On Sunday I get the profound privilege of taking words on a page and connect it with people in their everyday life. Helping people see that the Word of God is truly alive and worth our time and attention. I have learned a lot in the last four years of speaking week in week out at High Point. Here are a few of those lessons.
- Change it up... This week I preached narrative. A few weeks ago it was topically. Some weeks it is expository. I will use a great book I read once to preach out of in January and this summer am thinking about preaching through an entire book of the New Testament verse by verse. WHY? People learn in different ways. I get bored with one "style" and have to experiment and test myself. Preaching styles change over the years and If I am locked into 1 "style" then I am in big trouble because then I will not be able to make the cultural shift.
- Find your own Voice... In the beginning I used a lot of other pastors series notes to help me with my talks. I found that I had a hard time breaking out of their ideas, way of talking, grammar and phraseology. I still use peoples material to help me with ideas and content but now it is more of a complement rather than a crutch for my messages. I had to ask the question what makes me unique and note worthy as a communicator. Not in a haughty self serving kind of way, rather in a self discovery kind of way. I am funny it is a trait that I need to get more comfortable and refined in but I have to recognize it as a tool in my tool box in order to truly capitalize on it. I am a good story teller. If I am not telling stories in my talks then I am not going to be communicating at my best. This is huge and took me a long time to get comfortable with my gifts, talents and abilities but has helped me really go to the next level in my speaking.
- Practice makes perfect if you have it in you... Some people just don't have it in them and no matter how much they practice they will never be an amazing public speaker. Others just need time on "stage" to work out the kinks. Help you learn how to handle distractions, low and high crowds, bad material, too much material. The more I have been upfront the more comfortable I have become with myself. All good communication comes from the security of the speaker! When you are secure and confident people relax and trust you.
- Let it all hang out... Almost every week I feel exposed. A little embarrassed. It stems from me letting it all out and being vulnerable with the people. I shout, cry, laugh, tease, sweat, and share truthfully out of my experience. But it makes it AUTHENTIC and I think that is a powerful element to good communication. I on purpose run along the edge of a cliff and people can feel the tension/ excitement as I do it and when I finish we all (myself included) breath a sigh of relief as we reflect on what just happened. I did this this last Sunday as I created the dramatic tension of a woman sobbing at Jesus feet. I put myself in her shoes and at one point commented about her lost innocence at a young age. Their is no way of knowing if she was actually abused at a young age but I felt the Spirit prompting me to say it in that moment and man it made me feel vulnerable as It splashed into the air and settled into peoples minds. I felt the tension in the air and knew that Because I let it out God was ministering to people.
- Let the Holy Spirit have room... I started scripting my messages so tightly that in the moment if I needed/wanted/ felt lead to add anything on the spot for specific people in the room It would get lost in the mass of material I had brought. Now I have less than 1 page of notes and those are mostly bullet points that lead me in a direction and then I let the Holy Spirit prompt me to say the meat on the bones. It feels a little strange at first to get up their without having it 100% figured out yet but I preach less and feel the quality has gone up significantly. I will often search my heart and mind for a message for that moment in that service. 1st service I felt I needed to emphasis the work of the Holy Spirit to draw people to Jesus. 2nd service I didn't feel it the same way but I found out later that someone 1st service needed to hear that.
- Learn from the best... I learned how to preach from the TV show E.R. My dad and I would watch the show all growing up and he would say, "Son watch what they are doing... notice the tension... they have you laughing in one moment and the next moment someone is dying." I read books, listen to story tellers and preachers and listen to where do they pause, laugh, cry and why do they do it that way. It all helps me when I am preaching to communicate the message of the passage I am teaching to come alive. Jesus told amazing stories and It is my mandate to fallow his lead.
- Prep... Prep a ton personally... prep a little corporately. I used to spend 40 or more hours a week on my talk. Based on mu gifts and abilities that was overkill!!! Now I am prepping about 8-10 hours a week. I can say more in 25 minutes than a person can do all week so it is not the quantity of prep that matters it is the quality of the message I am communicating. I have found that when I prepped more for a message I substituted my corporate study for my personal enrichment. Then i had all this amazing insight that was to deep or not fully baked for Sunday Consumption. Now I am prepping more for me. Letting the Holy Spirit work a thought or idea or word through me. I am able to let my mind have space to hear from God. I think my speaking has gotten better because of it. I know my depth as a person/pastor has grown.
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