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repeat…over the course of the final fifteen days of 2009, i’m going to let you in on fifteen things that need to change in my life in the coming year. fifteen decisions that i am making that reflect things that are important to me.
i’m going to go waaay out on a limb. i’m going to give you my best shot at honest transparency, in an attempt to be held accountable. some things will be about my spiritual journey…others are simply improvements to the life i walk. either way, they are important to me…and here’s the next one on the list:
change number thirteen
over the past seven years, i have preached most every sunday at north point…an average of 47 or 48 new sermons per year…maybe 325 different sermons in all.
when i think about it, that’s a lot of sermons.
i think i have improved some over the years. i have more confidence. my study and preparation is more fluid.
i still communicate in simple ways…i still want kids to understand what i am saying. what’s the point of preaching if people don’t understand what you’re saying?
i preach shorter sermons than i used to. most sundays, that’s about 25 minutes. i used to preach about 40 minutes, but i think i’ve figured out that i can say just as much in a shorter amount of time.
i try to preach a good mixture of topical sermons (a single topic with a variety of scripture references) and expository or textual sermons (through whole passages or entire books of the bible).
i have generally tried to keep my sermon series’ no longer than 6-8 weeks, in order to give new people on ramps to join in on sunday mornings. i really hate for new people to feel lost or disconnected during the teaching time!
in spite of that, i am going to do something different with my preaching in 2010.
starting january 17, i am going to preach through the book of ephesians and i won’t finish until the end of august. yup. august. as in, next fall.
i think i’ve got some pretty cool ideas for communicating in new and creative ways. it is my hope that each week will be fresh and new on ramps will appear regularly. are you ready for this?
i am totally pumped about starting this series. i hope you are, too. better yet, i hope you tell some others to come and join us.
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