PREACHER OR PERFORMER?

Motivation comes very easy to me when I'm preparing talks or actually speaking in public- so the weekend was fulfilling in that on Saturday I gave a seminar and then spoke in the closing worship session at the Elim movement's Serious4God youth leaders UK training weekend. About 60 people came to my seminar and there were about 120 or so in total in the final meeting. Leaving Cardiff at 8.00am and returning at 1.00am meant it was a long day but I was up early on Sunday to speak in the morning worship at the BB UK council. There were over 300 leaders present, many of whom remembered me from my time working in The BB. My message - 'The Miracle of Generation Blessing Generation' went down well and seemed to connect with people. I'd also used it for my seminar theme the day before.
It's strange really, I wouldn't say I'm always the most confident, assertive or persuasive in a one to one situation but I really come alive when given the opportunity to speak and encourage a group of people to follow Jesus. I'm not that fussed if it's a school assembly, church service, after-dinner speech, conference or whether there are five, fifty, five hundred, or five thousand present. I'm just happy to be speaking! Cynics might say that's because I like the sound of my own voice, but I believe it's because I'm fulfilling the purpose for which I was created.
Changing the subject slightly, I'm aware that I watch far too much TV but now and again it pays dividends. Recently I caught a couple of episodes of a BBC TV series on the history of Light Entertainment. The episodes focused on famous TV comedy double acts and on the all-round presenter/comedian/performer types. It was engrossing but uncomfortable viewing, bringing back many memories but also causing me to acknowledge some traits in these performers that I could personally identify with. The comedian who was almost completely dysfunctional off stage, the depressive comedian who only found real validation in front of an audience, the double act who performed well in public but had a prickly relationship otherwise, the chat show hosts who knew that there must be more to their careers than the tacky show they hosted but who were afraid to quit in case they didn't get another job.
The jump from preaching to performing is more of a hop than a leap, and actually for the effective preacher humour, rapport with the audience, and a larger-than-life personality can all be tremendous tools of the trade. Yet with all those things the performer and the preacher are saying 'please like me, please listen, please give me your approval and your applause'.
The urge to communicate is partly assuaged by writing a book or a blog, but nothing beats the live event. Compared to other challenges in life, like being a husband and a father, I find preaching comparatively easy. I honestly don't know how I would cope if I knew I would never speak in public again. I have a recurring nightmare that I'm struck down by a debilitating illness- sometimes the illness leaves me brain damaged, but other times even worse it leaves me mentally alert and agile but physically paralysed and unable to speak. I have all these thoughts going around my head, but no way of getting them out.

Comments

[Becky]

thanks. that was a good post for me to read :) i'll be speaking at synchronise on friday night and i've been wondering whether i want to do it to make sure people still know me in pembs, but i think that though i battle a lot with pride i'm quite like you, i just get a buzz out of speaking, and i'm sure i learn more from preparing the talk than the people do listening to it!