One of the things I do with our annual survey is pitch a dozen sermon series to our congregation. We simply ask: which series would be most helpful to your spiritual development? I think a good preacher has one ear tuned to the Holy Spirit and the other ear tuned to the people. This survey question helps me stay tuned!

Before I post the sermon series I pitched, let me say this. There are some series I did not pitch because I know we’re going to do them no matter what. I pay particular attention to the series that get the highest and lowest response rate. Just because people don’t want to hear it doesn’t mean I’m not going to preach it. In fact, a low response is often a red flag that it might be something we need to talk about.

We’ll evaluate the survey results at our annual planning retreat and it will help us put together a sermon series strategy for 2008. We’ll plan out our entire year of sermons and about 70% of those series will be preached as planned. Other series won’t make the cut because we’ll feel a change of direction or a particular need so we’ll call an audible at the line of scrimmage.

For what it’s worth, I’m also researching all of the sermon series preached in the last two years at about half a dozen churches. Coming up with our spiritual diet of sermon series is one the toughest and most important responsibilities of a pastor. You’ve got to do due diligence via thinking, praying, surveying, and studying.

Here are the series we pitched:

Parental Guidance Required: biblical insights on parenting
The Elephant in the Church: honest talk about tough topics
Be Happy: an expository study on Philippians
How: how to to pray, study the Bible, and grow spiritually
The Dating Game: practical and theological dating tips
Dirty Jobs: how to honor God at work
3: getting to know Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Kairos: knowing and doing the will of God
Sex Ed: a theology of sexuality
IM: talking to and listening to the Holy Spirit
Origins: series on Old Testament rituals and covenants
Soulprint: discovering your spiritual gifts and temperament