How I Study...

There has been a question asked... How does Clay study and prepare for his sermons? I think this is a great question. Who knows sharing this might help somebody else in their method of study.


1) I Pray... Could you Imagine that? I ask God to lead and guide me. I ask Him to show me how to move people closer to Him through sharing His Word. The Big Question I ask God is... What do you want for the people? Check out Proverbs 3:5-6. By the way God is for People.


2) I find the passage to teach on. This I do through many different ways. Memory, listening to others, My time alone with God, My Bible index, books I read, etc.

3) I read the passage over and over asking questions of the text. Sometimes I have to read it a hundred times... It takes me a long time to get it... I'm not that smart.

4) I always ask how does this relate to the church I am leading? I look at this on an individual level and at the corporate level.

5) I listen to other speakers. I have many pastors that I learn from. I get ideas and different spins on the text from all of them. This is awesome and it has helped me tremendously as a communicator. They help me with phrases, outlines, illustrations, etc. God has used so many people to help me grow. Thanks to all of them for allowing this! They are the 21st century commentators.

6) I bounce ideas off of a creative team at Barefoot. God has blessed our church with some really creative people. We use them every week to shape the message. Thank you so much team. I could not do it without you.

7) I talk to a network of Pastor friends about the message. Each week I talk to them about my message and they talk to me about theirs. We try to make sure we are teaching sound doctrine.

8) I talk to a diverse group of people, not about the sermon. This helps with being relevant. All my friends are not theologians. I have friends from diverse backgrounds... this helps tremendously.

9) I take all these pieces and formulate a message. Towards the end of the week I type out thoughts and get the flow. Flow in a message is huge.

10) I meditate on it in my mind. I create a mind map to follow. This is how I can remember so much on stage. I'm a visual learner!

11) I think ahead. I have a preaching calendar. Ideas flow for weeks... I am gathering ideas for sermons I will be preaching in October right now.

I guess you could say I am a social learner. I pray and listen to God, I listen to others, I talk, I think, I process, then I deliver. It takes me about 20-25 hours to prepare to deliver one talk. Sometimes less... Sometimes more. That's it... Hope this helps!