{"id":35139,"date":"2022-09-10T21:57:03","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T02:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-mechanics-of-sermon-planning\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T21:57:03","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T02:57:03","slug":"the-mechanics-of-sermon-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-mechanics-of-sermon-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mechanics Of Sermon Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I once heard a corporate leader state the following principle of the business  world: &#8220;Your system is perfectly designed to produce the results you&#8217;re  getting.&#8221; He elaborated by saying that if someone is manufacturing cars,  and every third car rolls off the assembly line missing a right front fender,  the system is perfectly designed to produce that result. If a company is consistently  losing two thousand dollars in profits each month, then that system is perfectly  designed to achieve that goal. Conversely, he said, successful results almost  always can be attributed to a system that plans for those outcomes.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The  same principle applies to your preaching ministry. Your pulpit work is producing  the results that you have designed it to generate. For instance, a preacher  who neglects to plan his preaching might create a condition for himself that  Wayne McDill calls &#8220;the Saturday night panics.&#8221; McDill writes, &#8220;The  symptoms include a knot in your stomach, a backache from bending over the desk,  a tendency toward fervent prayer and muttering to yourself about how you will  never again wait this late to prepare your Sunday morning sermon.&#8221;1  More than one preacher has experienced this frightening syndrome that comes  from being unprepared to preach.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Failure  to plan your preaching can produce many other unwanted results. A preacher who  does not plan might notice that his preaching is marked by an abundance of lackluster  messages because he has not allowed himself appropriate time to develop his  sermon material. He might feel frustrated at work or at home because he cannot  decide what to preach for the coming Sunday. He might even undergo the shocking  experience of walking into the church auditorium only to discover the communion  table prepared for the Lord&#8217;s Supper, an event for which he is totally unprepared.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">More  seriously, failure to plan can also result in sermons being limited to only  a handful of biblical and theological themes. Over a period of time, preaching  on limited subjects will hinder the spiritual growth of the church and the pastor.  Bryan Chapell warns, &#8220;A ministry that only addresses the preacher&#8217;s personal  concerns can become too limited in perspective for the needs of a congregation.  The pastor may end up riding hobbyhorses or unconsciously concentrating on personal  struggles, thereby neglecting other important truths needed for a fully informed  and mature congregation.&#8221;2<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">That&#8217;s  why it is important to think about the nuts and bolts of putting together a  successful preaching plan. This plan will produce desirable results in your  pulpit work. A good preaching plan should accomplish the following objectives  in your ministry:<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  should guide you in your weekly sermon preparation, informing you of the Scripture  texts and general subject matter for every sermon that you will preach.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  should organize your preaching schedule so that you can anticipate and maximize  holidays, church ordinances, and other congregational observances.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  should allow for you to preach extended series through Bible books or sections  of books as well as thematic series on doctrinal, ethical, social, and personal  issues.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  should give you sufficient freedom to alter the plan when necessary.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  should serve the overall strategy of your preaching ministry. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In  approaching the mechanics of planning, we will break down the planning process  into its various parts. Careful and effective planning for your pulpit ministry  will require the following six basic steps.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>1. Schedule a  planning retreat.<br \/> 2. Gather the materials you will need to create your plan. <br \/> 3. Review your preaching from previous years.<br \/> 4. Determine major series for the coming year&#8217;s preaching. <br \/> 5. Create a preaching calendar.<br \/> 6. Review and modify your plan occasionally in the course of the year.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\">We  will now examine each of these elements of putting together a preaching plan.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Scheduling  a Planning Retreat<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Planning  for effective preaching will require that you take some type of retreat. Winston  Pearce described the planning retreat thus: &#8220;If a minister can find some  relatively isolated spot &#8211; far enough from his church to keep his people  from feeling that they can drive out to discuss matters with him, or that he  can drive in for any celebration or difficulty that might arise &#8211; he has  the makings of a good place to unpack the luggage of life and thought and get  his planning done.&#8221;3<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The  term retreat can be defined in several ways. In military parlance, it  refers to the signal to withdraw from battle. By extension of that primary definition,  a retreat can also mean a period of withdrawal and seclusion for the purpose  of spiritual contemplation. This type of solitude has long been recognized as  a discipline that deepens and refreshes the spiritual life of the believer.  