Preaching in the Zone (part 1)
This slideshow is only available for subscribers. Please log in or subscribe to view the slideshow.
Skill Builders
Preaching in the Zone (part 1)
Finding that place of perfect connection
See themeThis is part one of a two-part series.
I am one of those preachers who plays golf. Most of the time, my golf game is a lesson in humility—a kind of willing mortification of the flesh that reminds me that, for all my supposed spirituality, my conquest of the physical world is tenuous at best. Preachers don't have time to learn to play great golf. The time it would take to master the game would come at the expense of time spent with people or with God's Word. At least that is what I tell myself when I card yet another double bogey.
Still, there have been moments, rare though they may have been, where I felt that I could do no wrong, crushing my drives, sticking my irons, and dropping my putts. Sports psychologists call this being "in the zone." It's that place of confident performance and seeming invincibility.
I've known those moments in the pulpit. You know them too—those times when it seems we have a perfect connection to the mind and heart of each listener so that everything ...
skill builder Preview
This skill builder is available to PreachingToday.com subscribers only.
To continue reading:
Please log in to rate and review this skill builder. Or subscribe now for full access.
Rating & Reviews
Average User Rating:
Displaying 1–5 of 5 comments
See all comments
Rev prince oteng-boateng
The sermon/message must represent the life of the messenger. There would be no significant impact if the message is divorced from the life of the messenger.
Dennis Mullen
Good stuff. Surely my assimilation would be helped by more planing ahead, working ahead.
Cesar Reyes
Between bible studies, home visitation, cell groups, and various meeting, preparation and assimilation could take a backseat. Preaching can become a function to fulfill, a job requirement to be satisfied. Thanks, Kent, for reminding us to not only prepare but to live out our sermons.
Kathleen Langridge
To assimilate is to be 'real' and God is then free to touch hearts as he has already done for us the preacher. The messages that originates from God living through us connects with our fellow pilgrims. The zone is great because God meets us (preachers and congregations) there. Thanks, Kent, from England.
Stephen Tuck
What is said about assimilation is so true. To really speak from the heart we must live the message before we speak it. Otherwise the message will lack authenticity at best or make a hypocrite out of us at worst.