One of the big things I want to do in this blog is to encourage creative ministry. I’ve been sharing my messages from my church on this blog for a little while now, but now I want to add a feature. think of it as a challenge. Each week before I post the sermon for the current week, I plan on telling you my next topic and the text. The reason for this is I want to encourage you to think creatively. How would you express the text in your art form? What creative elements would you add? How might you present the text to someone in a Sunday school class, a sermon, a drama, a song or other creative work.
If I were to share with you my ministry schedule, at least as it pertains to the message, Tuesday is my usual start date. I’m not usually a person who plans months ahead, and I don’t use the lectionary. My topics come as the result of prayer, as well as some practical concerns as we’ll see in a moment. At this point, I have two things going. I felt led to preach on what the Lord calls “New” to start off this new year. It will be a series of approximately four messages, which should carry me through January. The other thing I have going is an extended series on the book of Esther. Esther is our current Wednesday evening Bible Study, so I am preaching through the book and then teaching the study based on what I am preaching. I am writing the study, so every time we finish a chapter, I have determined I will break in to my current series and preach the next section.
Now as to my schedule. I try to have my day of rest on Monday. I pray and I may do some light reading, but I try to do some Sabbath rest. I start the day early on Tuesday, recording and assembling the sermon video you’re about to see. Tuesday, is also the day I really dig into the study and begin the writing. Wednesday is usually the day I will do the bulk of the writing. Thursday is usually my day to work up the visuals, and powerpoint. If I create a video for the sermon, the drawings are done throughout the week and I usually end up recording and animating the video between Friday and Saturday. Friday and Saturday are also days when I will tighten up the message and get ready to preach. Of course, I also do a lot of other things so I have to be a little flexible on the schedule. You should also know that I am always reading and studying and sketching and many of my future messages are born during those times.
I would love to see/hear how you would express these topics in your art form, so please share them in the comments. I promise not to use anything you create without your permission. On the other hand if you see something on here, you would like to use, I hereby grant you permission to do so, unless otherwise noted and only ask that you link back to this blog. Let’s spread creative ministry together.
The coming sermon is going to be about the New Heavens and the New Earth and my main text will be Revelation 21. What would you do with that text and topic?
The current Sermon is called simply A New Creation. As we explore the things that God calls “new” in this series, we come upon one of the most important things: becoming a new creation in Christ. Join us as we explore 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 and how God re-recreates us from the inside out.
AMOKArts 