For greater than a decade now, I’ve educated pastors and college students to leverage Logos for his or her examine of the Bible, together with sermon preparation and planning.
Through the years, I’ve heard the identical concern again and again: many professionals examine the Bible utilizing Logos however handle their sermon and lesson content material in different functions.
Whether or not it’s concern of the unknown or merely as a result of their system merely works, I perceive it may be formidable to attempt one thing new. The detailed Sermon Supervisor and the attractive Radial Calendar, and the superior AI Sermon Assistant could appear good in concept—however the tried-and-true technique of housing vital sermon particulars in spreadsheets and word-processing paperwork has served many properly.
So why would pastors swap their sermon administration to Logos? Learn on.
The significance of sermon planning
I’ve spent quite a lot of time on workers at church buildings both main in ministry or serving in communications. I perceive that pastors have loads to handle from week to week. A traditional week within the lifetime of a pastor is filled with ups and downs in addition to numerous surprises.
The additional forward pastors can get with sermon preparation, the extra centered and efficient they are going to be on the subject of confidently finalizing the message. Many counsel planning a 12 months or two forward by mapping out passages or subjects that may comfortably be deliberate for. It will present the psychological framework to work with as a church chief digs deeper into Scripture throughout the months and weeks main as much as the sermon.
Take a second to ask your self in case you really feel you intend properly sufficient forward of time to your sermons. As a frontrunner, does your church know the place you take them?
Think about with me that the subsequent eighteen months of subjects, passages, venues, descriptions, and extra are already deliberate intimately. Maybe you have got used both the liturgical calendar or a good lectionary to information you thru the 12 months. There can be weeks when you will want to make changes, however with the framework constructed and your examine utility built-in along with your calendar, how a lot simpler will it’s to navigate hospital visits, vital staff conferences, and the entire weighty obligations of these known as to steer God’s individuals?
3 key options of the Sermon Supervisor
Consider the Sermon Supervisor as a way to offer the framework for refining your preaching calendar, previous and current. Customers can create a shell for the 12 months forward, with easy placeholders for every sermon to revisit the plan as extra particulars come collectively.
Let’s discover three key options of the Sermon Supervisor.
1. Import previous sermons
To realize a holistic view of what you have got preached, pastors cannot solely plan for upcoming sermons but in addition import previous sermons. Importing outdated sermons is as straightforward as choosing the doc and including it to the Sermon Supervisor.
2. Plan new sermons
The Sermon Supervisor has two views, the Week Grid view and the Radial Calendar view. These instruments information preachers by gadgets such because the sermon’s venue, sequence, included passages, subjects, and far more.
Whether or not sermons are imported or manually created, the Sermon Supervisor offers a canvas for pastors and lecturers to have a birds-eye view of their upcoming commitments. What’s extra, the Radial View provides a special perspective to the preaching calendar, offering a visible illustration of the preaching 12 months forward.
Matt DeVore, a pastor and Logos consumer, shared with me,
I exploit Sermon Supervisor to maintain myself on observe with my sermon sequence as I bounce between preaching numerous books and subjects of the Bible. The Radial View of the Sermon Supervisor is a useful method to replicate on the gathering of previous sermons I’ve preached and assist form my plans for the longer term.
However sermon planning in Logos doesn’t need to cease at merely mapping high-level ideas. The Sermon Assistant, discovered within the Sermon Supervisor, allows Logos customers to shortly assemble sermon outlines, illustrations, questions, and utility factors primarily based completely on a submitted passage and theme.
For example, I chosen “Romans 1” and inserted the theme “Fight Idolatry” into the Sermon Assistant, permitting me to request Logos to generate a sermon define—I even requested what number of factors I wished my sermon to have! Such pattern outlines can present a useful beginning place from which you’ll be capable of alter the fabric to your precise sermon.
3. Enhance your sermon prep
The Sermon Supervisor does greater than merely archive your previous sermons and assist you plan for upcoming occasions. Having the bones of your calendar in place, you’ll have a greater view of the place you might be at present.
As soon as sermons are in place throughout the Sermon Supervisor, preachers can reap the benefits of the Sermon Builder for fast slide creation, together with applicable illustration and utility factors, and scripting detailed notes earlier than activating Preaching Mode to remain on job throughout the sermon. The Preaching Mode in Sermon Builder transforms sermon drafts right into a presenter-friendly format with adjustable textual content dimension and built-in timers.
If you’re searching for a complete have a look at how Logos customers can leverage these options to enhance sermon preparation, Ryland Brown of Preacher Prep exhibits you how you can use the lectionary with the Logos Sermon Supervisor within the following video.
Tips on how to use the Sermon Supervisor
I perceive that altering a confirmed course of or attempting one thing new may be intimidating. For that motive, I’m going to offer useful path earlier than concluding this overview.
Let’s get you began in your desktop pc.
After making certain that you just do have Sermon Supervisor and Sermon Builder as a part of your Logos library, navigate to your arsenal of instruments and choose Sermon Supervisor from the listing.
Create a brand new sermon in your Sermon Supervisor by choosing the blue “Add” button on the high proper.
After the brand new placeholder populates, take a second so as to add particulars about your upcoming sermon.
To import previous sermons, navigate to the correct of the “Add” button and choose the three vertical dots to find the Import choice.
For extra detailed directions and help, learn this submit to add sermons to your Radial Calendar or go to the Logos Assist Heart’s hub for sermon preparation and administration. From there, you may uncover how the instrument can be utilized on completely different platforms (desktop, net app, iPad), and the way it integrates with different sermon preparation instruments in Logos.
Richard Villanueva, one other preacher and Logos consumer, informed me,
The Sermon Supervisor helps me set up my busy educating schedule. Between preaching on Sunday mornings, educating theology at college, and main a small group, I can plan and simply discover what I would like in a snap.
Attempt it
The Logos Sermon Builder and Sermon Supervisor (Accessible in Logos Professional and Logos Max subscriptions) means no extra multitasking between spreadsheets, calendars, and your Bible examine. Not solely is the whole lot in a single place, however Logos customers can entry extra instruments to extra successfully put together and current their educating.
Logos and all of its included sermon preparation instruments can change into a preacher’s one-stop-shop in researching the textual content of Scripture and organizing their total preaching portfolio.
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