Developing A Preaching Calendar Part 8

"Teamwork makes the dream work."

"Together everyone achieves more".

These are two quotes I often hear most when someone is talking about a team. Yet when it comes to developing a preaching calendar and even the messages it is the most highly underused as well as underrated method. To save yourself time, enhance your creativity, and have messages that are highly packed with content it is a must that you begin creating your preaching calendar with a team.

Why Is That?
Maybe it's pride. I know many pastors that are afraid to share the spotlight or think that the people they hired are not up to their level of communication.

Maybe it's a lack of ability. Some pastors may not understand or can handle leading a creative process like this.

Whatever the reason they pale in the benefits that can be had if you begin to create in a team environment.

Saves Time
When you have several people working on the same task you can save more time. Let's say you give everyone a month to come up with all the ideas for messages and series over the coming year. Not only will you come into the planning meeting with a ton of ideas but laying out the year will be even faster.

Enhances Creativity
When others are working off each other, ideas are tweaked and improved until the original product is so much greater in quality.

Better Content
Having the team organizing and creating brings more minds to the final product. The ideas will be greater. The theology will be tighter. In all things the final product content will be much higher than you doing it alone.

Truthfully we could go on and on about the benefits of creating in a team environment. Let's stop and get down to some practicality.

Put It In Process
Let's say that in October you have your meeting to lay out the calendar for the upcoming year. All through August and September your team can be looking and creating individually message/series topics in preparation for the planning meeting. Roughly, these would include a title/topic/big idea. If they wanted they could include a list of messages for a series.

On the date of the meeting everyone comes in with their ideas on 3x5 cards. All of the ideas are then thrown out on the table and the process of whittling down and piecing them into the calendar begins. Since you have already put in holidays as we already discussed this process should just flow.

Once you have your series and your time line down you can then begin to work on each more individually.

Where Does God Fit
I can already hear the argument coming. "Doesn't this take God out of the equation?"

Are you kidding me? Are we still arguing that same point.

If this process and everything along the way is bathed in prayer and our trust and faith is in God throughout the process then God is the one that is orchestrating it all.

God is the God of yesterday, today and forever. He knows who is going to walk into your building in July and exactly what message they need to hear and lay it on yours and your teams heart in October of the previous year. Let's get over this whole point and realize that God is in charge.

You can successfully begin to implement the steps and advice we have laid out in this series and begin to reap the benefits of having a preaching calendar.


Make Sure You Read Every Post In This Series

• Part 1 - Introduction
• Part 2 - God Can Speak To You In Advance
• Part 3 - Planning For Greater Impact
  
• Part 4 - Look Back Before You Look Ahead
• Part 5 - Schedule Before You Schedule: Major Holidays, Personal Time Off
• Part 6 - Branding Your Messages
  
• Part 7 - Create Momentum Before Your Major Events
• Part 8 - Creating With Your Team
• Preaching Calendar - Your Time (Reader Tips)
  

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