U.S. - According to a new LifeWay Research study, the best time to prepare a sermon for Sunday morning is 11 p.m. the night before delivering it.

"Our extensive research found that preparing a sermon anytime before the last possible hour results in poorly thought-out and convoluted messages," a LifeWay representative said. "Ideally, pastors will hold off until that magical time between 11 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday. That's when the Spirit really moves upon a sermon transcript, according to our findings."

The study found that sermons hurriedly thrown together at the very end of the week were clearer, more concise, and more effective at reaching their audience than sermons that had been extensively researched and outlined days before the Sunday morning deadline.

"It seems that procrastinating until you are frantically reaching for any and every remotely relevant illustration, biblical reference, or video clip results in a solid, biblical sermon," the rep added. "So be sure to take advantage of the 'golden hour' of sermon prep, for the good of your congregation."

At publishing time, LifeWay had also revealed that it had "compelling evidence" that sermons still being thrown together minutes before the service may be the most effective of all.