| Dear Pastor, You spend hours preparing your Sunday sermon. You pray, outline, study, and research. You write, edit, and rewrite so you can find the right words to get your points across to your listeners. And why do you do it? Why put so much effort into a message that will only last 30 to 45 minutes? Because you know that it is not just a short speech…not a simple motivational pep-talk…not a mere demonstration of your speaking skills. You know it is so much more. When you stand before your congregation, you are speaking the Good News of Jesus Christ, and the message has an eternal impact. When God called you to be a pastor, you knew it wasn’t ‘just another job.’ You would be following in the footsteps of thousands of pastors, prophets, and priests who have been proclaiming the love of God for centuries. And you accepted the call. Through rough times and joyous times, you have stayed faithful to spreading God’s message. But is a Sunday morning sermon the end of your message? Do you simply put aside all that studying and preparation and move on to the next week’s topic? Did you use every point, concept, and illustration you had uncovered in your study time? Probably not. After all, it’s difficult to communicate so much available information in such a brief period of time. | 