JUST THINKING ON THIS FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 3, 2011

This question was sent to me from a Bible School Student who is doing a project.

How do you write the sermon notes that you preach from?

My pattern is not really a textbook type manuscript. In fact I will go so far as to say, I probably would not get an A+ if this were written for a college class. I do write in a fashion that others can follow my line of thinking, but most preachers do not write their preaching notes in this same style. I do not teach any of the younger preachers who are under my leadership to follow my style in writing their notes for preaching or teaching. I teach others to follow their own instincts and write their own notes so they will be able to follow what they have been inspired to preach or teach. Actually, I tell everyone I prefer preaching with notes, because I want to always stand behind the pulpit prepared and if inspiration and for that matter anointing leaves me for that time, I still have something to leave with the congregation. I teach them to simply be themselves in inspiration and writing, and they will be who they are supposed to be when preaching or teaching.

Let me give you my approach to study and writing. I was not the best student that graduated from Westlake High School. In fact I had a very serious reading comprehension problem. When I would read I usually could not pass a test, but when someone would read the lesson to me, I could pass the test. Therefore I was shy, timid and really had a very low self-esteem. I had learned how to cover all of this though my carefree, joking mannerisms. My High school speech teacher, Mr. Haddnot told me he passed me, just to help me. But he said Rodney, you will never have the ability to write a speech that can be used and by all means you will never have the ability to stand before even a small group to speak. (I wish Mr. Haddnot could see me today.)

I want to add a note here to help any who are reading, to understand my techniques and style. I did not go to Bible School or Seminary and I was forty years old before I went into the pulpit ministry. Therefore I did not have anyone to teach me how to study or write notes for teaching or preaching messages. Because of my insecurities and low self-esteem I had to develop a method that fit me. I do not feel that everyone else has to study and prepare notes just as I do. I simply tell them all to read and study often so when they step behind the pulpit they are prepared. Remember when you preach people like fresh spiritual bread.

I do not wait for the night before I am going to preach or teach to get my message notes prepared. I study almost every day of the week. I do tell those who are following after me, I know most of them have a fulltime job and do not have the time to study in depth every day. I teach them to read their Bibles and other books everyday. But I tell them to set aside an evening or day to study every week. A teacher or a preacher must stay fresh so the lessons or messages they preach can be fresh. When I go to a restaurant to eat, I want good hot fresh bread brought to my table, no one likes stale bread, neither should we serve stale messages from our pulpits. Preachers, teachers of the Word our world is hungry for truth, it is up to you and I to deliver it fresh.

If I really get into a deep flow of study and things are coming together in a fashion I could loose something in my thoughts by my stopping, I will continue on even into the midnight hours if I need to. There are also those times that my Pastoral duties cause interruption in my daytime studies and these type interruptions are a part and portion of a ministers life, these interruptions causes me to stay up late studying into the night. I use the nights as my study and writing buffer; however, I prefer getting up extra early and study, if I know I have some pastoral duties to attend that day. Then we all have our family duties and obligations to attend to. I tell all who are in the ministry, do not neglect your family.

I now write all my works and store all my messages electronically and very seldom use paper or write a hard copy. But I still write my messages and manuscripts in detail. I put more detail in my writing now than even before, when I wrote it out by hand.

When I first started preaching I was forty years old and had never written notes for a message. I had put together Bible studies and also Sunday School lessons, but never notes to preach. When I started preaching I had no repertoire or collection of messages to reach back to and therefore I had to come up with a new message almost every day, because I was traveling and preaching revival services almost every night. My circle of preaching was very small so I had to have fresh messages every night. People must understand the pressure it is to need fresh material every night of the week and really not knowing how to put it together. Also I had such a low self-esteem and knew I was not really capable to write a manuscript or even to deliver a message from a manuscript I had written. I had to spend six to eight hours a day almost every day so I could preach to people who were expecting a fresh message from an evangelist behind the pulpit.

I prayed before I began to put together any manuscripts or notes to preach from. I would ask the Lord to give me a thought to preach. I would then search for a scripture text to fit the thought, often I would do this in reverse, I would get a text and then would come the thought. I always wanted something that would stir the saints of God, convict the sinner and draw many people to the altar of repentance and see lives changed and people transformed.

I had never opened a Strong’s Concordance; had never seen a collection of commentaries. I did not know study books even existed. I bought many study books and commentaries and read many types of Christian books. I read anything I could get my hands on. I listened to many preaching tapes, attended every conference or convention I possibly could. I had so much catching up to do and I needed it to be done quickly.

As I would begin to write out the text, or write down my thought I would be praying, "God, show me what I must preach to touch and change the people who will hear this message preached. Lord, show me what is really here in this text, do not let me miss your will show me things that I've never seen before." And as I would write back then, and still write messages and manuscripts today for whatever reason, things begin to open up. When I hand wrote my messages I would think of something that I knew would not fit into the position of the manuscript I was writing at the moment, but I did not want to loose the thought, so I would write it in the margin and circle it. My pages often looked like an absolute jumble when I was done. I drew arrows from circled writing in the margins up or down and lines were drawn all over the place.

Then I look at all these things I had written and say, "MY, my what am I going to do with all that? I could talk on that for hours, but I've only got thirty or forty five minutes to preach this thought." What I would actually take into the pulpit in those days were about fifteen or so half pages that were so marked up they looked like chicken scratch, and they would function as my outline of points while I was preaching. It worked for me back then. Most people who hear how I did it back then say, "No way that I could preach from that." Or, "No way can I take a manuscript into the pulpit and not have it sound like it is canned." I understood that even David could not fight Goliath wearing King Saul’s armor. Everyone cannot preach from my chaotic notes.

Here I am now pastoring a good church some twenty-three years later. I still study some every day, but my writing is so different. I do not struggle as much to find a text or a thought. I still read so many books and I am online to many sights every week. I still go to as many conferences and conventions as I can. I hear many different preachers preach during the year. I now have a repertoire or a collection of some two thousand eight hundred plus personal messages and manuscripts to reach back to and help me even as I put together new messages. I have written three books that are on the market for sell. I have written for several magazine publications that have been read by thousands. I write an average of three new messages a week not counting all the Bible Lessons that I have put together. I have several preachers who use some of my material to preach and teach today.
My manuscripts and messages are type written to a hard drive now and I convert them over to Word Documents or PDF files and download them on my IPAD and preach them using this electronic book.

Who would have ever thought, a forty year old man who had such low self-esteem and did not know how to write now types thousands of words a week and uses those notes to feed the spiritually hungry who sit in the congregation weekly. If I can do it anyone can.