IDEAS THAT WORK-STORING & RETRIEVING SERMON MATERIAL

STORING & RETRIEVING SERMON MATERIAL

Most of us who speak regularly know the terrible feeling that somewhere we heard a great illustration or read a pointed quote that would make our presentation much more powerful-if only we could find it.

So with time running out, we launch a frantic search through our minds and through dozens of books, periodicals, and sundry notebooks.

Usually, we search in vain.

The mistake here, of course, is looking for supportive material only when we are in the process of preparing the sermon.

The solution is an effective storage and retrieval system for speaking material, a system much like a library, fed with material long before we need it, and capable of providing that material whenever we need it.

Many have asked how I have approached this process. Although my system is adapted to my own way of thinking and studying, I offer it in hopes that what’s worked for me may spark ideas for others.

Simple and portable

I long ago determined any storage-and-retrieval system I adopted would be simple and portable. As I looked over various commercial filing systems, I found them admirable but often too complex.

It also seemed to me that, while they were comprehensive, they did not reflect the fact that each of us has certain themes that seem to prevail in our thinking and leadership over the years. These themes will predominate in a filing system while many others will be virtually ignored.

Without realizing I was developing a system of storage and retrieval, the first major decision I made, while still a seminary student, was to adopt a size of paper as standard for every outline, quote, illustration, and sermon note. Typewriter paper seemed too large for my purposes, while most index cards were too small. Ultimately I chose a three-holed paper that measures 91/2 x 6 inches. This size holds a lot of information, yet folded vertically can fit into a suit pocket or most Bibles. In a binder, it’s the right size for most bookshelves.

I also decided to purchase the paper in large quantities so I could put one idea, one quote, one story to a page-never doubling up.

Preparing a sermon, this size paper became the note paper. Usually my sermon outlines took six to ten pages. The top of the front page noted the title of the sermon at the left margin, the date and place of preaching at the right, and the main text four typewriter spaces below that. I also noted the place this sermon might have had in a series.

Then I stored these sermon notes in loose-leaf binders. Each series of sermons went into its own binder, with the series title on the binder’s outer edge. Miscellaneous sermons during the year went in chronological order in another binder. I found it helpful to clip the pages of each sermon together at the top, and also put into the binder the notes from my study before the message.

The binders that tie

Early on, I realized I was collecting bits and pieces of good material, but what was I to do with them? At first I dropped them into all sorts of file folders. But I started having a difficult time determining which folder something was in and how many subdivisions of each topic were necessary.

So I began to either copy or staple each item to my standard size of paper. Even items on typewriter-sized paper were folded in half and stapled to my paper. Into a binder it all went. Before long, the binder was full of illustrations, quotes, and outlines in the making.

As I looked through the binder, major themes emerged: relationships, for example. When I found there were twenty to thirty items in that category, I separated them from the original binder and created a new one marked Love.

I marked at the top of each page L-1, or L-2, or L-3, etc., with L referring to Love, and the number referring to consecutive pages. This made it possible for every entry to be coded and later noted. Then, for example, when I wrote a sermon I could jot in my notes, Illustration: L-62-the story was in notebook L, page 62.

When I used L-62, I wrote at the bottom of its page FBC/3-14-82, meaning I used it at First Baptist Church, on March 14, 1982. That way I would not use that item again should I return there.

As you might imagine, the L notebook soon became full. A study of it showed the entries tended to fall into two categories: family-oriented love and the general love one human being has for another. So I created two new notebooks: one marked FL, meaning family love, and the other GL, meaning general love. The changeover was simple, because I had to add only one letter to the original code and I left the page numbers the same. New entries in these books filled in the blank places.

The notebooks continue to grow. Before long the FL (family love) notebook was ready for a split into MFL (marriage-family love) and PFL (parental-family love). That arrangement has remained for years, though I now have several notebooks marked MFL: MFL #1, MFL #2, MFL #3.

I have purposely kept my notebooks as large in subject scope as possible. I have one marked CME (church, missions, evangelism), another marked L-M (leadership/management). I have one book simply called Travel. There I keep copies of about two hundred to three hundred of my best quotes, stories, and outlines. These items I can use in almost any situation. This book travels with me constantly, and I guard it with my life.

Tomato books

I also have books strangely labeled Tomato #1, Tomato #2, and Tomato #3. I got the idea when I was watching my wife, Gail, plant tomato seeds one winter in our basement. I realized she was preparing for the spring ahead when the seeds would be fragile plants ready for transplanting into the outside soil. I saw I had to be constantly planting ideas and stories for which I had no present use. Occasionally I might return to my “seeds” and see if they were ready for transplanting. Further experiences and insights might show me how an item could now be used.

Out of the tomato books have grown scores of sermons and illustrations. Many of my best illustrations and stories found their application long after I had heard and filed the tidbit. Thus, I’ve learned that I should always, every day, be in search of good stories and powerful quotes even if I have no idea right now how to use them.

The strange story of a young Florida man, Dennis Wise, is a case in point. One morning I read in the Boston Globe that Dennis had undergone plastic surgery in an attempt to make himself look like Elvis Presley. He had spent a young lifetime collecting records, clothes, and other memorabilia of Presley. Now he wanted to look like him. A sad comment in the article was that Wise had collected all of this stuff and now looked like the singer, but he had never met him.

