Still Finishing Sermons on Saturday Night?
What If One Golden Hour Could Give You Your Life Back?
Your eleventh-hour sermon prep is not a discipline issue.
It's a design problem.
And one hour a week can change it.
And one hour a week can change it.
Most pastors care deeply about sermon preparation.
They love scripture.
They love finding a word for their congregation.
They know their sermon prep matters.
But there’s a HUGE problem…
THe problem is...
Week after week, sermon preparation gets pushed into the margins—squeezed between meetings, pastoral emergencies, emails, hospital visits, and everything else ministry demands.
Before preachers know it, it’s Saturday night again.
And they’re finishing a sermon on fumes and personal time.
does this sound familiar?
The worst part?
Everyone suffers: you, your loved ones, and your congregation.
Because sermon preparation is not just another task—it’s the weekly moment where you serve your entire congregation at once.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
The good news is your eleventh-hour sermon prep isn’t a discipline issue—it’s a design problem.
The solution isn’t to protect your entire week.
It’s to protect one hour that protects everything else.
So you’re no longer leaving sermon preparation to chance.
That’s why I’m offering instant access to this weekly, life-changing practice for only $47.
Introducing...
The Golden Hour
A spiritual practice to discern a sermon for every Sunday.
A one-hour, weekly practice to protect your sermon prep time before your week consumes it.
Instead of reacting to your calendar…
You begin by shaping it.
One hour. Early in the week. On purpose.
Let’s walk through it.
How the Golden Hour Works
The Golden Hour is a simple weekly practice that helps you intentionally protect sermon preparation time before your week fills up.
But the value isn’t just in scheduling something.
The value is in learning how to make decisions about your week in a way most pastors were never taught.
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
1. You Stop Treating Your Calendar as a List of Equal Priorities
Most ministry weeks fall apart because everything looks equally important in the moment.
The Golden Hour trains you to see your week differently: as a set of competing claims on your time.
2. You Learn to See Where Sermon Preparation Is Actually Being Crowded Out
For most pastors, sermon prep doesn’t disappear—it gets quietly displaced.
This practice is about recognizing that pattern clearly enough to interrupt it.
3. You Begin Making Intentional Decisions About Sermon Time
Instead of deciding day-by-day when sermon prep will happen (and constantly renegotiating it under pressure), you begin making an earlier, calmer decision: before the week gets loud.
This is the shift most pastors never get to experience consistently:
Not reacting to time.
But assigning it.
With margin.
So when the week inevitably fills—because it always does—you’re no longer improvising where sermon prep will fit.
It’s already decided.
Your sermon prep stops feeling like a weekly emergency that must be “fit in somewhere”—and starts feeling like a sacred ministry that already has a place in your week.
Imagine what ministry could be like if:
- Your weeks felt more intentional and less like whack-a-mole—so ministry felt fulfilling rather than draining.
- Your sermons gained depth and clarity because they had more time to develop—and your listeners heard the difference.
- Your family breathed a sigh of relief because they could finally count on your presence.
- Your personal time remained free for the activities and people that bring you joy and fill you up
- Your calendar felt like sacred ground rather than an abyss of endless obligation.
You know there has to be a better way:
- A clear way to protect sermon preparation time before your week fills up
- A repeatable weekly practice that fits real pastoral life
- A way to stop relying on leftover time for sermon work
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A calmer relationship with your weekly sermon cycle
- A lighter mental load carrying your sermon all week
- More predictable time for focused preparation
If you’re thinking, This sounds good but…
…you’re not alone.
Here are the most common concerns we hear from clergy:
"Even when I plan, something always comes up."
Yes—and it will keep coming up.
We can't eliminate interruptions or emergencies.
But it's time to stop pretending they don't exist and plan for the unexpected.
“I don’t have an hour to spare at the beginning of the week.”
Most pastors don’t feel like they have margin for margin.
But The Golden Hour isn’t an extra demand on your schedule.
This small investment early prevents larger losses later in the week.
“If I protect sermon time, something else will suffer.”
That tension in ministry is real.
But not all responsibilities carry the same weight at the same moment, and it isn't neglect to set priorities.
