Five Ways To Beat Sermon Writer’s Block

Writer’s block is a familiar, dreaded place. It’s where the blinking cursor on the computer screen seems to be taunting and laughing.

It’s the same thing with Sermon Block.  Sunday’s coming and nothing seems to be flowing from the mind to the page.  That’s one of the reasons we created Preaching Rocket.  Sermon Block is better dealt with in community than all alone.

Here are 5 ways we teach to breakthrough Sermon Block

1. Take a Walk.  Get outside. Take a 10-minute walk.  Some of the best ideas from the mind come just minutes after exercising the body.

2. Give yourself the permission to write a bad sermon. We stop and start because the first few lines seem horrible (or are horrible.) That’s okay.  Steven Pressfield who wrote The War of Art says the bad stuff usually comes out on the page before the good stuff.

3.  Just Start.  The biggest challenge is just getting started. It’s like cleaning your closest.  Once you start, it’s easier than you thought.

4.  30-minute increments.  Blocking a whole-day to prepare is great, but sometimes a whole day can seem intimidating and we can lose our focus.  Block the day in time-increments. An example of this would be 30-minutes.  Go for 30, then take a walk. Come back. Repeat.

5.  Get Ahead.  The further ahead you are in your sermon planning the less pressure sermon block has on you. The Preaching Rocket Core Coaching Program teaches you how to get 5 days ahead, then 3 weeks ahead, and ultimately a year ahead with a preaching calendar.

What about you? How do you fight Sermon Block?