Through periodic sabbaticals and times of solitude, the Christian takes the  opportunity to reorient his life, to evaluate his objectives, and to set goals  for the future. Authors on Christian spirituality such as Dallas Willard and  Richard Foster discuss solitude among other spiritual disciplines, including  prayer and fasting. These authors recommend personal retreats for reflection  and growth.4<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Just  as personal spiritual retreats are very fruitful in your growth as a Christian,  a yearly professional retreat to schedule your pulpit work can help you to mature  and develop as a preacher and a pastor. The planning retreat is unlike a personal  spiritual retreat in that it has a more tangible agenda: to produce a completed  preaching calendar for the coming year. However, as the preacher creates his  plan, he will pray intently for discernment in formulating his preaching strategy  and evaluating the needs of his parishioners. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Furthermore,  he will seek the Holy Spirit&#8217;s direction concerning the themes and biblical  books he will address in the preaching plan. The planning retreat will also  include a considerable amount of Bible reading and theological reflection. So  although the planning retreat is not purely devotional in its intent, it will  yield spiritual benefits for the preacher.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">As  you think about scheduling a planning retreat, you should consider how far into  the future you want your plan to extend. In most cases, the longest workable  plan is the one-year plan. I know some preachers who plan precisely what they  will be preaching for up to five years in advance. Gifted with strong organizational  skills and self-discipline, these pastors are also able to stay on the schedule  that they set for themselves. Although it is advantageous for a preacher to  have a general idea of the themes and portions of Scripture that he will use  in preaching over a two- or three-year period, detailed planning for longer  than a year will prove impractical for most preachers. Many contingencies can  change the plan and give cause for extensive revision. Once a plan is altered  beyond recognition, it ceases to be helpful. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">You  can, however, forecast with some degree of accuracy what will happen in your  church and community and what you will want to address from the pulpit in a  year. The shortest plan that actually qualifies as a plan is the thirteen-week,  or quarterly, plan. Although you could plan month by month, this type of scheduling  is not long range enough to be called genuine advanced planning. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">A  quarterly plan does not give you the full advantages of planning. Even so, a  quarterly plan may be advisable if you are pastoring and going to school at  the same time, or if you are in a short-term position such as an interim pastorate.  If you plan by quarters, you will want to schedule a time for planning at the  beginning of the third month of each quarter. This practice will keep you from  preaching beyond the time limits of your plan.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">I  would recommend planning for a year of pulpit work. I suggest this type of planning  for several reasons. First, preprogramming a year&#8217;s pulpit work ensures thoroughness  and completeness in terms of the subjects that you address. In the course of  a year&#8217;s preaching, every church member should hear from the pulpit certain  doctrines and themes. Another reason is that a year-long plan allows for extensive  planning for series through books of the Bible. Although you could preach through  a shorter biblical book or part of a longer book in thirteen weeks or less,  most books of the Bible require several months to cover. A one-year plan permits  you to give attention to the various holidays and seasons of the Christian year.  <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">For  these and other reasons, a year-long plan is advisable for most pastors. Pearce  writes, &#8220;The twelve-month period gives enough time for a man to observe  the content of his preaching objectively, yet is brief enough for a man to change  his plan if he feels that it is not serving his people&#8217;s needs effectively nor  bringing the greatest glory to his God.&#8221;5<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">To  plan carefully and thoughtfully for a year&#8217;s worth of sermons, you should schedule  a retreat that includes four to six days of concentrated review, prayer, contemplation,  brainstorming, and sermonic spadework. Taking that much time to plan might seem  impractical or impossible, but extended planning pays dividends of saved time  later, so it is worth the trouble. Even if you should limit your planning to  a quarter of a year at a time, you will need to schedule a &#8220;mini-retreat,&#8221;  at least a half day, when you can concentrate on scheduling your preaching for  the next three months. A six-month plan will require one or two days of intense  planning and scheduling.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">It  would be unwise to try to do extensive planning while simultaneously doing your  weekly work as a pastor. You will not have time to do meaningful planning if  you are engaged in all of the activities that take up your work week. Furthermore,  you do not need to have the pressures of planning for a year&#8217;s worth of preaching  while also preparing for the coming Sunday&#8217;s sermons. In all likelihood, if  you try to do your planning at the office during a normal week of pastoral work,  the &#8220;tyranny of the urgent&#8221; will force you to neglect your planning  to attend to more pressing concerns. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Without  scheduling a real, away-from-the-office retreat, your planning will probably  be frustrating and unfruitful. By leaving the church field for the planning  retreat, you will think more creatively because you will be away from the pressures  of administering the church, caring for church members, and preparing sermons.  