RADAR, BUCKETS, CHUNKS, and MARINATE.

Rob Bell is the Teaching Pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. He is a speaker, author, and the creator of the Nooma visual presentations. Rob is a very interesting person – creative, arty, humble and insightful. He also has some excellent tips on sermon preparation and how to be always on the look out for insights well ahead of when we preach them. He uses four words to describe his process: RADAR, BUCKETS, CHUNKS, and MARINATE.

Let me unpack those for you ...

RADAR
As communicators of God's Word we need to have our spiritual radar on all the time. Preaching preparation is not something we set aside for a specific day each week. We need to be listening to God's promptings ALL the time - while talking to people, while driving down the street, while watching the news, while reading the Bible ... all the time. God can turn an ordinary place into a sacred place, just like he did for Jacob sleeping out in a desert area (Gen.28:10-17). The truth is that God is everywhere and he is speaking all the time. Are we tuned in? How easily we can miss God at work all around us at each moment of the day. Preaching preparation is be a lifestyle. Wake up and get your radar on!

BUCKETS
We need a way to capture these thoughts and ideas as we receive them. Write down whatever moves you. You might choose to use a paper notepad or in a Word file on your computer. But create a heap of buckets to record your insights. If you don't, you'll forget them.

CHUNKS
Over time, some of your individual thoughts and ideas will start to connect together with similar thoughts and ideas to form 'chunks'. A fragment starts to form part of a larger story. It could be a Bible verse, a thought from a TV advertisement, something someone said to you, or a reflection you had - all on a similar topic. Begin to chunk them together. They become the foundation for entire messages or segments of messages.

MARINATE
The best meat is marinated! It's tender and tasty. In the same way, the best messages are ones that you have been marinating in your spirit for a while (even for months), not something you threw together on Saturday evening. Ensure that the message is part of you and that it's something you're living out. Allow the Word to become flesh in you. You can't fake this or do it quickly. Allow God's words to become your words. Your teaching will drip with depth and anointing. You will know it and so will those who listen.
As we take time to hear from God, then deliver His message with creativity and passion, His Spirit will use our words to bring about positive change in people's lives. Go for it!