Short Sided Preaching……

Have you ever been asked a question that makes you really start thinking about how you prepare?

Maybe it is prepare for a sport, a sermon, a small group, a teaching lesson, a road trip, could be anything, but you are asked if you do enough to get ready for it. Sure, I feel like I am. Right?

I remember when I was in college that I took less and less time as my years continued in school, because for some reason I didn’t want to, didn’t take the time, not really sure what it was, but never did I take the time to really study for my preaching classes.

However, when I was asked to speak at Focus, which is a student lead service at LCU, first off I was honored that I was asked, second that would have to be the most time I have ever spent on a sermon. I went from spending 4 to 6 hours on a sermon, to 15 to 20 hours. I remember getting up on stage and remembering the feeling of excitement, anxiousness, anticipation. Normally when I get up on stage, I will do my, you know, pre game dance in a way. move around on stage to get loosened up, but my Focus sermon was different. I was ready, I was fully prepared, I knew what I wanted to say and I just went for it. I really wish I was able to have that on video.

I was the kind of “umm’s” in my first homiletics class. The first sermon that I ever preached was about 16 minutes long, where a friend of mine counted out about 70 “umm’s”. Needless to say, I learned very quickly that I needed to spend more time preparing and studying each sermon that I will preach.

Now obviously in the world of ministry, it is hard to block out as much time as you would like to, but it is really that difficult to say that every week I need to spend 15 hours preparing for my sermon? Is it bad to say that I want to be engrossed in my sermon preparation so that I can be as prepared as I should be each week? Maybe I just need a little guidance on how to spend the right amount of time writing. Maybe it is a certain amount of time studying then taking the time to write out what I have learned and put that into my sermon.

I love preaching. I love my job. I love being able to be apart of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What I will venture to say is that I dont know if I am too happy with the amount of study that I have put in to my sermons each week. I also will venture to say that I have a wife that not only loves me, but knows me well enough where she challenges me to study more because she knows that I like it.

How long do you spend preparing? Am I crazy to think there is a time limit on how much you study before a sermon?