Findlay reverend offers 'Sermon Prep'

FINDLAY — Most preachers reach out to their congregation from the pulpit. But the Rev. Dan Metzger, senior pastor at St. Marks United Methodist Church, recently added another way to communicate with his flock — by podcast. "It's been a learning experience for me," he said. "And just anyway that is helpful to people in growing their faith, we're willing to give it a try." He created "Sermon Prep" to share some of the insights and materials he gathers while preparing for the upcoming Sunday service. There's a new 20-minute episode every Friday morning. Metzger said the idea for a podcast came up last fall when church officials, including Director of Discipleship, Mandy Stevens, were seeking input on ways to help the congregation. "During one of the Sunday services, we actually did a live poll up on the screen, and you could text from your phone and say, this is what would be most helpful to me," he related. The number one response was daily scripture readings. "So we said, sure, we can get you daily scripture readings and make sure that's a helpful thing," Metzger said. To everyone's surprise though, the second most popular request at both the traditional and contemporary services was offering a podcast. "So we said, OK. I guess we have to figure out how to do a podcast because nobody here had ever done anything like that," he said. "But I know that a lot of people have done podcasting in the past." Kellie Bibler, who is director of outreach at the church, had some experience and was able to help them figure out how to set things up, said Metzger. This spring, they decided to give it a try. Working out of a makeshift studio next door to his church office, Metzger came up with Sermon Prep. Metzger said every Monday he reads and studies, and then tries to put together an outline. By Tuesday or Wednesday, he has an idea of where he wants the sermon to go. This is a great opportunity to bring someone in and have a conversation about the topic, he said. "In the middle of every week, as I'm working on the sermon and trying to come up with different ideas around it, I'll record this podcast, and usually with somebody else, either from our staff or from our church or just somebody else in the community that I think would have something to say to this," he explained. Metzger said many times the things they talk about end up in the sermon on Sunday. "We just talk about one or two aspects of what we're going to be talking about this coming Sunday and some of the stuff that might hit the cutting room floor and might not make it into a sermon," he said. "It's a chance to have some more conversation about those things." It's also fun, Metzger said. "A sermon sometimes it can feel like someone is talking at you. And this is more of a conversation and a way for other people in interject some of their thoughts and ideas and their experiences around the different things we've been talking about," he said. So far he has completed about 20 episodes. A recent podcast included four youth who had just gotten back from a mission trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "It's been good," said Metzger. "We have had a lot of great feedback from people saying, hey, I listened to this, and not just from here. People from other places have reached out and said, I've been listening to this and it's been a helpful thing." Sermon Prep can be found on Apple, Spotify, Amazon and YouTube. There is also a link on the church website: stmarksfindlay.org.