Finding My Voice…

This Sunday will mark the 50th message that I have preached at Elk Creek Church. What you may not know is that prior to launching Elk Creek, I could count on one hand how many times I have preached in my lifetime. I read a quote from Mark Driscoll where he said that a preacher finds his voice after preaching 200-300 times. One of my personal goals this year has been to really focus on growing in the area of my communication. Why? Because I believe that God has entrusted me to deliver very important words to His church and how I communicate those words matters a great deal! I don’t ever want poor delivery to get in the way of what God wants to say through me.

Here are some of the things I do to learn and grow in the area of preaching…

• I listen to my sermons on podcast. This is very hard for me because I am my own worst critic. It’s amazing how many times I hear myself say something that either didn’t communicate the way that I intended or it communicated better than I thought it did when I spoke it. Either way, I want to learn and grow from it.
• I have become a student of some great communicators. I watch videos of their messages and pay close attention to their delivery. 
• I listen to constructive criticism, especially from my wife. I value her input more than anyone. Almost every Sunday we’ll talk about the sermon delivery. She knows when I’m on and when I’m not.
• A huge part of my week is devoted to sermon preparation. The first part of the week is crafting the sermon, and the last part of the week is focused on communicating it. Both are extremely important. I can have the best material in the world, but if I don’t communicate it well I’ve not done my job. I work really hard at having my content finished by Wednesday, so that I can focus on delivery on Thursday – Saturday.
• I carry my notes with me and practice my sermon…sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head.
• I constantly ask God to empower me and to speak through me in spite of me.

How are you learning and growing in the area that God has called you to?