You also might find that you will see the needs of your people more clearly  when you are away from the church field.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">You  could schedule your planning retreat for any time of the year, but the most  common times for planning are the summer months or the weeks immediately after  Christmas. Blackwood advocates the summer as the preferable time for planning.  He writes, &#8220;The best time to plan is during the summer vacation, when the  minister is far enough away from the parish to see it as a whole. He can review  the last year&#8217;s pulpit work, and then think about what to do in the next twelve  months.&#8221;6 <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In  scheduling your planning retreat, select a time that tends to be a less hectic  period in the church schedule. You might choose to plan your preaching in conjunction  with your family vacation, or you might take special time away from your ministry  field for the retreat. If you intend to combine your planning retreat with the  family vacation, two weeks is a suitable amount of time. You can plan your preaching  in the morning hours, then be available to enjoy recreation with your family  in the afternoons and evenings. Otherwise, one week of intense prayer, study,  and planning will get the job accomplished.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Determining  the best time for planning depends on when your yearly cycle of preaching begins  and ends. Your preaching calendar might have any one of several beginning places.  The civil calendar year begins January first. In most congregations, the church  program year begins somewhere around Labor Day, when vacations are over and  children are going back to school. The classical Christian year goes from Advent  to Advent, with the Advent season beginning on the Sunday nearest November thirtieth.  Any of these three calendars could serve as your &#8220;preaching year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">If  you choose to use the Christian year in your plan, it most naturally will lead  you to schedule your planning retreat during the summer months. You will be  planning in the summertime for a program that will begin in November. One advantage  of this practice is that the preacher is still in the last planned year while  setting up the next. As you plan in the summer, you will be looking toward the  year beginning with Advent Sunday. Your program from September through November  will already be sketched out and planned. This will keep you from becoming frantic  at the end of the summer over the empty spots on your calendar for the first  Sundays of the fall program.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Let  your congregation know what you are doing when you take your planning retreat.  You may not want to tell your church members explicitly that you are planning  every sermon for the next year. That revelation might invite unnecessary criticism  from parishioners who mistakenly believe that planning ahead neglects the leadership  of the Holy Spirit. Simply ask your church to pray for you as you take a week  to study the Bible, to pray about God&#8217;s direction for Your preaching ministry,  and to plan for upcoming sermons.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Gathering  Your Planning Materials<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">When  the time comes to take your planning retreat, you will need to assemble the  resources that will help you in planning. Before you leave, ensure that the  following items are packed in the trunk of your car.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">1.  Take your Bible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Bring  a copy of the Scripture in the version from which you normally preach. A study  Bible of some type might be of special help because such Bibles usually break  the Scripture into paragraphs that can be used as preaching portions. The study  notes and book outlines can also be beneficial in determining how to preach  series through biblical books.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">2.  Take your personal calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Items  such as your children&#8217;s birthdays, family vacations, and your wedding anniversary  will affect some aspects of your preaching plan. You will need to have your  personal schedule in front of you as you create your preaching calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">3.  Take your church calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">This  is a list of the yearly events in the life of your congregation. Included will  be dates for communion services and baptisms, revival meetings, missions conferences,  church-wide Bible studies, homecoming services, special services at Christmas  and Easter, and other church programs that will have an effect on your preaching  plan. To receive the greatest advantage from your planning, it will be helpful  to meet with your ministerial staff or church council one or two months before  you take your planning retreat. Doing this will provide you with a schedule  for the upcoming events in your congregation.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">4.  Take your denominational calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">As  you plan, you will want to know about denominational happenings such as world  hunger day, missions days, evangelism days and other emphasis days. Although  you will probably not observe every denominational emphasis, many of these special  days can benefit the spiritual life of your congregation. Ensure that you take  the calendars from your local association of churches as well as regional and  national denominational calendars.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">5.  Take a civic and community calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The  civic calendar will list holidays and national or state-wide events. The community  calendar will tell you when school begins and ends, the dates of the county  fair, the nights of the big high school football games, and other similar local  events. Knowing when these things will take place can be of great help to you  in scheduling the events and programs at your church.