“How do we compete with that?” Maybe you’ve found yourself thinking this as you watch the onslaught of TV commercials and marketing that are ramping us up to Christmas. Every year the buildup to Christmas starts earlier and gets louder—at least when it comes to the commercial aspects of Christmas. As a result, many people…
Easter is the biggest day of the year for nearly every pastor and church. You challenge people to invite unchurched friends, recruit new volunteers, create a clean environment to welcome guests, and spend hours preparing a compelling sermon. You do all you can to get the church ready… logistically. But what if there was something you could do to help the church be ready… spiritually?
There is. You can leverage a practice that most Christians in history have leaned into to prepare for celebrating Christ’s resurrection: Lent.
For the sixth year in a row, October is when we release our brand-new yearly sermon calendars. For the last ten months, our team has been thinking, dreaming, praying, writing, and designing. Now, after nearly a year, we’re ready to unveil our work to the world. Our calendars are the most requested item we have…
Easter Sunday was a success and attendance has surged in your church. This surge is often the result of members inviting friends and family to attend celebration services with them. So, how do you encourage, challenge, and minister to the new people who continue attending services?
We have put together a list of the top 10 After Easter Sermon Series that will speak to newcomers and members alike.
We just launched a new feature and we think you’ll love it. You can now download any sermon series from Ministry Pass to your calendar! We know how often Pastors are preaching, and how chaotic your schedule can get. Because of that, we decided to add this tool to help be a reminder for your…
If you’ve been a part of a healthy team, you likely don’t need to be convinced about how valuable and essential teams are for the success of not only each individual, but the overall mission you are collectively trying to accomplish. Teams always benefit the organization as a whole. Healthy teams – especially preaching teams…
Do you take time every year for sermon series planning or do you only plan a few weeks ahead? It’s been our experience that many pastors plan only two weeks to a month at a time. While that can work to meet the weekly sermon requirements, it may not work to really grow discipleship in…
We know how much time you spend ministering to your congregation; hospital visits, counseling, and activities can leave you short on time to prepare your weekly sermon. Don’t worry! We have you covered with the top 30 best sermon series of 2019. We release new sermon series each month to help keep your sermons fresh…
Preparing a sermon takes weeks (even months) of preparation and intense effort, crafting a message that must communicate to a wide-ranging audience. At the end of all that planning you want strong sermon series graphics to illustrate your teaching and help your sermon stick, but you don’t necessarily want or have the time to think…
Another year has gone by and it’s time to plan your Easter sermon. You and your staff will be up to your ears in projects, timelines, and new guest tracking strategies—and if you’re feeling like it all just crept up, you’re not alone. Bottom line, Easter is here and you need to begin to brainstorm…
Click here to go straight to the quote list Adding poignant quotes to your Easter Sermon provides a new pathway for your listeners to understand scripture and truth; the right quote in the right moment will help people connect to the message when other avenues have failed. While your mind may immediately go to book…
Preparing sermons for Holy Week can be a tall task, depending on what unique moments your church chooses to remember and celebrate together. Holy Week starts on Palm Sunday and runs all the way through Easter Sunday. The five most recognized moments of Holy Week include: Palm Sunday Maundy Thursday Good Friday Holy Saturday Easter…
Your calling is to make disciples and one of the most influential tools you have is your weekly corporate teaching and preaching! Delivering a compelling message is one thing, but making disciples is another. The burden you feel for moving people from the non-believer to disciple is real and we believe that a preaching calendar…
In an effort to help you prepare for this year’s Christmas message, the Ministry Pass team has searched the internet to find some of the best Advent sermons for 2018, including links back to the original sermon series, all to serve as inspiration for your Advent sermon or sermon series. Very soon you will be…
The difference between Advent being just another Christmas ‘thing’ and it being a spiritually engaging Christmas tradition can be influenced greatly by pastors preaching sermons that capitalize on the momentum of a countdown. Not just approaching sermons as ‘Christmas’ sermons but truly being intentional with the sermon outlines and manuscripts to capture the heart of…
Christmas is approaching and by the first week of Advent you will have spent precious hours preparing to make the most of each Christmas service. For the first time since Easter, your teaching calendar will be in sync with popular culture – you don’t want to let the moment pass you by. So, let’s talk…
When you make the decision to preach an Advent sermon series for Christmas, it is important to communicate in your preaching the history of Advent, what actually is – and what it is not. If you’ve ever taken your church through Advent, familiarity with the tradition, lighting of candles, and scripture reading makes this season…