The article caught my attention and was stapled to a page in the tomato book. It stayed there for a year or two. Then one day I was preparing a sermon on knowing God personally. Sifting through my tomato book, the Dennis Wise article caught my attention again. Here was the story of a man who had related to Elvis Presley in the same way some people relate to God: know about him, praise him, even want to look like him. But the problem for Dennis Wise was that he would never meet or personally know his god. In contrast, the Christian can know God, for unlike Presley, the God of Jesus Christ is not surrounded by bodyguards, press agents, and high walls. He is knowable, and he came a long distance to establish intimacy with us in Christ. Thanks to my tomato book, a sermon came alive.

Today I have more than a hundred notebooks, many filled with sermon series, others with topical material, still others simply marked Philippians or John, where I have dropped Bible study material and ideas.

As I have said, it is all a reflection of personal style. Transferable? You be the judge. But what is important is that any system be simple, quickly usable, reflective of one’s thinking and style, and up-to-date. Beyond that, all it needs is regular attention.

Gordon MacDonald is president of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in Madison, Wisconsin.

MORE IDEAS

Car Care Day

One frustration many single women report is having to get their car repaired. Not only is money often tight, but they may feel uncomfortable entering the confusing, largely male world of auto parts stores and repair shops.

Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta, Georgia, has found a way to turn single women’s car maintenance from a headache to a pleasure and save them money besides.

Each fall the church’s singles ministry sponsors “Car Care Day.” On this Saturday in October, five or six men from the group who have mechanical ability and experience bring their tools and set up shop in a home garage. For the 20 to 25 cars people bring in during the day, they will change the oil and filter, lube the chassis, and make sure the radiator is “winterized.” One person has access to a computerized diagnostic unit, so the backyard mechanics are also able to check for other problems. If the problem is small enough for them to fix within the day (brake jobs, for example, would not be) they will take care of it.

The women buy any necessary parts. To make their visit to the auto parts store easier, they are given a form listing the car’s year, make, and model, and the parts needed.

“Car Care Day is a great opportunity for outreach,” says Randy Bennett, singles minister. “But maybe the mechanics benefit most. One mechanic said to me last year, ‘This is what it’s all about-using the skills God has given me to help people.’ “

Welcoming Visitors

No church wants to let visitors go unnoticed. But it’s not always easy to spotlight these newcomers, who often feel on edge, in a nonthreatening way.

Many people feel uncomfortable standing up and introducing themselves in a service. Others don’t like to give away their name and address on a pew register. And people who raise a hand to receive a visitor’s packet, while getting helpful information about the church, may leave without really meeting people.

So how can churches greet visitors warmly, help them to meet the pastor and others in the church, and get their names and addresses for further contact?

The Evangelical Free Church of Orange, California, grappled with this question and now, at the end of each morning service, the pastor invites visitors to join him for an informal reception immediately following. Visitors who make their way to the church’s bride’s room find coffee and cookies and a warm greeting. They are encouraged to sign in at a guest book. They then have a chance to talk with the pastor and a few others from the church.

The food, the small size of the gathering (in which nearly everyone is a visitor), and the chance to meet the pastor have all dramatically increased the number of visitors greeted each Sunday. Prior to the visitors’ reception, the church recognized an average of five newcomers in each service. The reception draws an average of eleven.

Reported by Pamela Caldwell

Another church that has found an effective twist on this idea is the First Assembly of God of Spring, Texas.

“After several embarrassing experiences asking people if it was their first visit and finding out they had been here several times, we knew something had to be done,” says music director Brenda Hogan. That something was a monthly newcomers’ luncheon.

Invited to the luncheon is everyone who has visited during the previous month, as well as people visiting on the day of the lunch itself. Following the meal, the pastor introduces other members of the staff and one of the church’s deacons. They tell a little about themselves and what they do in the church. Then the pastor asks a member of each visiting family to stand and introduce his or her family.

Half of all visitors attend the luncheon, and approximately 95 percent of those go on to become active members of the church, Hogan reports.

Thanking the Unthanked

In any church dozens of jobs are done behind the scenes-folding newsletters, setting up the coffeepot, taking food to the sick. These quiet ministries, though vital, go largely unnoticed, and thus unthanked.

Not so at the Hollowell Brethren in Christ Church in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. About a year and a half ago, church secretary Nancy Byers came up with the idea for “Barnabas’s Corner,” a column in the church’s monthly newsletter in which people can publicly express thanks for help they receive from someone else in the congregation. Members simply write their thanks on a slip of paper and drop it in the secretary’s mail slot.

For example, one recent issue included these listings:

-Special thanks to John Keller who helped me blow insulation into my attic on a hot afternoon in August. (Jonathan Miller)

-A big thank you to Emily Cordell for her work as superintendent of the Junior Department. (Junior Department teachers)

-We’d like to thank Loretta Davis for cleaning our house and letting us use her baby things till we had our own. Thanks also for having things all set up for us when we came home from the hospital. You are a very special “sister.” (Bob, Vickie, and Andrew Chesnut)

To keep the system running smoothly, reminders of the next deadline for Barnabas’s Corner are placed in the bulletin, and entries are limited to church-related items.

“Now we hear people saying, ‘That should go in Barnabas’s Corner,’ ” says pastor Robert Byers. “And best of all, people have begun to look for small, caring actions that deserve thanks.”

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