07/04/2015 by sevennotesofgrace

Why you should keep practising your instrument

I found this set of eight helpful suggestions for finding time to enjoy practising your instrument. I’m sure we could all use the encouragement to keep learning skills and enjoying the gifts we have developed.

healthy habits

1. Sight read often

Believe it or not, sight reading can be fun. Not convinced? Dig out your old grade books from two or three grades back and try playing through a few of the pieces you didn’t learn at the time. Not only is this good sight reading practice, it’s a good way to reacquaint yourself with your instrument if you’ve taken some time off over summer. PLUS you’ll learn new repertoire that you might enjoy AND you’ll give yourself a confidence boost by sight reading music you once thought was impossible.

2. Don’t separate theory from repertoire

Time’s up! Another lesson or practice session has come to an end and, alas, there was no time for theory. Don’t sweat it! Make musical theory a part of your everyday practice and lessons. Stop playing briefly and analyse one passage of your sonata. Grab your smartphone and check that you know all the definitions for the Italian terms in your piece. Play on and ask yourself ‘what key am I in? What relationship is this key to the original key?’

Spend a lot of time online? (Answer: ‘Yes!’) Sacrifice just 10 minutes of precious internet browsing time to do a lesson or a test from an online theory course once a week. You’ll be a theory guru in no time.

3. Compose

We all have memories of that time we were playing around on our instrument, came up with a brilliant riff, never wrote it down and learned the true meaning of regret. Are you the next Brahms? Maybe not. Do you have great ideas that other people might like to hear? Absolutely. Keep a pencil and a manuscript or manglescript pad with you while you practice.

Ideas don’t often strike out of the blue like a bolt of lightning (especially in this drought-ridden country!) – so write them down if they do! Then you can spend some time working them into something more substantial through ongoing exploration and experimentation. Working on your own musical ideas can also be a great way of really engaging with the sound that you are making, sparking musical ideas for your other repertoire.

Insightful Clara Schumann says, ‘There is nothing greater than the joy of composing something oneself and then listening to it.’

4. Record yourself

A recording device may be one of the most effective practice tools and most students just aren’t using one regularly. There is no need for fancy gear, microphones or studio set-up; recording is for personal use only! Your smartphone, tablet, laptop or handheld digital recorder will work just fine.

Recording yourself puts you in the teacher’s or examiner’s chair, helping you to listen critically to your own playing. How would you rate your pitch, articulation, phrasing, tone quality and overall performance? Make a conscious change to your performance, record and evaluate again. As musicians, there is often a significant disconnect between what we feel we are creating and what we actually produce on our instruments. Recording is an important reality check and benchmark and the best tool for students who are eager to see practice results first-hand – even if it is a little scary at first!

5. Master the short-and-focused practice session

berstein

You don’t have to wait for a two-hour window to appear in your schedule in order to sit down with your instrument or work on your voice. Long practice sessions can be great for building stamina, but sometimes more can be achieved with multiple short sessions in which you set out to achieve one particular goal. Keep track of your goals and your targeted practice in your practice diary.

Clever Leonard Bernstein says, ‘To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.’

6. Listen to great recordings

“Have students listen to fine performances of the pieces, even before you begin teaching it” advised Glenn Riddle to teachers at last week’s Piano Series 17workshop in Melbourne. Between concerts, recitals, studies and everything else life throws at us, most of us don’t spend enough time just listening for the sake of listening.

Listening to music is not only an inherently pleasurable experience, it is also an incredibly beneficial exercise for the brain. A recent study from UC Berkeleyfound that listening to familiar and unfamiliar music ‘increased interaction between the nucleus accumbens and higher, cortical structures of the brain involved in pattern recognition, musical memory, and emotional processing.’ That certainly sounds convincing!

Listening to repertoire before or as you learn a piece can help to inspire you, give you ideas for your own phrasing and interpretation and allow you to see the piece from another performer’s perspective. Grab a recording of your exam repertoire from iTunes or Spotify, plug in your earphones and talk a walk outside. You never know what details you might hear!

7. Go to concerts

Seeing a live classical music performance is insanely exciting… the nerves, the spectacle, the variety, the triumph! So why do we so often save concert-going for ‘special occasions’ or one-off experiences? It is easy to think of concerts as expensive ventures or special-occasion experiences, but this is not necessarily the case!

Google your local university music department and attend one of their (usually free) lunchtime concerts. Most professional concerts also offer discounted student tickets or last-minute ‘student rush’ tickets. Even better, have a soirée-of-sorts with your musical friends. Get an opportunity to practice performing in front of others, support your friends and be introduced to a lot of great music!

8. Have fun!

john cage

Remember that all of your hard work is really aimed at making it easier to get your instrument or voice to do what you want it to do. From time to time, play around with the sounds you can make – beautiful sounds, ugly sounds, funny sounds and sad sounds! Get up close and personal with your instrument (or voice) and experiment away. If you’re not enjoying playing or singing at the moment, maybe you just need to reacquaint yourself with the joy of making sound. Learning music is challenging but should also be fun and rewarding.

Happy John Cage says, ‘Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.’

