Yesterday I talked about looking at the calendar, today I want to talk about balancing the calendar.

I believe there’s a couple of different types of series that as Pastors we should teach each year:

– Evangelistic/ attractional series – I believe Easter is a time of great harvest, so we always plan a series of teaching that focus on a felt need, but end with a presentation of the Gospel.

– Book studies/ Spiritual Growth series – I try to teach 50% topical/ 50% book studies in a given year. I want the people in our church going through the Bible and learning God’s Word. I believe it’s a mistake to do all evangelistic and attractional messages. People need to come to Christ, but they also need to grow in Christ. Some of my Pastor friends disagree with me, but I don’t believe a church can grow to maturity without expositional teaching. In 2009, I am planning to teach Ephesians, Titus, and Malachi. I may teach another book in the Fall, but I haven’t nailed the Fall down yet 🙂

– Specialty messages – Every year, there’s going to be weekends where you do what I call a “Specialty Message”. This could be a message on baptism because of an upcoming baptism service. It might be a July 4th message where you decide to teach on freedom in Christ using the backdrop of America. Or mabye you want to teach a message on giving thanks around Thanksgiving. Every year, a specialty message or two make its way into the preaching calendar.

The key is to balance your calendar so you teach on evangelism and reach people and then get them in God’s Word and begin the discipleship process.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the Fall and how it can bring tremendous growth and depth to your church….