Sunday Morning Preparation

1/2 hour of prayer.

 

After lying awake most of the night, I get up at six, pray, finalize notes, pray, eat, and if time allows strum my guitar in the bedroom(my private worship).

 

Just in case you ask me also;

Prayer for the service in general, some of people specific, God's guidance, myself, and seeking God to make sure I have the correct message for the service.

 

I get up at about 5:00 am and get ready. Our first service is at 8:30 am so I want to be on site by 7:30 at the latest. During this time I have a stereo that is playing sacred, liturigcal music and a podcast from "With Heart and Voice" that is an NPR feature. I prefer this kind of music for my personal devotional worship so it works for me.

After I shower and get ready I head downstairs to the kitchen. I brew up a small pot of herbal tea (I don't drink coffee before or during my speaking) and have a light snack of grains and fruit. No dairy either. I head over to my study where I check my notes (which I went over on Thursday and again on Saturday.) One of the key things for me is to recite my opening paragraph or statement. Its better to know it by heart so I can get into my talk and settle into a groove early. Then I head out for our campus.

When I get to our site (depending on what the schedule is) I sit down and go over the flow of each service to familiarize myself with the schedule and specific points. I'm not looking to change anything, but just want to know what's going on. After this I pull up my notes and make sure everything is in order and ready to go. I carry a physical Bible (with several matching back ups in the green room) and my notes are on my iPad.

Then, usually by about 8:00 am I head down to the worship center where I get mic'ed up and see if our worship team leaders have any points.

Then I return to the green room and our executive staff briefly gathers, no later than 8:10. We see if there is anything that we need to be aware of in terms of scheduling, announcements, and events. Then we pray for the day and for the service. I get down in place (we don't have platform chairs) after the music has already started. Generally I'll walk in at about 8:35 or 8:40.

 

lol...this is what happened to me almost every Saturday night and into Sunday morning for a couple of years. Still happens from time to time. I get pumped about Sundays.

So I have a mild sleeping pill I take if, by 9:30 pm, I'm not feeling the sleep blanket covering me. Doesn't happen every week...but it sure helps.

 

I don't mind the sleeplessness, it is actually when I do most of my praying and studying. After 10 years I would miss it if it were gone.

 

For my understanding of the passage.
For the Holy Spirit to open hearts.
For hearts to be open to the Holy Spirit.
For His will to be done.
For people to see the Person of Christ and not me, my cleverness, nor my (oftentimes wicked) sense of humor.

People don't believe it, but I am NERVOUS whenever I preach since handling God's Word is a HUGE matter.

 

Excellent prayer points.

When I am no longer nervous I know it's time to quit.

 

The thought I have is one of awesome responsibility.

I treat preaching God's Word as if I were handling high explosives or holding my mother's eyes in the very palms of my hands.