Upgrade your practice with these simple tips.

http://www.ameb.edu.au/8-simple-music-hacks

08/11/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

The blessing of songs from across the sea!

12 Apostles – Great Ocean Road Victoria Australia

Thanks to Tim Challies for a recent post on his blog entitled “Songs we sing that you probably don’t”. His aim was to share some lesser known songs that have greatly blessed his church. This got me thinking, since most followers of SevenNotes are not from Australia (and I am) there are probably many songs that have become popular here that you are missing out on! What follows is my attempt to cover the best offerings for congregational singing which we have enjoyed from Australian songwriters in the last decade or so. Most of the lead sheets will be available through Song Select (CCLI) and part or full recordings of the songs are on the net. In fact, I have compiled a playlist on Spotify called Church Songs Australia where you can find them all! I will start with most recent and work backwards (and if I have already shared something on one of them, I’ll send you to that post to explore). Clicking on song titles below will take you to an mp3 and sheet music (most of the time). (NOTE: I’ve just discovered EMU’s homepage is down at the moment so some of the links may not work! Sorry – should be fixed soon.)

OVERFLOWED, NO OTHER NAME, SEE THE MAN (all 3 by Trevor Hodge) http://www.trevorhodgemusic.com/

MY SAVIOUR’S CROSS (Rob Smith 2013)

GRACE HAS NOW APPEARED (Rob Smith 2012)

THIS LIFE I LIVE (Michael Morrow)

UNDIVIDED (Rob Smith)

STRONGER (Reuben Morgan)

HOLDING ON TO ME (Garage Hymnal)

COME HEAR THE ANGELS SING & WE BELONG TO THE DAY (Michael Morrow)

NEVER ALONE (Phillip Percival and Simone Richardson)

HALLELUJAH TO THE KING OF KINGS (Marl Peterson)

SEE HIM COMING (Mark Peterson)

WE ARE HIS PEOPLE (Phillip Percival)

HIGHEST PLACE (Mark Peterson)

29/10/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

SoundMan Super Hero

I’ve come across some great resources for church sound engineers recently. Here is one of them to read, then one to watch (at the end). Blessings to you in your ministry, to the praise of His Glorious grace!

SoundMan needs love. The church sound person is almost always a volunteer. This is not his full-time gig. During the week he’s repairing cars, selling insurance, cub reporting, peddling groceries, and on Sunday he becomes something other than a car repairer, insurance seller, cub reporter or grocer. He becomes -voila!- SoundMan! No one on the worship team cares anymore that he knows a Ford carburetor from one made by Chevy, or that he can tell you about the various whole life policies and their intricacies, or that the tomatoes are particularly good today. They just want excellent sound, and SoundMan had better come to the rescue. Bet on it, Sweet Polly Purebread prefers SoundMan over Underdog when she’s at the microphone.

Assuming that no local SoundMan wants to disappoint a frightened public that depends on him, I have some thoughts- the SoundMan Code- that will help him/her (yes, there is SoundWoman) do the job better and, when necessary, fake it convincingly.

1) SoundMan does best when no one knows his secret identity. That is, no one in the auditorium should be aware that there is anyone actually running sound. The better you do your job, the more invisible you are. You must strive to be the Clark Kent of your church. If anyone (other than guys like me) comes to you after the service and says ‘nice sound!,’ you have failed. It’s like someone saying “Aren’t you Superman with glasses on?”

2) SoundMan looks like other humans but he is different. He knows he is different. He has a responsibility at all times in all circumstances to be mindful of the fragile nature of the situation so that he can spring into action to quell any disturbance before the humans are even aware of it. That is, SoundMan does not close his eyes and sink into deep worship during the service. He runs sound like Nehemiah’s men rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem- they had a sword in one hand and a tool in the other. SoundMan never takes his mind or his eyes off the stage. He remains at his post with his hands on the mixer, always at the ready.

3) Soundman doesn’t simply wait for evil to happen and fight it. He anticipates. He prepares. He knows, according to the service plan, what should happen next and is prepared to make it go without a hitch. He knows when the pastor is going to introduce a video and has his finger on the play button ready to make a smooth segue from pastor to screen. And he has the volume adjusted so it is both ON and is at the proper level. He runs through the segue before the service to ensure that he is prepared. SoundMan is a Boy Scouts dream.

4) SoundMan knows his powers and uses them for good. He knows also what powers he does not have and does not insinuate himself into decision-making that does not involve him. SoundMan is not the worship leader. That is a job for WorshipLeaderPerson! He doesn’t need to help plan the song selection for the worship time or the topic of the sermon. He must use his powers at the console to make others look good. SoundMan cannot fix flat notes or make the bass player stop acting like a lead guitarist. He must accept the humans with all their foibles and make them sound as good as he possibly can. SoundMan’s job is to make good sound. That is all.

5) SoundMan is humble. He has an “aw, shucks” quality about him. This is because he knows a) there is a limit to his powers and b) he is not one of the humans but must be kind to them. This makes him approachable, friendly and teachable. When someone complains about the sound, he doesn’t react against them. To SoundMan this would be tantamount to kicking a small dog. Rather, he treats them kindly and accepts their comment, even when they have no idea what they’re talking about. SoundMan must be above revenge.

