For example, I'm going to be doing a series on the Sermon on the Mount. As Southern Baptists our theme for the future is "Empowering Kingdom Growth," and I've just been living, thinking and breathing Christ's words about the Kingdom, and of course the Sermon on the Mount is the constitution of the Kingdom. So I've just been living lately in the Sermon on the Mount, and I can't wait to get there, I'm going to start in January. It's still in its formative stages, but I've begun reading. That's pretty typical; I don't plan much more than three or four months out.

I sit down and outline the book in big-picture style, break out the passages and typically come up with the various sermon title sand themes, and lay it out. That's all flexible and changeable. My sermon preparation for the week is typically that week; I don't work very far ahead. With the demands of the church I can't stay more than a day or two ahead!

Preaching: What does your week look like in terms of sermon preparation?

Graham: I give my mornings to study. By Sunday night on many weeks I'm already doing some light reading and preparation. Monday is light reading; I may get to the sermon and I may not. By Tuesday morning I want to be into sermon preparation. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings are given to sermon preparation; if I'm not finished I'll go in Saturday morning.

The actual sermon preparation is to do my general reading on the text. The method many of us were taught is to bring your own ideas to the text first, then supplement it with commentaries and homiletic material, but for me it's always been best to read my way into the text. Typically I have a stack of books I'm working on on that particular passage, and I just read myself full -- I'm underlining and making notes. Then I sit down with a blank legal pad, and hopefully by that time I'm coming out with an outline.

My preaching style has been pretty much the same through the years -- I look first to explain the text, then to apply the text, then to illustrate the text. I try to get my explanation and exegesis down where I understand the passage. The most challenging part is to apply and illustrate it; I spend a lot of time working on that.

Preaching: How much of your sermon is composed of each of those three parts?

Graham: I don't think I've ever analyzed it, but my goal would be to be about a third each. I typically preach about 35 to 40 minutes, and I would say that a good 10-15 minutes of that would be dealing with the text itself, then the rest of it would be wrapped up in application and illustration, plus introduction and conclusion.

Preaching: What do you carry into the pulpit with you?

Graham: I carry hand-written sermon notes into the pulpit. The reason first is habit, but it also cuts down the time of sermon preparation for me. If I'm working on a manuscript or even typewritten notes, that's another step I have a set of hieroglyphics in my own writing and notations with words and key thoughts. I take a sentence outline into the pulpit with key thoughts and passages, and illustrations. I rarely write out the illustrations.