.
Protecting time for sermon prep is ordering ministry with intention.
It’s possible to build a ministry that prioritizes sermon prep and accounts for the unexpected—so you can reclaim your life.
It’s time to discover the simple, spiritual practice that changes everything.
The Golden Hour
A weekly calendar practice that gives you your life back.
Setting aside a “Golden Hour” early in the week allows me to re-focus on what is sacred. I am refueled to minister to others—and my sermon gets done!
- Denise A.
I’ve come to a realization that sermon prep is not intended for my “days off.” If we show up for One Golden Hour to prepare for what matters most (our preaching), the Holy Spirit not only shapes and transforms our sermon prep time but us as well. The Golden Hour is a difference maker.
- Dennis P.
This series is great! The Golden Hour helps me make my intentions reality—letting go of guilt and moving toward joy, prioritizing not just for sermon prep but to make sure I’m living my values!
- Robin D.
What's Included...
The Golden Hour is more than a productivity hack. It's a theologically grounded, practically tested method for preachers who are ready to stop letting their calendar happen to them.
MODULE 1:
Sermon Prep IS Ministry—The Shift that Changes Everything
Many pastors carry guilt about protecting time in their schedule for sermon preparation—as if it is something that should only happen after everything else is finished. When you begin to see sermon prep as real pastoral care, not leftover task work, your entire relationship with your calendar begins to shift.
MODULE 2:
Why Your Week Keeps Crowding Out Your Sermons
Most sermon delays come from predictable patterns that override your best intentions. Urgent tasks displace essential ones. Exegesis expands because it’s meaningful work. Preparation gets delayed “until things calm down.” And personal limits rarely get named out loud. You will recognize yourself in this list. That is the point. So you can interrupt the pattern and create real change.
MODULE 3:
The Truth About Your Calendar (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)
Every choice you make says, This is the most important thing right now. That is a hard truth—and a freeing one. Once you get clear on your values and your calling, you gain the capacity to prioritize what matters and protect your time from what doesn't.
MODULE 4:
Building a Week That Protects What Matters Most
This is where it gets practical. The Golden Hour Blueprint walks you through a step-by-step process for planning your week with intention. Align your week with your values instead of the tyranny of the urgent.
MODULE 5:
Finding Your Best Rhythm for Sermon Preparation
The final video is about you, specifically: your rhythms, your space, your rituals. Lisa draws on 30-plus years of ministry to help you identify when and where you do your best creative work so your sermon prep is productive, effective, and enjoyable!
Plus 4 bonuses to put it all into practice!
Bonus 1: Sermon Prep Time Hacks for Preachers
A checklist of practical ways to capture sermon inspiration in the margins of your day. This list shows you how to use the time you already have in ways you have probably never considered.
Bonus 2: Simple Sermon Navigator for When You Get "Lifed"
Because you will get lifed. Crises and the unexpected are part of ministry life. This checklist walks you through what to do when your week falls apart and Sunday is still coming.
Bonus 3: Sermon Vault Checklist
A roadmap for building your own sermon vault before you need it. You'll have a go-to plan even if you can't preach on Sunday.
Bonus 4: Sermon Starters
You'll be guided to create five sermon head-starts in one focused hour, so that when life hits, you already have something to work with.
Why Should You Trust Me?
- I’m a preacher who gets how grueling the preaching life is. And I don’t just teach these principles—I apply them in my own life as I create content and tools to help preachers thrive in the pulpit.
- I’ve worked directly with thousands of preachers since 2016 who share their challenges, what works, and what doesn’t work so I can create and refine the most effective tools for real life results.
- I’m contracted by seminaries, denominations, and preaching foundations across the U.S. to teach their students how to preach more compellingly and sustainably.
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I’m also the author of two books: Backstory Preaching: Integrating Life, Spirituality, and Craft (Liturgical Press) and The Gospel People Don't Want to Hear: Preaching Challenging Messages (Liturgical Press) and (Working Preacher Books).
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I’m doing this work in response to God’s own call in my life. I’m passionate about serving preachers so they can do the holy work of building God’s reign on earth among people in need of Good News.
