Slaying the Monster of Sunday (a help for Communicators)
One of the questions I’m frequently asked by pastors and communicators is about the Rhythm of a Preaching Schedule. One of the most taxing things about being a lead pastor or church planter is the drain of having to come up with completely new, creative, thought-provoking, challenging, engaging, funny, life-changing content every 7 days. I like to call it the Monster of Sunday. It’s always licking at your heels and if we, as pastors and the primary communicators of our church, can’t figure out a way to slay that monster, it can eventually become our undoing.
Here’s what I’ve learned about my Rhythm as a Communicator:
1. I’m good for about 6 weeks, then I need a change. I’ve learned that if I speak more than 6 weeks in a row at Next Level Church, my creativity and drive and passion begins to sag. Another way of saying it would be, I begin to feel like I’m not preparing the best food I possibly could for the people of our church.
2. I travel and speak in other churches. It helps me. It helps them. I learn from them. Getting out of my world gives me a fresh perspective.
3. I try and stay 4 to 6 weeks ahead in message preparation.
4. I write to 80%.
5. I write on Mondays. I know that the common theme is that most pastors are ready to jump off of a cliff on Mondays, but I have found that if I can get in the zone and think of it as a continuation of the day before, I’m actually capable of staying in the zone. The benefit of locking in my message on Mondays is that:
I feel extremely productive.
I don’t feel as swamped later under all the details of church work that drain me.
I have a clear mind to lead and make decisions without the pressure of Sunday living on the top of my mind.
6. I use a Wall of Sundays to organize my thoughts, see the long-range rhythm of our year, and to have a place to put my thoughts. We started doing this about 3 years ago and our wall of Sundays has become life to me. I have to see things big. I have to plan ahead, and I have to have a place to put ideas when they come up.
7. I practice my messages. Some pastors will say that they want to “make sure that the emotion of the moment comes through on Sunday,” or that “you can’t rehearse the anointing.” But I think that’s a bunch of hooey! You wouldn’t say that to your worship team! If we want our worship team to rehearse and come prepared, then so should we. It took me awhile to get used to practicing my messages out loud, but in my mind, there’s no better way to actually get the content into your mind and spirit.
I can’t tell you how many times I will be practicing my message in my home office on Saturday night and hear myself say something a certain way, and I’ll actually stop and say out loud, “That didn’t sound right. Don’t say it that way again.” Then, and only then, will I actually go back to the beginning that that section or story and practice saying it a different way.
First service, is not your run-through. We can either sweat in preparation or bleed in battle. I don’t know about you, but I would rather sweat in preparation. (Sorry, I’m hearing U2’s ‘Sunday, bloody Sunday’ in my head right now…)
8. Finally, I’ve learned to see “Sparks” everywhere. For any communicator, the distance from zero to a creative spark is infinity, but once you have the spark, the rest of the content for a message can flow pretty quickly. If you have to communicate on a weekly basis, you’ll have to develop the art of seeing sparks everywhere. I see