posted by Scott Newton Smith

Up front disclaimer: We’re not endorsing nor bashing Driscoll here at The Sermonators. We’re not groupies for any particular preacher “celeb.” You won’t find us pushing a particular preacher, nor a group of them. That’s not what this site (or our show) is about. Our job is to find and develop good content for busy pastors.

So, Mark Driscoll. Love’im or hate’im, there is something to learn from Driscoll’s experience in regards to our primary topics of time management and preaching management in ministry. The following sound bite is worth a listen.

Here’s the background: At a recent Resurgence Conference, Mark Driscoll, preaching pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA indulged an interesting Q&A session about the more practical aspects of his ministry. I know that most of our audience here are not pastoring mega-churches as he is, nonetheless we get some good insights from his answers.

The first section is most pertinent to us here at this site as he deals first with time management and then his approach to preaching prep. It’s rare we get the opportunity to “peek behind the curtain” of an experienced pastor to see how he manages a growing church and his various relationships with members, staff and family. Sermonators love this stuff.

You can get the Mark Driscoll Q&A here: Audio or Video

And now, my comments. (Insert drumroll here.)

Several things I found useful that fit with our approach:

• His “Buckets” approach to his days of the week. Anything that helps you break down your week into chunks and give focus and priority time to those things (and mental/emotional permission to say a hearty “no” to everything else) is a good thing.
• He sequesters himself off from the world one day per week (Wednesdays) to study and pray… and recharge. This is not his day off; it’s a very productive day for him. But here’s the key: it’s uninterrupted and it’s focused.
• He bullet-proofs his time with his wife and his kids.

I disagree with the winging 75% of your Sunday message while you’re in the pulpit (and Driscoll says, “I don’t recommend this”). Yep, that’s right. Driscoll says he only preps about 25% of his Sunday message and then takes what he has into the pulpit. He’s completely off the cuff with the vast majority of the message.

He says doesn’t recommend it and for good reason. One of the main reasons is that he has a rare gift that the vast majority of us don’t. That is, he describes the fact that he possesses a nearly photographic memory and a brain that can process large volumes of information while multi-tasking like the Flash.

Most of us don’t share his super powers. So, be sure to study sufficiently before you get to the pulpit… not when you arrive in it.