1. The Amazon Top 100 List.
Check out the Top 100 of 2013 to see what your neighbors are already thinking about.
Finding six books on eternity and near death experiences on the list caused me to create a seven-part series called “Afterlife.” The series resonated deeply because so many unchurched people were already investigating the issue on their own.
2. Movies.
This doesn’t mean you have to do an “At the Movies” series, but it does mean what people are watching gives you a clue as to what they are thinking.
Horror movies are perennially popular. I really don’t like horror movies personally, but in crafting a series for 2014 on evil, I’m going to make sure we cover our culture’s ambiguous attitude toward evil: On the one hand we dismiss it, on the other hand we simply can’t.
3. Media Coverage.
The media covers certain issues again and again. One of them, for example, is financial uncertainty.
If you’re talking about money, for example, research stories that talk about how financial uncertainty impacts average families daily. Household debt levels, being underwater on a mortgage, having expensive car payments and saving too little for retirement are issues that people are struggling with right now.
Provide solutions and talk about it biblically.
4. Google Trends.
I learned about this Google feature from Rich Birch (so many helpful insights and tips on his blog and new podcast). With Google Trends, at any moment, you can see what people are searching for on Google. That will get your mind racing.
5. Magazines.
Next time you’re at the supermarket, scan the headlines of the magazines by the checkout. Again, you may not want to do a series on 101 sex tips, but when we did a series on sex a few years ago, it led me to call one of our messages “Sex Tricks.”
Interesting, isn’t it? In the end, it was all about how sex tricks us when we remove it from the context of marriage. The subjects these magazines cover again and again connect with people and give you clues into what’s on their mind.
Once you have started to get a sense of the what’s going on around you, there are five things to consider as you draft the series:
