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2024 Sunday Morning Preaching Calendar
There are two types of people: Those who love plans and those who don’t!
One of the things that I’ve learned to love as a Senior Pastor is the importance of having a plan and being sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit to adjust that plan when necessary. Over the past year at First Baptist Salem, we were in Hebrews 32 of our 53 Sundays, the book of Psalms 10 Sundays over the Summer months, and we had several shorter sermon series (Church Purpose in January, an Easter mini-series, and Advent in December) that comprised the remaining 11 Sundays. We covered a lot of ground last year between Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night! These particular studies were planned by and large a year in advance, with some adjustments here and there based upon God’s leading (and Isaiah’s arrival). Prayerfully planning ahead is a joy that helps our church leadership know where we’re headed and ensure that we’re preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God’s Word and not personal hobby horses. Looking back on the past year, there were numerous examples of times when God spoke exactly what was needed, exactly when it was needed through this type of sermon planning process!
People frequently ask how this process takes place and if you want to know more, you’re welcome to come by the office and chat about it (be warned that I’ll talk your ear off about this subject, though). Stephen Rummage (pastor and served as a doctoral professor for a preaching seminar I took at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary a few years ago) wrote a book entitled Planning Your Preaching and he notes the advantages of this type of practice with helpful guidance that he has noticed in his years of “planning his preaching.” One of the things that he shared that has always stuck with me is that planning aids in the “developing of meaningful and cohesive worship services” as he is able to share that plan and vision with his worship leader so that there can be cohesion in the worship service between the songs and the sermon (as both are a vital part of New Testament worship). It’s a joy to get to work with David and pray about songs that help us dive into the truths of Scripture and help prepare our hearts for the preaching of the Word!
This process is only possible with God’s guidance, and this means that the planning time is prayer time! Last month I prayed specifically for our members at FBC Salem, those in our community, and those that God will bring to our church in the year to come and that God would direct our messages in such a way that God would be glorified, the Gospel would be clearly proclaimed, that we would be faithful to preach the full counsel of God’s Word, and that our church would grow spiritually in our walk with the Lord on an individual and corporate level!
With all of that said, below you’ll find a link to our preaching calendar for 2024 (again, this is tentative as we know that though our heart plans our way, the Lord directs our steps)
I recognize that this picture is hard to see, so I’ll break it down:
- In January, we’ll launch a 5-week series on our church values entitled, “Dear Salem” as we want our community to know what we believe, why we believe what we believe, and who we are as a faith community! You can find these specific church values by our sanctuary: Christ-Centered Preaching, Congregational Praise, Collective Gospel Proclamation, Consistent Prayer, and Community Passion. This series helps calibrate our church as we focus on what God has in store for the new year!
- Our main Sunday morning series in 2024 will be the book of Daniel. We’ll be in Daniel from February until June (with a short break for Easter) as we tackle the theme of being faithful under fire and being bold for Christ in Babylon. God’s Word is always timely, but I’m so excited to get into this book as I believe that this study is especially relevant in our increasingly secular and godless world.
- In the summer we’ll be back in Psalms and look at a different Psalm each Sunday. The summer months are hit or miss in many respects as people have obligations, vacations, and our church calendar fills up with mission trips, VBS, and convention meetings. In light of these things, Psalms lends itself to being a great series when people are here a little less frequently.
- Whenever August gets here and school is about to start back up, we’ll launch a short mini-series called “False Fruits” as we look at some of the lies that our culture believes and, sadly, some lies that people who come to church believe about God, themselves, and this world. This series will be especially timely for our students as they get ready to be bombarded by “false fruits.”
- Our fall series will be on Colossians and we’ll see how Jesus truly is everything. This is our theme for the whole year “Jesus Is All.” He is all we need. He is all could ever hope for. He is all our joy. He is all our peace. This study will help us trust more in Jesus and see the supremacy of Jesus in all things!
- After Thanksgiving, we’ll launch back into Advent as we focus on the arrival of Jesus Christ and give thanks to God for the greatest gift of all: A Savior!
I pray that this helps you as you prepare for 2024! Begin praying now for what the Lord has in store for our congregation next year as we seek to “Make a dent in Dent County for God’s glory, one life at a time!”