I love to preach, but sermon preparation has never come easy for me. Even though I had some great homiletical training in seminary, I quickly found I was unprepared for the reality of constructing and delivering a message every Sunday and sometimes several more during a typical week. To make matters worse, outside of the occasional comments I received from those in my congregation -- "Good sermon, Preacher!" and "I really liked that story about..." -- there was no one who could offer any kind of constructive feedback. Mondays were usually filled with nagging feelings of inadequacy.

Some time back I was talking on the phone with Lloyd, a long-time friend and a young pastor fresh out of seminary. I heard echoes of my early struggles in his questions: "What process do you go through in preparing sermons?" "How do you move from text to sermon?" "Where do you find good illustrations?"

I had one of those "Aha!" experiences. From my recent study of the pastoral epistles, I had noticed something different about the familiar passage of 2 Timothy 2:2: "The things which you have heard from me... entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." I realized this verse was not simply an exhortation to be involved in discipling others. Paul, a preacher, was charging two other preachers, Timothy and Titus, with the responsibility to prepare others to preach. I realized that equipping preachers for ministry is not just the job of seminaries and Bible colleges. It should be part of our job description as preachers.

I floated the idea to Lloyd to begin what I called a "sermon coaching" relationship. "I would have loved it if someone would have been available to serve as a sounding board and provide practical feedback on how to sharpen my preaching skills," I explained. "So what about testing out a long-distance coaching program. Taped sermons could be sent to me; I will evaluate them, and then set up a phone appointment to discuss what was done well and what you might do to improve."

Lloyd was eager to begin. In fact, he jumped right in and began peppering me with more questions about the process I go through in preparing a sermon. "When do you block out study time?" "What resources do you find yourself consistently using?" he asked. After we talked for awhile, he said, "What you just shared for the last 15 minutes is the kind of thing that could really shorten the learning curve for me. Count me in!"

I was not surprised by Lloyd's response. Most professional Christian workers receive whatever training they have in communication during their Bible college or seminary years. Some are effective in their ministry because they have built on the principles they learned in the traditional classroom setting. Yet many seminary and Bible college graduates feel unprepared for their role as preachers.

While working on his graduate thesis, Randal Pelton investigated how pastors continue to struggle with weekly sermon preparation after their formal training. These seminary graduates, most of whom had now been in ministry six or more years, were often frustrated and desperate for input tailored to their specific needs. I found this to be true as well, both in my own life and in the lives of those I have been coaching. The most common areas being: