Many of you know that I take a week at the end of summer with a preacher friend or two and head off to the Wet Mountain Valley. We use a cabin that is off-the-grid and in the trees where I can quietly pray and prepare for the coming year. Bringing other preacher friends helps each of us refine our ideas. This annual sermon planning retreat isn’t quite like when Moses goes up Mount Sinai where God dictates the law and then he came back down. My process is far more democratic and drawn out, but no less divinely inspired.
First, I spend a whole year listening to all of you. I keep mental notes about what’s on your hearts and minds and I pray about how God might be speaking to that. I ask our church council and staff about the needs we see ahead of us, and I pack materials that speak to those needs. I also like to survey the congregation. Each of you can speak into this planning process as well. I also call the church to prayer (please mark your calendar for Aug 28-Sept 4).
At the end of the week, I typically have a solid outline of what preaching will be like for the year and then I share that with our fellow preachers, staff, and church council before committing to the plan. Then of course, the Spirit will move during the year and the plan will adapt and change.
Last year’s survey indicated a desire to learn more about other religions, and how to pray and what it means to be a Methodist and all those needs became series that we’ve enjoyed already in 2024. This past March, I started a growing conviction that in 2025, as a church, ‘we need to spend a year with Jesus.’ So, this year’s survey focuses on Jesus. Click here to submit your response to five questions that will shape our worship life together for 2025.
Thank you for your support by holding me in prayer and providing input on this survey.
