Saturday, March 24, 2018

Book Review: 8 Hours or Less, by Ryan Huguley

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Having prepared sermons now for a couple years, I know how time-consuming this process can be. And yet it can seem impossible to cut down on the quantity of time without sacrificing the quality of the sermon. In this book, Ryan Huguley suggests a week-long preparation process that can help the pastor "redeem the time" on a daily basis and still have strong, faithful sermons.

For each day, Huguley has set aside 1 or 2 hours at the most to be devoted to a specific area of sermon preparation:
  • Monday: 2 hours or less to develop a clear and concise frame for the sermon (strong, yet rough outline).
  • Tuesday: 1 hour or less to meet with trusted people to receive feedback on the sermon frame.
  • Wednesday: 1 hour or less to develop an attention-getting introduction.
  • Thursday: 1 hour or less to develop a purposeful conclusion.
  • Friday: 2 hours or less to fill the frame developed earlier in the week and finalize sermon notes.
What I really enjoyed about this book was Huguley's emphasis, not on being new, but on being efficient. He does not seek to completely change how one writes a sermon, but to take the process that is currently in place and refine it, so one can, as Paul wrote to Timothy, make full proof of their ministry. The only element of this process that I do not currently do in another form is meeting with people to discuss the sermon frame, yet I can see the value in this and will seek to do this going forward. Huguley's book, while not new, is certainly revolutionary in its efficiency. 5 stars out of 5.

WHERE TO BUY THIS BOOK:

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THIS BOOK:
Huguley, Ryan. 8 Hours or Less: Writing Faithful Sermons Faster. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2017.

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL: I received a complimentary copy of this book through the MP Newsroom book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

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