I get a preaching invite occasionally, and to pace myself, I’ll take no more than one invite a month. I preached at Vision of Peace in McLean this past Sunday. I don’t think it was recorded. I did write out a full manuscript, “How to Do Ministry Without Losing Heart.” I know words are less than 10% of the total communication, and I need more practice to get more comfortable with the other 90%. I read much of it verbatim. ChurchRelevance’s 10 Tips for Great Preaching are great tips, but I haven’t yet figured out (and haven’t had enough practice) how some preachers use a manuscript but also keeps great eye contact with the audience.
It was the first time my son Jeremiah listened to my sermon, and he remembered one of the illustrations I used (that was not in the manuscript; I pulled one that morning, hot off the press, about how multitasking hinders productivity.)
Interesting sermon..
Do you know of any other talks that were recorded?
Jose, thanks for your comment. What about my sermon did you find interesting?
I’ve got my other sermons (that have been recorded) listed as a part of my new TALKS page, which will have a link to all my talks and sermons.
Thanks DJ for the reply and new link to the talks.
I liked reading about your personal experiences, i.e., searching for your spiritual gifts, commitment struggles, etc.
dj – thanks for sharing these great insights. many of the other professional job hazards (e.g., low pay, lack of respect) are difficult, but manageable. but losing heart is what causes people to leave vocational ministry altogether. i know i’ve struggled with this, and i appreciate your wisdom.
as you mentioned in your talk, there are unique factors in our asian american-ness that make this a particular struggle. i would add that for being in asian american youth ministry adds another layer to this difficulty. i have been interacting with some of marko’s thoughts from his blog about your book over on my blog.
Daniel,
While my sermon was delivered on a Sunday morning to a lay audience, it does have pointed remarks that pastors would understand more acutely; I wanted to touch on the issues involved in people doing volunteer ministry as well as vocational ministry.
I had linked over to your reflections about Asian American Youth Ministry at the L2 blog and it’s starting to generate a discussion about churches and salaries.