As Years Blend Together. 9.24.2026

    I know that I have shared my long-term preaching process in this space many times. I will work on my sermon calendar through the month of October. I start my “preaching year” with the Advent season and move through the following November. So, in a couple of weeks, I will begin working on my plan for December 2026 through November 2027. 

    I have also alluded to the fact that more than 40 years of preaching has created an enormous amount of work. Both final deliverables (pulpit copy) and work product (materials from the study, writing and editing process). Logos Bible Software does a decent job of keeping track of much of this work. For example, I am preaching from 1 John 3.1-3 on 9.27.2026. When I look in Logos it finds 1,018 results in 11 documents. That is basically 10 years’ worth of work. Scattered in notebooks, PDFs, and folders in various cloud-storage sites there is even more. That is a lot of material. And this is just what I have produced. This does not include secondary and tertiary studies, commentaries, introductory works, theological, worship, historical scholarship, or practical pastoral tomes. 

    One of the keys to an ongoing, expanding preaching ministry is remaining fresh as the years blend together. We don’t want to repeat ourselves, but we also don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Central to this process is determining what materials from the past should be reviewed and how to review them. 

    For example, good exegetical work rarely needs updated. Much of what I find when I look in Logos consists of old Sentence Flow/Exegetical documents. If I was attentive and careful when I did this work, it seldom needs to be repeated. A review of the document with an open Greek Text, taking a few hand-written notes tends to be a sufficient refresher. If I find that the work was done in haste, or if I have discovered new grammatical or syntactical materials that I want to test against my past work, then there may be a bit more. Otherwise, this review can go rather quickly. This falls into the category of not reinventing the wheel.  

    On the other hand, sound, accurate exegesis can be adapted into several different message strategies or arcs. Reviewing the messages themselves can take a little more time because I need to recollect the congregational conditions under which the message was preached. I need to look at the overall theme of the sermon series. I need to find out what the bigger picture was into which the smaller picture of the individual sermon fit(s). I may need to simply look at my calendar to see what was going on in the congregation’s life. In that context I often find well-crafted, reusable writing that can be repurposed. 

    This time through 1 John I am preaching 5 sermons. One per chapter. That’s it. No matter how far down in the weeds I get I have set an external “timer” on this series. When I look at the older material, I am mostly looking to trace the trajectory from text to sermon to make sure I don’t take the same tack this time through. What the text says does not change. How we address the congregation does. I want to be clear and expressive, and I don’t want to become boring or predictable; both of which can have a negative impact on the reception of the sermon. 

    A key to preaching is balancing what people expect from a sermon with how the preacher develops the material and presents it. This is not a reader-centered, post-modern approach to the task. This is the basic, hard work that keeps both the preacher and the congregation fresh. And if we wish to have long, fruitful ministries we need to accept the fact that it will grow somewhat more difficult as we grow older and preach to the same congregation over many years. 

    Forty-two years ago, when I started to preach, I didn’t realize that this would ever be a factor. I was a whole lot smarter when I was 22 than I am now. Now I am acutely aware of what I do not know, what I have not read, issues I have not considered, and applications that are unexplored. I was a genius 40 years ago, now I am ever a novice. The best way to keep fresh is to keep at the work. The best way to keep the years from blending together in a context-less soup is to make sure that this Sunday’s sermon explains this text to this congregation—now. 

    As I turn my thoughts to 2027, I will try to be cognizant of that as I sketch out the big picture concepts for a whole year. I will make notes to myself of issues I need to consider as I go back through my previous work. I will examine my bibliographical materials and see whether and what materials I relied on the last time I went through specific texts—what needs to be reconsidered, what needs to be abandoned. The only way to remain truly fresh in the pulpit is to make sure that you preach what the text says in your current context. When we do that, we will discover a freedom that keeps us focused and free from anxiety. 

    One final chronological thought. As I get older, I realize that I have fewer sermon calendars left to craft. It would be easy to look back at what I did 10 years ago and simply re-title, re-date, and re-type the same work. It might be easier, but that does not make it right. The call to preach is the call to study. Pastoral ministry is Word-focused, and we have to be in the Word to have power. Yes, we must familiarize ourselves with what we did in the past, but then we need to keep that specific presentation; be it sermon, lesson, or essay in the past. We may adapt, revise, and update the material for a new context and in so doing we are necessarily preparing old words for new opportunities.  The Master is watching. He calls us to be good stewards and faithful workmen. Do the work. Do it conscientiously. Do it well. Make it fresh. Someone will hear you tell the story of Jesus from the texts you will be preaching for the very first time. When that happens, the years will all fade away and you’ll feel again the pleasure of our great God who called you to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Shoring things Up a bit 9.17.2026

     Not every single thing is critical. Every job has tasks that are helpful but not central, useful but not critical, good but not the best. When the “good” things begin to overwhelm the best, when the edges compress the center and keep you from being your best; then it is time to recalibrate and shore things up a bit. 

Consideration

    It may be a pile, a stack, or a list but you need to get things written down on paper and screen. The papers that need sorted, the deeds done, words to be written, people to be visited. Don’t try and remember it. If you really want to get those ducks lined up, then do it—line them up. 

    Write things down. Make charts and tables—surely, you have a ruler. Use your computer, use a note pad, use index cards. Sometimes we need to get the outstanding tasks before us so that we can clearly see how things are related. You can’t shore things up until and unless you make a clear, considered distinction between what needs to be done and what must be done. 

