RESTORE PREACHING
Know what this sermon is for.
When the page is blank, the notes are overflowing, or Sunday is getting close, RESTORE gives you a clear path through the work.
RESTORE is a practical method for preparing faithful, focused sermons people can hear, remember, and live.
An 8-page guide you can use with your next sermon.
Receive → Clarify → Shape
A repeatable path from what has been given to a sermon ready to preach.
A repeatable path from what has been given to a sermon ready to preach.
Every preacher gets stuck somewhere.
Sometimes the page is blank. Sometimes the notes are overflowing. Sometimes Sunday is coming fast and the sermon still has no center. And sometimes the hardest part comes later: you have a full draft, plenty of true things to say, and still cannot tell what belongs, what should go, or what the sermon is actually trying to do.
RESTORE gives you a clear way forward.
The blank page
You know you need to preach. You are not yet sure where to begin.
Too much material
The notes, insights, stories, and possibilities keep growing, but the sermon still has no center.
Not enough time
Sunday is coming. You need a reliable way to stop circling and start moving.
The wandering draft
The sermon is true. There is good material in it. But something still is not landing.
Good material doesn’t automatically become a focused sermon.
Many sermon problems downstream begin with decisions that were never made upstream.
What has actually been given to preach?
What is this sermon meant to do?
What tension is it addressing?
What journey does the hearer need to make?
RESTORE brings those decisions into the preparation process before the sermon becomes harder to untangle.
THE RESTORE METHOD
Three movements. Seven steps. One clear journey.
RECEIVE THE WORD
RE
Receive · Examine
What has been given, what does the text require, and who will hear it?
CLARIFY THE AIM
ST
Subject · Target & Tension
What is this sermon really about, what is it meant to accomplish, and what tension does it resolve?
SHAPE THE MESSAGE
ORE
Outline · Resources · Edit
What journey will lead the hearer there, what will help it land, and what needs to change before you preach?
RESTORE changes a few important questions.
From topic to Target
Not just “What am I preaching about?” but “What is this sermon meant to do?”
From relevance to Tension
What real ache, contradiction, struggle, or question makes this word matter now?
From points to journey
The Outline does not merely organize material. It takes the hearer from Tension to Target.
From finished draft to Edit
Did the sermon we actually prepared become the sermon we intended to preach?
FREE DOWNLOAD
Get the RESTORE Sermon Prep Sheet by email.
The free RESTORE Sermon Prep Sheet walks you through all seven steps with practical prompts, examples, and generous space to work through your own sermon by hand.
Enter your name and email address and we’ll send the printer-friendly guide to your inbox.
One method. Different preaching traditions.
RESTORE disciplines how you prepare without changing who you are as a preacher.
Catholic homily
Mainline sermon
Evangelical sermon
Non-denominational preaching
Alpha / seeker talk
Start with your next sermon.
Download the RESTORE Sermon Prep Sheet and use the method in your next preparation session.
Get the Free Prep Sheet