You may not realize it, but as soon as mid-November, your congregation members will start wondering, “When will they start playing Christmas songs and Advent hymns?” So many in your church are ready to use the fireplace, decorate sugar cookies, and plan for annual family traditions. Your weekend services are often the soundtrack for their…
Christmas always feels like it is right around the corner. Churches all over the country will soon be making plans to create one of their most meaningful times of the year. With the Christmas season will come the Christian celebration of Advent. Advent in One Sentence: Advent is a season celebrated by Christians as a…
Editors Note: This is the first blog in a series written by local church leaders for local church leaders. Today’s post comes from Chad Graham. Chad serves as Lead Pastor at University Assembly in Colorado Springs, CO. Chad is also Senior Fellow at The Gordon Lewis Center for Christian Thought and Culture. As American church attendance declines,…
This time of year, we see a ton of products and how-to guides talking about how to put together an annual preaching calendar. You might have even see our resources, too. *If you’re looking for preaching calendar resources and ideas, click here to read our ultimate guide to creating a preaching calendar. You may even…
Sermon illustrations. They’re powerful but can be really difficult to use effectively. Sure, you can throw a sermon illustration in here or there that has somewhat of a point and get by, but powerful sermon illustrations are tougher. A powerful sermon illustration helps a sermon get to a different place for the listener. People love…
The sermon calendar. It’s a world of possibilities and opportunities, but it can also be a world of stress and writer’s block. Every year, a few other staff members and I sit down to fill in the calendar. We usually do 6 months at a time. We’ll sit down in October to plan January through…
The “selfie” has become a regularity and an expectation on nearly all social media platforms. Our smartphones have front-facing cameras to make selfies easier to take and that has increased our infatuation with them. But sometimes the selfie can become destructive. Not the picture itself, but the attitude that can sometimes be accompanied by it. Selfies…
Who doesn’t need some more wisdom in their life? This Proverbs sermon series bundle is perfect for helping your congregation see what godly wisdom is and how to implement it in their lives. As you know, the book of Proverbs was originally written to a young man by his elder in an attempt to pass…
Looking for ideas as you plan your next sermon series? Is your schedule being pulled in all directions and planning ahead has become a bit more difficult among everything else you’re being asked to do? The Ultimate List of Sermon Topics is a quick snapshot of 115 different topics you can scan through and choose…
Later in his life, the Apostle Peter wrote two letters to various churches facing persecution and trials in the region of Asia Minor. He focuses on encouraging these churches to stand firm in the faith that they have clung to in Jesus. Even though these letters were written nearly two thousand years ago, they are…
Looking for a fresh sermon series to preach through? Look no further. This is our top sermon series list for 2018. Every month, we release fresh sermon series bundles that are used as starting points for preachers to begin preparing their sermons. We put in the preliminary research, outline what the series can look like, put…
If there’s one subject more people in the churches we lead need to understand, it’s the gospel. Because here’s the thing: many Christians talk about “the gospel,” but do they know what it means? Just as important, do they know how it applies to today? This three-week series entitled The Gospel theologically and practically defines the…
If there is one theological topic that the vast majority of church attendees seem to not understand, it would be ecclesiology – the Church. This is why a church sermon series is important. The lack of understanding has led to church hopping and church shopping. It has caused people to leave at the first sign of…
Much of the theme in the book of Daniel has to do with the pride of King Nebuchadnezzar. I mean, when you dream about statues of yourself that the entire world can see and bow down to, you’ve got a pride problem. Daniel enters the story as a captive in Babylon. He is good-looking, top…
One of the biggest points of opportunity churches have to make disciples is to leverage the weeks just after someone surrenders to Christ. Oftentimes, the bulk of our gospel preaching focuses on calling someone to respond to Christ and His gospel. But sometimes we miss the opportunity after salvation. So what might it look like to…
I have neighbors from India. Their faith of choice is Hindu. They are great neighbors. They have been extremely helpful on different projects and are always willing to share their stuff. He has invited me over to look at his refinished basement. When he redid his garage, he was quick to invite me in to…
Are you looking for a Jeremiah sermon series? Our new sermon series bundle on the prophet Jeremiah is now available. In it, we are asking, how can we remain faithful to God even when many of the people around us are not? What are ways we can share the gospel even when we face opposition?…
I just wrapped up a series on the book of Daniel. You can see the sermons and resources here. Because I get asked a lot by pastors about sermon prep, putting a series together, making the Bible relevant, I thought I’d share 3 tips for preaching the book of Daniel. Why? The book of Daniel…
Every day, every week, we come up against problems that we don’t know how to deal with. If we want our congregants to be able to work through life’s impossible problems with faith in the God who works all things together for good for those who love Him, this sermon series is a great option to…
