How do you have the time? 

That’s a question I’m frequently asked as a layperson serving as a Bible teacher. On paper, I shouldn’t. My wife and I have four younger kids, and I work a full-time job. I’m also a seminary student and an amateur athlete, and when the Texas Longhorns are playing well, my focus on the weekends drifts. Still, as with everything in our lives, we prioritize what we value—sometimes, that requires a little creativity and flexibility.

Almost anything we need to prepare a lesson can fit inside our pockets, so the possibilities for carving out time are endless—we just have to do it! Below is my typical weekly calendar that affords me enough time each week to prepare to teach God’s Word, but first, here’s a list of tools that are immensely helpful to me in my preparation and teaching:

  • Productivity Tools1
  • Commentaries / Study Bibles2
  • Sermons3
  • Curriculum Guides4
  • Theological Research Materials5
  • Libraries6
  • Media, Podcasts, Websites, etc7

Sunday

It can be tempting to take Sunday off, especially if you taught that day, but there is no better way to move beyond preoccupation with how your lesson just went than to move to your next one! I typically take these steps on Sunday night:

  • Pray for discernment and guidance
  • Read the Scripture 3 times without commentaries or notes
  • Write down any immediate observations and questions
  • If this is part of a series, ask: How does what I just taught relate to what I just read?
  • Plant this thought for the week: How does this relate to something in my life or something I’ve seen, read, or witnessed elsewhere? Contextualization in teaching can be critical, but it can come slowly. You never know when you’ll have that “shower thought.”
  • Realize that you are still ready to teach your lesson if you do the above and the rest of your week gets wrecked. You have read and prayed over the Word, asked questions about the passage of Scripture, and started asking, “How does this apply to my life?” If the unthinkable happens, you can ask these questions to your class and guide the discussion from there (if the format allows).

Monday

I’m usually in the office on Monday, so I often do this during a lunch break or before heading to the office.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Read the Scripture again, this time with a commentary and a study bible. 
  • Review the questions from Sunday and see if they are answered.
  • Write down any answers, new questions, or new thoughts.
  • Write down any quotes you would like to use from commentaries or other resources.
  • Sketch a rough outline for the lesson, but keep it high-level.

Tuesday

This is usually an outdoor exercise day, so I try to leverage that time as part of my study.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Listen to a sermon (or a podcast) on the relevant Scripture or subject matter. I typically do this multiple times a week, but you can also do this on a commute, while doing chores, or any other time you can pop headphones in and listen. This has been a great time-saver for me, and you can easily gain exegetical insights, contextualization help, and outline tips. You should never plagiarize these things word for word, but hearing how other trained teachers have taught the same text or concepts can give you confidence and a great push forward.
  • Gather my thoughts, notes, and outlines from my listening sessions and consider what I would like to include in my lesson.
  • Revisit my outline again. Does anything need to change? 

Wednesday

On Wednesday nights, our kids attend Midweek activities at church, so I usually go to the church with them and lock myself in a room to get some extra focus time.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Gather notes from the first three days of study and write a final outline for the lesson. I don’t get too detailed yet. Instead, I focus on what I think needs to be taught, in what order I think it should be taught, and relevant practical applications.
  • Fill the outline with supporting Scripture. (Bring in additional verses early and often; if none come to mind, do some research.) 

Thursday

I usually work on Thursday tasks at the office or during breaks at the gym. I also aim to collaborate on Thursdays because they are usually the last day church staff are in the office. It is still early enough in the week to make significant changes to the lesson if needed.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Solicit feedback by running the outline by someone I trust and getting their feedback. This can be a spouse, a pastor, or a fellow Bible teacher. These trustworthy confidants may have more ideas to help fill out your outline, or they can let you know if you’ve made any glaring errors or oversights (it happens). Involve your kids, too! Kids carry simple wisdom in their words.
  • Revisit notes from the last few days and finalize the outline and teaching plan.
  • Refine the outline and begin working on speaking notes.