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">6.  Take basic Bible study tools.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">The  purpose of the retreat is to plan your sermons, not to prepare them. Nevertheless,  you will have opportunity to do some valuable preliminary work on the sermons  that you will be preaching in the coming year, and you will need to take some  books to help you do this. Books that will be most helpful to you in planning  your preaching are reference works such as a Bible dictionary, an exhaustive  concordance, a topical Bible, and a systematic theological textbook as well  as commentaries on any books through which you intend to preach in the coming  year.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">7.  Take a list of the previous year&#8217;s sermon subjects and texts. <\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Part  of your planning process will include looking backward at the work you or your  predecessor did in the pulpit the year before. You will need to compile as complete  a list as possible of the subject and text for every sermon preached at your  church in the previous year. After you have completed a year&#8217;s cycle of planned  preaching, this list will be easy to generate. If it is your first time to plan  your preaching year, or if you have begun a new pastorate, a collection of last  year&#8217;s church bulletins will give you a picture of the themes that you or the  previous pastor have addressed.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">8.  Take a Preaching Strategy Worksheet.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">In  my book Planning Your Preaching (Kregel), I discuss the development of  a Preaching Strategy Worksheet. You might complete this before you go  on the retreat, or you might choose to complete it while you are on the retreat.  In either case, you will want to have a well-articulated preaching strategy  in front of you as you plan your preaching. It will help remind you of your  audience and their needs and will aid you in determining the subjects and themes  for your preaching.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Once  you have gathered these and other helpful materials, you are ready to leave  for a week during which you will plan the preaching program for the coming year.  A preacher going on a planning retreat would do well to pick a location that  is conducive to extended prayer, study, and planning. Your work during the planning  retreat itself will consist of reviewing the previous year&#8217;s preaching, planning  biblical and thematic series, and creating your preaching calendar.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Looking  Backward<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Janus,  the mythological Roman god gifted with two faces, always looked both ways on  the threshold of each new year. Near the beginning of your planning retreat,  you will need to play the part of Janus, looking into the past so that you can  decide your direction for the future. Retrospection can be helpful if you have  the right motive for looking back and if you are looking for the correct things  One of the keys to success in planning your preaching is ruthless self-evaluation.  Keeping that in mind, review your preaching from the previous year.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">With  a copy of last year&#8217;s preaching schedule in front of you, ask yourself the following  questions.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8226; What were  some of the general themes on which you preached last year?<br \/> &#8226; How do those themes correspond to the overarching theological themes  of the Bible?<br \/> &#8226; Did you give significant attention to preaching through biblical books  last year?<br \/> &#8226; What types of sermonic material came from the biblical books through  which you preached?<br \/> &#8226; Was your preaching balanced in its use of the Old and New Testaments?<br \/> &#8226; Did the pattern of last year&#8217;s sermons provide for variety without  confusion and unity without repetition?<br \/> &#8226; Of the messages that you preached last year, did any elicit a strong  enough response from the congregation to merit preaching more extensively  on that or similar subjects in the future?<br \/> &#8226; What theological ideas from the Scripture did you fail to address last  year?<br \/> &#8226; What aspects of last year&#8217;s plan fell short of exposing your people  to the whole counsel of the Word of God?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\">Asking  such questions as you look back over last year&#8217;s preaching will help you to  identify &#8220;holes&#8221; in the themes and subjects that you have addressed.  Additionally, looking back will help you to create a new plan that has continuity  with the previous year. Reviewing your past year&#8217;s sermons will also make you  aware of any theological hobbyhorses that you are prone to ride so that you  can guard against preaching extensively on certain themes at the expense of  others.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">After  you have reviewed your preaching calendar from the previous year and analyzed  your audience, you need to articulate your goals and priorities for preaching  in the coming year.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Planning  Sermon Series<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">One  great advantage of planning your preaching ahead of time is that it allows you  to make careful preparation for extended series of sermons. Two types of series  are available to the preacher: the book series and the thematic series.