Many tools offer to make preaching prep easier, but struggle is the point.
I'm regularly targeted by ads for overworked pastors. The algorithms know I minister in a small church in a small town. (Face it: It’s 2019, and the robots know everything.)
Recently a video cued up on my Facebook timeline in which a spokesman characterized the plight of the weekly preacher in this way: “No other place in the world do you find people having to work a full time job and prepare more than 40 research papers a year.” It was an ad for an online tool meant to simplify sermon preparation by supplying readymade sermon outlines, talking points, series graphics, and pre-written illustrations.
A tool that promises to speed up sermon writing sounds like a godsend, especially in a small-church context with limited-to-no staff. After all, wouldn’t the experts do a better job than I would at outlining the passage?
If proper exegesis were the only goal of weekly preaching, it would be hard to turn down this tool. But it’s not. In a pastor’s study, two works are happening simultaneously: one in the sermon and another in the sermonizer. This is why, despite the personal drain and tempting plethora of resources, I still fight to keep sermon preparation from drifting to the periphery of my ministry. Read More
Also See:
Finding Fresh Ways To Tell The Story Of Jesus
Getting Fresh: Reflections on Story Telling and Illustration
How To Find The Perfect Sermon Illustration Every Time
The 5 Best Pieces of Preaching Advice I Ever Received
No comments:
Post a Comment