Sermon planning and a preaching calendar

Unfiltered: Real Church Planting Conversations

In this episode, Lee Stephenson and Danny Parmelee discuss planning out a preaching calendar. They share practical ways they plan their sermon topics and give insight into how they navigate their preaching calendar.

0:19 Lee introduces the topic of the episode – thinking through your preaching calendar. He asks Danny what his rhythm is when it comes to planning the timing of sermon series.

0:50 Danny shares how he preached expository through books of the Bible when he first planted his church.

2:56 As time went by, Danny’s preaching schedule fell into a rhythm that he was able to maintain as his church grew. His church has the rhythm of following the schedule of a school year, September through June.

3:39 Lee confirms that Danny would plan the kick-off of a new upcoming sermon series in the summertime, based on the school calendar.

3:45 Danny talks about how his sermons were tied to small group teaching and that printed materials had to be created for that.

4:37 Lee asks Danny if he would literally take an entire school year to preach through one book of the Bible.

4:46 Danny confirms that yes, that was the case and explains how the sermon schedule would work when shorter books of the Bible were preached.

5:36 Danny asks Lee about how he does his sermon planning and navigates a preaching calendar.

5:47 One year out is how Lee likes to plan. He also mentions that he takes a week in the summer to plan out his preaching calendar. And he reiterates that each community has its own rhythm.

7:20 Danny asks Lee to expand on what his process is when he takes a week to plan out upcoming sermon series.

7:59 Lee gives details on how he collaborates with his creative team.

9:30 Lee explains how he codes sermons at different levels – A, B, and C, what those levels mean, and the reason he does it.

10:48 Danny asks Lee if he is flexible in his planned preaching calendar, or if it’s more of a rigid process.

11:24 Lee explains how he adds in margin to the sermon series schedule and how baptism Sundays play into the schedule’s flexibility.

12:41 Danny asks Lee for his thoughts on using other church’s resources when it comes to replicating their sermon series.

13:17 Using other church’s resources occasionally may be a good idea for church planters, according to Lee. But he advises pastors to put their own spin on it for the community they serves. Exact replication may not translate great from one area of the country to another.

15:20 Lee stresses the importance on thinking through sermon planning and creating the preaching calendar, advising to have fun, leave margin, and enjoy the process.

15:59 Danny agrees that using another church’s sermon resources should be done in moderation.

16:21 Lee thanks listeners for tuning into the podcast episode.