"I truly appreciate the intentional space of The Golden Hour that shapes the week and reminds me to prioritize my family and needs first and then fill in the rest. A worthwhile time and practice!"
- Amy G.
A Word From Lisa
I am an Episcopal priest and the founding steward of Backstory Preaching. I have spent more than 30 years in professional ministry, and I have trained thousands of preachers across denominations to preach with more confidence, more craft, and more joy.
I also learned the hard way that saying yes to everything is not a ministry strategy. Early in building Backstory Preaching, I was doing it all. Every workshop, every keynote, every tech task, every yes. At a conference I was supposed to be leading, I found myself in an emergency room getting tested for a heart attack.
It was not a heart attack but a panic attack. It was a brutal lesson about limits. About what happens when you let everyone else's urgency run your calendar. About the difference between being busy and being faithful.
That experience put me on the path toward what I now teach in The Golden Hour. You are in control of your calendar. No one else puts things on it. And with one intentional hour each week, you can build a schedule that honors your sermon prep, your congregation, your loved ones, and yourself.
The math can work—if you do the work. And you, with your unique preaching voice, are worth that work.
Seeing my schedule laid out before me lowers my anxiety and makes the week feel manageable. And sermon prep becomes more respite than desperate.
- Keith Y.
“If we show up, the Holy Spirit will be there.” What an invitation that bears so much fruit in the sermon prep process. If we show up for One Golden Hour to prepare for what matters most (our preaching), the Holy Spirit not only shapes and transforms our sermon prep time but us as well."
- Dennis P.
This is right for you if...
Sermon prep keeps getting squeezed into whatever time is left over in your week
You feel guilty spending work hours on sermon prep, as if it does not count as real ministry
You keep telling yourself you will get more organized, and it keeps not happening
You are tired, stretched thin, or worried you cannot keep up this pace
You are bi-vocational and your time is already spoken for before sermon prep enters the picture
You love preaching and you want to love it for the rest of your ministry
LOCK IN THIS PRICE
You've been waiting for the right time. This is it.
Sermon prep has been a problem long enough. One hour, one week, one decision. That is all it takes to start designing a ministry week that actually works for you.
The Golden Hour is available right now for $47. That's less than most households spend on a dinner out, for a practice that will change the way you work, preach, and live for the rest of your ministry.
Satisfaction Guarantee
I’ve been in charge of a parish. I understand the risk you feel buying a digital product online. You work hard for your congregation, and you desire to be a good steward of your continuing ed money. Or you may not even get a continuing ed budget after the challenges of the last year, and you’re cautious about investing personal money in ministry.
I’m extremely grateful to take part in the Spirit’s work to design the practical tools we offer at Backstory Preaching, and I see their impact. I witness first-hand the relief and transformation preachers experience when they purchase and apply our process and materials.
That’s why I offer a 30-day money back guarantee. While I can’t guarantee your ministry circumstances will be smooth and your time abundant, I can promise your satisfaction with the quality and value of this course. When you put this process into action, it will result in less stress and more fulfillment in your preaching life. A gift that will free up time and energy for the rest of your ministry and personal life.
Of course, if you’re not happy with The Golden Hour, I’ll refund your money within 30 days of purchase.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long will it take to complete the course?
The five videos run approximately one hour total. You can watch them all in one sitting or spread them across a week. The worksheets and bonuses are yours to use at whatever pace works for you.
Do I need any special tools or apps?
No. The Golden Hour Blueprint works with whatever calendar system you already use, analog or digital.
Is this only for full-time clergy?
Not at all. Bi-vocational preachers, lay preachers, and anyone who preaches regularly will find this immediately applicable. The principles scale to whatever your schedule looks like.
I have tried to get organized before and it has not stuck. How is this different?
Most approaches are not designed for the specific pressures of ministry life. The Golden Hour is takes into account the infinite needs of a congregation, the emotional weight, the spiritual stakes, and the relentless weekly rhythm that preachers live inside. This is a spiritual practice designed by a preacher to meet the unique demands of ministry life.