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Book  series. A book series is a sequence of messages through a book of the  Bible. When scheduling a year&#8217;s preaching, it is possible to plan for at least  two book series, allowing for at least one series from the Old Testament and  one from the New Testament. To plan a book series, begin by considering the  needs of your audience. Prayerfully determine which book of the Bible will speak  best to those needs. After selecting the Bible book, read through the book several  times to grasp the themes and emphases of the biblical writer. Choose an overall  theme for the series that reflects the major theme of the book. Ideally, this  theme should relate to a need you have identified in the congregation. Divide  the book into passages that can serve as sermon text units, and then assign  a working title to each preaching unit. In some cases, you might choose to preach  a series from a section of a book or from selected portions within a book rather  than preaching through an entire book of the Bible.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Thematic  series. The thematic series is a succession of sermons dealing with  a central theme or subject. These series might be shorter than book series because  the number of sermons in the series is entirely dependent on the preacher&#8217;s  choice. Subject series can cover doctrinal issues or ethical, moral, and social  concerns; they can also address emotional and spiritual needs and problems.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">To  develop a thematic series, first choose a theme that meets a need in the congregation.  Next, identify biblical passages that address different aspects of the theme.  Read these passages thoroughly,and develop working titles for sermons on each  preaching text&#8217; Create a series title that encompasses all of the messages in  the series. Thematic series have been preached with titles such as &#8220;The  Bible&#8217;s Big Questions,&#8221; &#8220;Attitudes that Can Change Your Life,&#8221;  &#8220;Seven Keys to Success,&#8221; &#8220;Learning to Love,&#8221; and &#8220;Secrets  to Answered Prayer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Completing  the Preaching Calendar<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">After  you have plotted the sermon series that you will be preaching, you are ready  to begin filling out your preaching calendar. This calendar will be your preaching  plan for the coming year. Creating a preaching calendar involves the following  steps.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>1. Make a chart  for each month of the year.<br \/> 2. Coordinate the various calendars that will affect your preaching.<br \/> 3. Schedule holidays and other special days. <br \/> 4. Schedule the church ordinances.<br \/> 5. Schedule book series and thematic series. <br \/> 6. Scheduling other individual sermons.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\">Make  a chart for each month of the year. This chart should have the name  of the month printed at the top and a grid underneath with four columns: one  column for dates and calendar events, one for the Sunday morning service, one  for the Sunday evening service, and one for the midweek service. The chart should  have a different row for each week of the month. Even incomplete weeks at the  beginning and the end of the month should be represented by a whole row on the  chart. With the increasing number of calendar software programs available, you  might find using your computer preferable to creating a calendar on paper.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Each  preaching service will have three entry fields: sermon title, sermon text, and  notes. The sermon titles will all be working titles, not necessarily the final  names that you will give your messages. The space for notes will allow you to  record any special details that will help you in preparing your sermons or that  will help other church leaders in planning the worship service.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Coordinate  your calendars. You should take five calendars with you on the planning  retreat: the civic calendar, the church calendar, the denominational calendar,  the Christian calendar, and your personal calendar. Once you have prepared charts  for each month, you can compile all of the pertinent dates in chronological  order in the Calendar Events column.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">You  do not need to include every possible calendar event on your preaching plan.  Instead, list only the elements that will have an impact on what you will preach  or that will affect your preparation time. Some parts of the calendar are included  because they are important in your role of leadership as pastor. Others will  be personal items such as vacation dates that will affect your scheduling. Still  other items will be helpful to note so that you can use timely illustrations  or applications in the messages that you preach on or near those dates. After  you have filled out the Calendar Events column for each month of the  year, you are ready to begin scheduling the actual sermons for each service.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Following  is a checklist of questions to ask as you fill in the Calendar Events  column.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8226; Have you  listed personal dates such as vacations, conference trips, or guest speaking  engagements that will affect your preaching schedule?<br \/> &#8226; Have you noted national, community, or church events that will call  for special messages?<br \/> &#8226; Have you included on the list meetings and appointment that will affect  your preparation time?<br \/> &#8226; Have you noted special events in the life of your congregation such  as revival meetings, missions conferences, Bible conferences, and musical  programs?<br \/> &#8226; Have you listed the dates for baptism and Communion services?<br \/> &#8226; Have you included all major holidays?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\">Schedule  sermons for holidays and other special days. The best practice is to  plan sermons for special services and holidays first because they are usually  fixed dates and cannot be changed easily.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">A  wise preacher will devote a considerable number of sermons to Christmas and  Easter because these Christian occasions celebrate the incarnation and resurrection  of Christ. Sermons addressing civil holidays such as Thanksgiving, Mother&#8217;s  Day, Father&#8217;s Day, and Independence Day offer the preacher an opportunity to  bring a biblical perspective to secular observances. Your church might also  conduct special services such as Homecoming, Founder&#8217;s Day, or other observances  that will merit an appropriate sermon from the pastor.