Record-keeping and preparing

I have to say, the end of the year is coming along quite nicely (in spite of my moods and delusions). One thing I would like to improve though is to spend more time preparing rather than just keeping records.

You can read about my record-keeping method HERE. And it does make this time of year so much better. By jotting down a brief account of what I do each day, or what happens, it makes the annual report a simpler procedure; and it's also a nice way to reflect back on the year. It's amazing how much I forget - the good as well as the bad. It's also a very biblical thing too. I mean, how much of the Bible is nothing but people's accounts of their life? So I am glad I do it.

I have spent some time lately working on next year too though. I haven't done so well at this recently. When I first started pastoring I remember planning out a preaching schedule, and planning for different areas I wanted to concentrate on in the church (worship, discipleship, fellowship, etc.). It didn't seem to last though, and maybe it was because plans almost always go astray at some point. So, rather than *planning* I think a better way to look at it is *preparing.* It's little more than a change of words, and a slight alteration of expectations. For instance, I prepared a rough preaching schedule from January into May. I don't know exactly what I'm going to preach each Sunday, or that I won't stray here and there if something else comes up, but I did write some things down. I'm going to begin the year with the framework of a message I preached before. It's about "What We Expect." A basic look at why we do what we do; why we have "church", what we expect to happen, what we want from you or for you. Then I decided that I'm going to try and finish the book of Matthew. I started preaching through Matthew a couple years ago. I had to look back to see where I stopped. We're up to chapter 24 (I think. Maybe it was 22. I don't have my notes). So I did a rough breakdown of the rest of the book, and it will take us up into May. At least I have something prepared to get us into May, but it is not all planned out, so if it doesn't happen it's not going to throw off the entire year.

For me the hardest part of preaching is sometimes just deciding WHAT to talk about. So it always helps to have that decided in advance. And I realize this doesn't really help those listening to me - like how some preachers will plan out their year and give you message titles and whatnot so you know what's coming up. That would be nice, and I wish I could operate like that, but... a problem I often have whenever I try series preaching is - I'll get part-way into it and either decide I don't like the series, or I get all constricted-feeling and lose my creative edge (which doesn't take much to lose). So that's why I just *prepare* instead of *plan.*

Well, there's more, but this is getting to be a long rambling post. So I will stop.

Peace.