Friday

Fridays are hard, and honestly, I don’t use them as much as I should. It is, however, in your best interest to make your last big push here so that Saturday is left wide open for family, prayer, and rehearsal.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Finalize as much as possible (PowerPoint/media, speaking notes, illustrations, activities)
  • Rest the research. Do not consume more commentaries or media. When you do this, you run the risk of oversaturating a finished lesson. You can still find answers to remaining questions if you have them but don’t actively seek new insights. 

Saturday

Saturdays are for my family, and I prioritize honoring that. I don’t work on teaching lessons on Saturdays until the kids are in bed—which keeps me up late. This rhythm works best for me, but you may arrange your priorities differently on Saturdays.

  • Pray for discernment and guidance.
  • Practice and rehearse the lesson.
  • Refine the presentation, making changes as needed.
  • Remember that this is a lesson and not a theological seminar, so make sure the proper audience is in mind as you run through it.

Sunday  

  • Pray for the Spirit to help you as you teach, and ask that God would glorify himself through the finished lesson.
  • Teach, and let God be glorified!

Hopefully, you didn’t get to this point only to think, “Thanks, I actually don’t have the time.” Remember that this is an ideal week for me, and a week this organized rarely happens in real life. God will honor your work, and we shouldn’t underestimate the power of the Spirit or the fellowship of the saints when we feel like we have fallen short. Have you prayed? Have you read? Have you asked? God has already been glorified and will be glorified in your classroom with whatever you bring.  

  1. If you are frequently on the go, make sure you have tools that can travel with you, and even sync across platforms! (e.g., GoodNotes, Google Docs, iCloud Notes, ChatGPT) ↩︎
  2. Commentaries come in all shapes and sizes and serve many different purposes. This is a critical tool in your kit, and I highly recommend (if you purchase them), getting them in a digital format like Kindle so you can dig in wherever you find the time. If you feel lost, ask a pastor or trusted advisor to recommend one! (e.g., The Bible Speaks Today series, The Expositors Bible Commentary series, ESV Study Bible…) ↩︎
  3. Listening to (or reading) sermons from gifted preachers and teachers can provide inspiration, insights, and illustrative material that will enrich your own Bible teaching. While you want to develop lessons in your own voice, studying how skilled communicators handle a text or topic can spark creative ways to make biblical truths come alive for your class. (e.g., Jarrett Stephens, John Piper, Tim Keller, Alistair Begg, R.C. Sproul, David Platt, Charles Spurgeon, etc.)  ↩︎
  4. Curriculum guides offer a helpful framework for planning lessons, walking step-by-step through biblical texts, raising thoughtful questions, and suggesting creative activities to engage students. Following a proven curriculum provides structure and focus to your teaching, while still allowing flexibility to customize lessons to best fit the needs of your unique class. Free versions are often difficult to come by, so it’s important to see what, if anything, your church already has access to. ↩︎
  5. While in-depth personal Bible study should form the foundation, mining the wealth of solid biblical content available online can bring increased insight and spark creativity in teaching timeless truths in a culturally relevant way. Reading books that explore biblical themes, characters, theology, and background in greater depth can supplement your study and provide real-life illustrations of scriptural truths. While commentaries focus on passage-by-passage exposition, topical books and research materials allow more room to synthesize big ideas, discuss scholarly debates, and draw out practical applications across a range of texts. (e.g., Lexicons, Bible dictionaries, scholarly publications, Blue Letter Bible, Got Questions, etc.) ↩︎
  6. Libraries (theological and public) are great places to focus and find access to many of the materials already discussed. (e.g., Champion Forest Library, Lanier Theological Library) ↩︎
  7. There is a great wealth of resources online, and you can use them anywhere! (e.g. Help Me Teach the Bible, Ask Pastor John, The Bible Project, Precept Austin, etc…) ↩︎