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Schedule  sermons for the ordinances. Much like other special days, baptism and  Communion often are established dates on your church calendar and need to be  included early in your plan. Because these observances communicate the central  truths of the Christian faith, you would be well advised to preach on subjects  and texts related to the doctrines that these ordinances symbolize. In later  chapters, we will consider how to maximize holidays, the ordinances, and other  special days.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Schedule  sermon series on themes and Bible books. The largest part of your preaching  plan will most likely be devoted to series, either through books of the Bible  or dealing with various biblical themes. You will want to allocate these series  evenly among the weekly worship services at your church. Generally, longer series  will work better in the Sunday evening and midweek services. Sunday mornings  tend to be interrupted frequently by holidays and special services.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Fill  the gaps in your plan with individual sermons. After you have scheduled  your series, you are likely to have on your calendar services for which you  have planned no sermons. Examine your overall strategy to determine doctrinal  themes, ethical and moral issues, and spiritual matters that you need to address  to fill in these spaces. Although you will want to fill in as many gaps as possible,  it is best to leave one Sunday morning and one Sunday evening service blank  every three months. Unforeseen circumstances will inevitably arise that will  force you to alter your plan. By leaving a service blank every twelve weeks  or so, you can shift the schedule when necessary.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Reviewing  and Modifying the Plan<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Now  that the preaching calendar is complete, look back over each month. Using the  Preaching Strategy Worksheet as a guide, check to see if the plan fulfills  your goals for the coming year&#8217;s pulpit work. Following are some questions to  ask as you review the calendar.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8226; Is the  plan complete in that it lists a subject and text for each preaching event  in the coming year?<br \/> &#8226; Do the sermon subjects and texts cover the essential biblical teachings  that members of your church should hear in a year&#8217;s time?<br \/> &#8226; Have you maximized holidays and ordinances by preaching sermons pertinent  to those special days?<br \/> &#8226; Have you programmed some flexibility into the calendar?<br \/> &#8226; Is your preaching balanced in terms of both subject matter and the  portions of the Bible from which you will preach? <br \/> &#8226; Have you included any creative approaches to preaching that differ  from your normal sermonic patterns?<br \/> &#8226; When taken as a whole, does your preaching plan meet the objectives  that you established in your preaching strategy?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p align=\"justify\">In  addition to this initial review, you will want to evaluate your preaching plan  several times throughout the year. Monitor your progress on the plan monthly.  Consider whether you are sticking to the plan or if parts of the schedule are  proving unworkable. Check on the series you are preaching through books of the  Bible to see if the preaching portions represent the best way to divide the  book. Rethink the preaching objectives that you originally set for yourself  in light of the changing climate of your congregation and community. If changes  are necessary, don&#8217;t be reluctant to make them. The need for modification does  not mean that your initial plan was not good. Remember, the plan is a servant,  not a master. It is a guide that can be changed as your journey through a year  of preaching unfolds.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">_______________________<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">Stephen  Neslon Rummage is associate pastor of preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological  Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">_______________________<\/p>\n<p align=\"justify\">1.  Wayne McDill, The Twelve Essential Skills for Great Preaching (Nashville:  Broadman &amp; Holman, 1994), 272.<br \/> 2. Bryan Chapell, Christ-centered Preaching: Redeeming the Expository  Sermon (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 55.<br \/> 3. J. Winston Pearce, Planning Your Preaching (Nashville: Broadmad,  1967), 5.<br \/> 4. Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (San Francisco:  HarperSanFrancisco, 1988), 160-62. Richard Foster, A Celebration of Discipline,  rev. ed. (San Franciso: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988), 96-109.<br \/> 5. Pearce, Planning Your Preaching, 5.<br \/> 6. Andrew Blackwood, Planning a Year&#8217;s Pulpit Work (New York:  Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1942), 17.<\/p>\n<div style='clear:both'><\/div>\n<div class='the_champ_sharing_container the_champ_horizontal_sharing' data-super-socializer-href=\"https:\/\/www.preaching.com\/articles\/the-mechanics-of-sermon-planning\/\">\n<div class='the_champ_sharing_title' style=\"font-weight:bold\">Share This On:<\/div>\n<div class=\"the_champ_sharing_ul\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style='clear:both'><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I once heard a corporate leader state the following principle of the business world: &#8220;Your system is perfectly designed to produce the results you&#8217;re getting.&#8221; He elaborated by saying that if someone is manufacturing cars, and every third car rolls off the assembly line missing a right front fender, the system is perfectly designed to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-mechanics-of-sermon-planning\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;The Mechanics Of Sermon Planning&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}