Preaching Today: Tell us a bit about your planning process for preaching.

Leith Anderson: Each July, I plan the following year's preaching schedule, including titles, texts, themes, sermon summaries, benedictions, and thematic elements for the services. Once the schedule is determined, the elders and pastors of the church are free to comment on the planned year. With a mostly finished product in hand, then, I create a folder for each sermon. Throughout the year, I add materials to the folder, building up a reservoir of commentary notes, illustrations, pertinent articles, and other creative ideas.

Because so much of the work is done in advance, I often only have to spend Wednesday through Friday in sermon completion! All of my sermon preparation is done away from the office, at home or on the road. I find commentaries to be most helpful along the way, but the most important things in my preparation are the extended times I spend in prayer and reflection.

We've talked about planning and preparation—what personal advice do you have for us as preachers?

There are two crucial pieces of advice I would offer: First, preaching advances preaching. Keep at this sacred act, because frequency always helps quality. Second—and most important—create a lot of space for devotional time. Reading through the Bible and other devotional works will do wonders for your preaching!

Leith Anderson is president emeritus of the National Association of Evangelicals and Baptist pastor emeritus of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.