Consolidation

    When you are lining up all those ducks you may find that not all are equal. In fact, while reflecting, thinking, and considering what you need to do you will likely find you are fretting over things that are not actually things. Or perhaps they are not relevant. Maybe they have expired. It is also likely that some independent tasks are actually smaller steps to completing larger projects. Again, you must look critically at things and sort out their relationships to draw the right conclusion(s).

    At this point you can begin to consolidate some things. There is nothing like eliminating things from your list by combining similar items. You may even find that this process of consolidation saves time because the combination of tasks takes fewer steps. 

Delegation

    Another sure way to shore things up is to hand off items that you don’t need to be doing. Delegation frees up mental and physical energy by taking off your plate those things that never should have been there I the first place. 

    Once things are added to your to-do list it can be very difficult to remove them. Setting aside regular time for delegation can be essential to your mental health. Don’t do those things others can and should do. 

Elimination

    You cannot say “no” until you really understand what your central purpose is and feel comfortable saying yes to the best practices that allow you to pursue that purpose. The problem isn’t that saying no can appear negative; the issue is that always saying yes betrays confusion. 

    Taking an afternoon to go over everything—reviewing lists, calendars, complete work can do wonders for remembering what it is you are doing as a preacher. Once you really know “why” it becomes much easier to say “no.” And when you know what your “no” is you can go back over your schedule and cut out those things which distract and divert you. 

    Most preachers are not very good at saying no. It takes many years and a compulsive focus on what is essential to say no without it being perceived as unduly negative. If we are forthright with our congregation and leadership, they will learn to understand that in a well-planned ministry there will be many tasks, good as they may be that should not be on our plate. In that case “no” often means better alignment with gifts, skills, and opportunities. Things the preacher or professional staff do, which can be done by others should be done by others. 

    Shoring things up is not just abandoning tasks to others. It also gives us the chance to consider what needs done next year, or even the following year. A good plan should be a look forward, based upon a considered, critical look at the past.

Pennant Drive 9.10.2026

    As you might have guessed I’ve been pretty busy the last few weeks. Sometimes the changing vicissitudes of ministry require a bit of a readjustment of plans. As a result, my time for these blog posts got away from me over the last couple of weeks. In doing a bit of a debrief of that time I think it is important to clearly name a couple issues. Prior to that let me say that I didn’t miss any consequential deadlines. Though I spend time on these essays and I find them both personally helpful and potentially useful to others, they are not the most important issues before me. 

However, there are, as I mentioned a couple of things that need to be available for these essay/blog posts to be productive. 

1. Time to think. Much writing fails not because it is poorly written but because it is not adequately thought through. I had over 700 words written for the last week of August. Yet when I went back over them to edit and revise, I realized that in my haste to write I had under thought. Not much use in editing out 720 of 744 words. In preparing work for the pulpit—and other emergency considerations such as funeral messages one must prioritize not only the words on the page but the time to think through what one will say. Those materials from the last week of August may be recoverable but first there must be time to think.

2. Time to Write. It comes in this order. If the thinking does not precede the writing you end up with the situation I landed in. A lot of words but not nearly much sense. Essays like these are a great opportunity to work on my writing skills, but as I alluded to earlier, preaching and teaching take priority. In a compressed timeframe (while also reserving time for rest) one must make decisions. I decided at the end of August that prior to writing I needed to review the rest of 2026’s Blog Essay Schedule before I thought another thought or wrote another word. Having accomplished that thinking over the long weekend I am now ready to get back to the pen work. 

    It is a little like getting ready for the pennant drive. September is upon us. There are only so many opportunities left. How are the starters? Do I have slumping hitters I will need to rely on? Does someone need a day off? Well considered decisions at the beginning of September may yield fruit later, as the season ends or even later when the playoffs start.

Something like that needs to happen during the course of the preaching year. The preacher occasionally gets tired, overwhelmed, or distracted by inessential issues. Labor Day weekend has, for me, been a great opportunity to recalibrate things and get ready for the pennant drive. 

I was able to lay out the rest of the year’s blog titles. I spent a little time considering the central events in September, October, and November. I even looked at what I wrote last year as the danger of repeating oneself during the fall seems to increase. After doing that and explaining my recent absence I feel like I’m back on schedule. I might have spent a couple of late nights trying to “fix” things and I would have become frustrated. I would have written hundreds of words that I would later discard because they would sound hurried, harried, and ill-considered. 

It’s not like I was idle. During the very time I was “falling behind” I read something like 15 fiction and non-fiction books. They were refreshing and helped to recalibrate my brain far more than rapidly writing words that would later be excised causing even greater frustration than not writing them in the first place. 

A preaching year, not unlike baseball, is a long, leveling season. To be at our best for as much of the time as possible we need a broad approach. We must think logistically, tactically, and strategically. We don’t want to run out of energy, we don’t want to wander under-prayed, under-thought, under-prepared, or under-considered. Every sermon, lesson, or essay needs to have something worth saying—and worth the time of our auditor or listener. 

    I’ve mostly worked through this busy season. I’m still a day late for this week but I had workable words several days ago, so editing was merely a matter of cleaning up rather than starting over. Where are you in this year’s continuing journey to pulpit or paper? Are you clarifying your objectives or flailing? I highly recommend some time to think then get back to the business of writing and preaching effective, Biblical sermons.