Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Originally posted by fredtgreco
That seems excessive and overkill. Do the math: if you have two sermons to prepare - 70 hours? No way. Should you abandon an evening sermon? No way.
There are also pastoral duties to attend to. My guess is that sermon preparation time should be somewhere between 10-20 hours, probably closer to 10-15.
Originally posted by Ivan
Originally posted by fredtgreco
That seems excessive and overkill. Do the math: if you have two sermons to prepare - 70 hours? No way. Should you abandon an evening sermon? No way.
There are also pastoral duties to attend to. My guess is that sermon preparation time should be somewhere between 10-20 hours, probably closer to 10-15.
I agree, but I agree with Bob too. Not only a lifetime, but also a life submitted to the Lordship of Christ.
Originally posted by crhoades
Fred,
To have you elucidate...Would you say that using Logos/Bibleworks for your exegetical work allows you to save time? I think I know the answer but thought it might help to flesh that out a bit.
Originally posted by fredtgreco
Originally posted by crhoades
Fred,
To have you elucidate...Would you say that using Logos/Bibleworks for your exegetical work allows you to save time? I think I know the answer but thought it might help to flesh that out a bit.
Chris,
That is a trickier question than you might think. In some senses it does, because I can find cross references and verses ("where was that verse in Paul where he says..." ) much quicker.
But in another sense, Logos and Bibleworks add time to my preparation. That is because they give me so many more resources, so much more to read, so many more options, that it can take up more time. Don't get me wrong, I am happy for that. But if you are not careful, you can get "lost" in them, tracking down some tangent that is not really vital.
This is my personal opinion, but spending more time in sermon preparation is not always good stewardship, nor wise for a pastor. I say this both as a Ruling Elder and now as a Pastor. Good, hard work in sermon preparation is essential, but it is not the only thing for a pastor. He must visit, be organized, do administrative tasks, etc. It is not good to let everything else slid just to read the 10th, 11th and 12th commentaries.
Originally posted by crhoades
To have you elucidate...Would you say that using Logos/Bibleworks for your exegetical work allows you to save time? I think I know the answer but thought it might help to flesh that out a bit.
Originally posted by wsw201
A friend of mine mentioned that he spends up to 35 hours a week in preparation for a sermon.
How much time do you spend in preparing a sermon?
Originally posted by wsw201
A friend of mine mentioned that he spends up to 35 hours a week in preparation for a sermon.
How much time do you spend in preparing a sermon?
Originally posted by victorbravo
I've also preached, and I ususally took 8-15 hours to prepare, not counting personal devotional study. It was best if the hours were spread out over a week, rather than all in one day, because it allowed for a sort of gestation or brewing in the back of my mind.
Then I think of Spurgeon who sometimes seemed not to prepare at all. Yet his whole life was spent in preparation, I think.
Most of the Puritans were still writing out in full to the end of their lives. Of [Charles] Simeon's sermons, Bishop Daniel Wilson, in a posthumous tribute, wrote: 'Few cost him less than twelve hours of study -- many twice that time: and some several days. He once told the writer that he had recomposed the plan of one discourse thirty times.' To prepare good sermons may take a long time -- but who are we, whom God has set apart for the ministry, to begrudge time for this purpose? We shall never perform a more important task than preaching. If we are not willing to give time to sermon preparation, we are not fit to preach, and have no business in the ministry at all.