For me it's baffling that some preachers spend 30+ hours per week on their sermons. I'm not judging, but I'd never get it done if that were the case for me. But again, that is a part of my personality and calling her in Mount Pleasant. I'm an open door person, first of all. I cannot bring myself to close my door unless I have to. You may find my door closed very few times of the year, and usually you would look through the window to find I'm meeting with someone. That's about the only time I close the door, because I can't stand shutting people out. I want people to know I'm truly accessible, whether it's just for a chat or for serious needs. (I'm also a huge extrovert, and can't stand being alone.)
For me, a huge blessing and curse is my ADD brain that keeps me focused on multiple things at once at all times. On the plus side, I will keep sermon themes in my head throughout the week in whatever places God calls me in ministry. My experiences get connected in my head with the focus that God's Word is leading me toward. This is great because I find that I'm preparing my sermon subconsciously all week long, even when I'm not trying to. The downside of this is that I literally cannot sit down and work on my sermon throughout the week. I can read through the Scriptures, study some commentaries, and meditate on it, but I just can't sit down and start putting things together. I can't focus on something coming on Sunday when I have everything else coming up first. I may have meetings, Worship Jam prep, youth group lessons, counseling sessions, and program planning to do and I just can't get my mind to focus on making the sermon happen. So I've learned not to fight it. I let my mind ruminate on Sunday's theme in the midst of everything else I'm doing, and pray that God will shed some light on where I need to go when I'm ready to go there.
Then comes Saturday night. The boys are in bed around 8pm and I get to work. No longer are the needs of the week pulling me in different directions, and the immediacy of Sunday morning allows me to focus as I haven't been able to all week. I sit down with my Nexus 7, my bluetooth keyboard, and my favorite app - Google Drive, to put my thoughts on paper. With Google Play Music All Access pumping worship music through my Plantronics bluetooth headphones from my HTC One phone, I outline my message; cutting and pasting the Scripture verses into my Google Document from my NIV Study Bible app. And in no time, all that has been bouncing around my head and heart finds its way into my notes for Sunday morning. Then, I use my Nexus 7 housed in a nice leather Poetic Slim Case and that same Google Drive app to preach it. Praise be to God for making this craziness work in my life and ministry. No, I'm not the best preacher you've ever heard. But God does let me help to share His Word with great people every week, and for that I'm grateful.
If you didn't catch all the tech in this post, here's a list of what I'm using for sermon prep:
Hardware:
- Asus Nexus 7 (2013)
- Poetic Slimline Portfolio Case
- Motorola Bluetooth keyboard
- HTC One (Sprint)
- Plantronics Backbeat 903+ bluetooth headphones
Apps:
- Google Drive
- NIV Study Bible
- Youversion Bible app
- Google Play Music All Access
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