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How to Write Sermons Using the Building Blocks Approach

Sermon Cards

I attended a book-writing workshop recently that revolutionized how I write sermons. Let me explain.

The instructor had a great way of mapping out a book using what I would describe as a “building blocks” approach. Apparently, this is not a new technique, but it was new to me.

To accomplish this method, you take index cards and write every thought, every story, every illustration, and every quote on individual index cards, color coordinating them as you go (illustrations in green, your quotes in red, and so forth).

Once you’ve written it all down, you begin to assemble your thoughts and your cards piece by piece, in the order you want.

She explained that most people use Microsoft Word to write a book, which is incredibly slow and cumbersome because you have to copy and paste anytime you want to move your copy around. Additionally, you can only see a small amount of your work at a time.

Using her method makes it a lot easier because it allows you to lay it all out and organize it before you ever start writing.

As I was sitting in her workshop I thought, “This would be a great application for sermon preparation.” I could write my ideas, Scriptures, illustrations, introduction, closing, etc. on index cards, then rearrange them and construct my sermon before I ever put it into an application like Word.

Once I started using this method to write sermons, I knew I wanted to create a digital way to accomplish the same thing. That’s exactly how we created Sermonary, a sermon preparation resource that allows pastors to build, present, and store their sermons all in one place, digitally, block by block, idea by idea.

If you’re ready to greatly reduce the amount of time it takes you to prepare your sermon each week, while maximizing its impact, we are excited for you to use Sermonary.

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