I'm always on the lookout for a good story or image to use in my preaching. But once I find something in TIME, in The Chicago Tribune, in a great biography, or in my own experiences, the challenge is how to store it so that I can find it later. I finally discovered a simple method which really works!
Early on in my ministry, I used to file material under topics like "grace" or "creation" or "purity." The problem is, I'd find a great story, but I couldn't decide whether to file it under "grace" or "purity." Or, if I did file it under a particular topic, I couldn't find the story when I needed it six months later. I'd recall the great story I clipped from TIME about Moe Berg, the major league baseball player who became a spy. But I could never remember under what topic I filed it! I tried to compensate for this by cross-referencing an item with multiple topics. I'd waste 30-45 minutes trying to figure out what other topics it might fit, mainly so I could locate it later.
Then about ten years ago I had an "aha" moment! I realized that I needed to scrap my topical system. So I simply put a file folder in my desk drawer and labeled it "Sermon Stories & Supporting Material." Since then, whenever I find something that will be effective, I stick it in the file. No topic, no confusion, no hassle!
"But this is no system at all," you say. Actually, it is! What makes this system work is that I skim through this inch-thick file every week at some point during my sermon preparation process. I try to use most stories or material I find within a month's time. If a story in a file doesn't get used after a few months, I'll pitch it unless I have a hunch that it's too good to discard. If I use a story, then I move it to another file with previously used sermon stories and illustrations. I keep my best stuff here, and I'll leaf through it when I'm preparing a message for another group which has not heard me preach often or at all.
I also keep back issues of magazine and newspapers for a few weeks, although the internet often makes this unnecessary. I'm amazed how often I'll read an article which doesn't seem moving or useful at the moment. Yet, three days or three weeks later, I realize that it's a perfect illustration!
Of course, my filing method works for me because it dovetails with the way I process information. That's the key. Find out what works best for you, and use it. What have you found most helpful when it comes to storing and retrieving stories and illustrations?
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 10:42 AM on September 21, 2007
Comments
You could always type or cut and paste stories and illustrations into a Word document and then use the search feature during your sermon prep process. I try to include lots of tag words to go along with each item so that I don't have to remember an exact word when I come back to it. I have been using a single Word document for several years now and it seems to work well for me.
Posted by: Donnie on September 21, 2007
Great idea. Simple, but profound. Thanks for the tip! dt www.davetilma.com
Posted by: Dave on September 21, 2007
Hello Steve,
In my seminary days when we were still using Windows 3.1, I was using Cardfile to store illustrations and stories. Then a few years back, Google made life a lot easier by giving us Google Desktop, allowing one to search documents stored in our harddisks. That made "filing" a lot easier - no proper filing is needed. If I find a good story, I just typed it and store the info in my HD - and I don't have to decide which folders and under what label it is supposed to be in. Presently, I use Mac OSX's built-in Spotlight.
Posted by: Adrin Munoz on September 21, 2007
Steve,
Your "system" is similar to mine. I photocopy stuff, put items on 4 x 6 cards, put a slug or two in the upper corner, and stuff all the cards in a 4 x 6 box. No alphabetization, cross referencing, or bells and whistles. I find that my short term memory holds most of these temporarily, and I remind myself of them occasionally. I also throw them away if they sit in the box too long.
This "system" seems to mirror the way some minds work. At least demented minds.
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Arthurs on September 27, 2007
Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts! With the amount of resources on the internet, Donnie's idea has real merit. Along with it, I appreciate Adrin's tip on Google desktop as a viable search engine. I'm also honored that Jeff would classify my mind in the same category as his, even if that category gets the label "demented"!
Posted by: Steve Mathewson on October 9, 2007