your collective journey to follow Jesus.

[READ: 5 Reasons Your Student Should Work At A Summer Camp]

You Develop A Lifestyle of Worship

If the only time you worship God is within the walls of your church, you’re missing out!

We are called to a lifestyle of worship where we acknowledge God for who He is and thank Him for being so awesome. The more different places you encounter God’s presence, the more comfortable you will become with worshipping God constantly.

Removing yourself from all the noise and distractions of your daily life will bring clarity. You’ll start to see your schedule for both its good aspects and its bad aspects, and any choice you make to prioritize it so that it’s more focused on God is an act of worship.

You Discover Your God-Given Purpose

When you spend your whole day doing something, you become defined by it. Students spend all day at school, so they are students. They may spend the majority of their off time doing a sport or a hobby, and whatever that activity is will become integral to their identity.

Adults are no different, by the way. If you spend all day as an accountant, you see yourself as an accountant. If you spend your day as the primary caretaker of your children, your view of yourself will be as a parent.

Conversely, whatever you don’t spend your whole day doing becomes part of who you are not. If you don’t spend all day working in a church, you are not a disciplemaker.  If you aren’t serving overseas as a missionary, you are not a international missionary. If you don’t prepare lessons for a Bible study class, you are not a Bible teacher.

But God has a purpose for you that goes beyond your earthly identity. He made it super clear in the Great Commission. We are all supposed to go and make disciples. We are all responsible for evangelism. We are all responsible for our own spiritual growth.

When you take an intentional step away from your routine and surround yourself with others who are different from you, you’ll start to see yourself less as whatever you do all day and more as a member of the body of Christ.

You’ll see that even though you spend all day at school, you have the same job everyone else has — worshipping God and telling others about Him.

You’ll see that even though you aren’t employed as a pastor or missionary, you still are one.