What to do when you need to pull your car uphill?

Brains and muscles, man.

Caring for the Pastor’s Wife

Erik Braun has posted a very good article on this oft-neglected topic that everyone should read and consider (pastors included).

HT:JT

Piper’s response to the Minneapolis bridge collapse

“Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After the Bridge Collapsed”

Preaching tips

Came across a helpful post by Peter Mead over at the Biblical Preaching blog on some pretty basic, yet important things to work in as you prepare and deliver a sermon. Judging from the post’s title, there should be more to follow, but here are the first five:

1. Voice – The enemy of delivery is monotony.  Have somebody listen to your voice and note how much you vary the pitch (up and down), the pace (fast and slow), the punch (stronger and weaker), the use of pause (stop and start), and so on.

2. Verbal Pause – It is great to pause on purpose, but verbal pauses really grate on your listeners.  It could be an “ummm” or a redundant word like, well, uh, “like” or the popular Christian filler “just really.”  Whatever you do to fill those gaps in the flow, find out and then eliminate them. 

3. Gesture – Are your gestures varied, consistent with what you are saying, big enough for the audience, natural?  You may discover that you have a dead arm, or a repetitive movement, or a bizarre mannerism.  Find out, then you can deal with it.

4. Eye Contact – Your eyes are so important they are worthy of their own observer.  Have someone watch your eyes.  Are you looking at the people, or past the people?  Are you looking at the people or at your notes?  Are you looking at all the people, or do you have blind spots?  If you use notes, and are really up for a shock, have someone time how long you are looking at your audience rather than your notes.  The result of this might convince you to try no notes!

Click here for the full post.