O-O It's Magic

Part 2 the OPORD

The Operations Order or "OPORD" is the meat and potatoes of the Army orders process. It is comprised of 5 paragraphs: Situation, Mission, Execution, Service Support, and Command and Signal. Theoretically, these 5 paragraphs will cover every thing you need to know to accomplish p2- the mission. Well, these plus the dizzying number of annexes, appendixes, tabs, and enclosures which will make the resulting end product weigh approximately the same as a baby elephant.

The sermon is the OPORD of a Chapel service. This is where the meat and potatoes reside, sandwiched in there between sides of praise songs and prayer, umm delicious. (This is the danger I run into writing during lunch.)

Anyways, here are my suggestions for a great message OPORD style.

1. Situation.
This is the warm up act of the sermon. Preferably, this should be given by the youngest chaplain you can find. He can do some jokes, we all like jokes, and reestablish the vibe of worship that has started to fade along with the last chords of Indescribable. Also, this is cleanup time. The chaplain should be able to identify that whoever was running the service has forgotten to: collect offering/seat the congregation after the last praise song/dismiss the screaming horde to the saintly ladies who run children's church, and fix it.

2. Mission.
This is too easy. Here we introduce the text of the message. Now it may be hard to follow the warm up act with a passage about a controversial issue. In these cases, coordinate before hand to have a member of the congregation do the reading. Then you can stand up and act surprised, like they chose that passage on their own, but now you have to talk about it. This will soften the blow, while simultaneously making you look like the good guy.

3. Execution.
Also known as get down to business time, this is where the text is "unpacked". This is the Chaplain's time to shine, break out some Greek, and just generally dazzle us with some profound revelation. To draw the parallel out even further; sub-paragraphs in the Execution include Tasks to Subordinate Units, and Coordinating Instructions. This is where you can drop "The Challenge", as in "I want you all to think about Christian service this week... as a reminder Chapel cleanup is this weekend."

4.Service Support.
Nobody reads this paragraph, likewise, this is probably the part of the sermon when you will start losing folks. To help keep everyone on track, start referencing different chapters and books of the Bible, preferably obscure Old Testament ones. The page flipping will wake up anyone dozing, and the resultant exercise will pump endorphins through their systems making them happy to sit through the rest of your 2 hour dissertation on regulations against mildew.

5. Command and Signal.
It's wrap up time. If you end with a prayer, make sure you reference the Trinity. This will cover your succession of command and well as keep the lines of communication open. However, if you still have 3 or 4 more points to make, don't worry, right after C&S is the list of appendixes, et al. There are practically infinite enclosures to an OPORD, so you can keep on going right up till the Chaplain from the next service carries you out to the parking lot.

I hope this helps add some structure to your next at-bat for sermon time.