6) SoundMan knows how to use his equipment. When no one is looking he is studying his gear and practicing so that, when they are looking, he will not shame himself. SoundMan has read the owner’s manual for his console front to back. He knows what all the buttons and knobs do. He has read the Church Sound Survival Guide (written by this pos writer, available here) and, because of that, has a working knowledge and understanding of all things pertaining to his responsibilities. He keeps his gear in good working order.

7) SoundMan has a sidekick. He does not do everything by himself. His sidekick is an usher, a people counter, a mother-with-a-crying-baby ouster. He does not take upon himself any of the responsibilities of the church that would keep him from his first job, which is Good Sound. Even when he must communicate with his sidekick, he never takes his mind or eyes off the job. He cannot. The humans are depending on him.

8) If you are willing to slip into the outfit and become SoundMan, you must also be willing to live by the SoundMan Code and accept all the responsibilities of being a church hero. None but the brave.

This article originally appeared in Christian Musician magazine. Bob Kilpatrick wrote the classic worship choruses “In My Life, Lord, Be Glorified” and “Here Am I (Send Me To The Nations)”, has a daily devotional on the KLove radio network and has a new book coming out with Zondervan in 2010. His website is at bobkilpatrick.com

And here is a short and helpful training video on running a sound check which you may like to share with your crew:

http://www.musicademy.com/2014/10/run-effective-sound-check-church/?hvid=2iGXe4

22/10/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Green Carpet Players: Endurance Songs

It’s always fun to discover a new group of musicians whose sound you enjoy. I discovered this one by following a trail from another blog. They are the musicians from Redeemer Church of Knoxville. Their site describes the songs as “endurance songs, a companion to help you journey by faith every day from Morning to Evening.”
I like the sound of that! The music of our faith is indeed an encouragement.
The album was released 09 October 2014, and can be bought by donation.
http://redeemerknoxville.bandcamp.com

tags: americana christian folk redeemer acoustic rock folk rock hymns liturgy retuned hymns Knoxville

24/09/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Great resource for learning new songs

There is an invaluable resource, particularly for guitarists, within the Worship Together website. In case you haven’t discovered it yet, go there now! http://www.worshiptogether.com/
Each song comes with a SONG VIDEO/NEW SONG CAFE where the song writer is interviewed, they share their song, and explain some of the unusual things they do to make the song work. Chord structures, rhythm and dynamics are all explored. It’s also helpful to hear the history of how the song came together, and the main things the writer intends the song to say. I always enjoy getting to know a little about the person behind the song as well. These clips are a great research for helping with tricky chord structures, and just getting the right feel to a song. I hope you find it helpful!

12/09/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Should worship be fun?

From the Archives: Should Worship be Fun? People-Laughing
(by Bob Kauflin at Worship matters)
More than once I’ve heard Christians insist that worship should be fun, or act like they had a responsibility to prove that Christians knew how to “party” in church. I’ve always been uncomfortable with that connection, so I started thinking about the place of “fun” in worship, if one even exists. I’m going to address this question by answering it as I posed it, and then considering two other ways it might be phrased.

Should worship be fun? If we take the exhaustive testimony of Scripture, the answer would have to be a resounding NO. “Fun” wouldn’t characterize any of the scenes in the Bible where people encounter God together, at least not the zany, slap-happy, crazy, mindless kind of fun. We’re told to worship God with reverence and awe, for he is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:28-29). To have “fun” one of our primary motives as we gather. Among other things our goals include remembering, rehearsing, and reveling in the gospel, magnifying God’s glory in Christ, spurring one another on to love and good deeds, presenting our petitions before God, and being strengthened by his Word and the communion of the saints. Celebration will certainly be included in that, but there are also times when worshipping God will produce awe, tears of repentance, or a profound silence.

But let me rephrase the question. Can worship be fun? It depends on how we define “fun.”

If “fun” is defined as a lighthearted activity with no purpose or meaning, strictly meant to amuse, then the answer to the question, “Can worship be fun?” must surely be no. When we worship God together, we are not looking to be merely entertained or momentarily distracted from the cares of this world. We’re not seeking to promote a Christian alternative to Saturday Night Live (Sunday Morning Live?). Diversion is not the same as worship. Our joy and gladness are meant to be grounded in and informed by God’s character, nature, and acts.

But when I looked up “fun” on my desktop dictionary, the first meaning was “enjoyable.” If we’re asking, “Can worshipping God be enjoyable?” then surely the answer must be yes. That doesn’t mean Isaiah 6 has no relevance to our meeting together to engage with God. But Isaiah 6 isn’t the only chapter in Scripture that describes how we are to relate to God. There have been countless times that I’ve been leading or singing as part of the congregation and thought, “I love doing this!” Joy floods my soul, and I could legitimately say I’m having “fun!”

It may be similar to what the Israelites experienced in 2 Chronicles 30. They so enjoyed celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days that Hezekiah and the people spontaneously decided to keep the feast for another seven days (2 Chron. 30:22-23)! That must have been some celebration! On another occasion, Ezra and the priests told the people not to mourn or weep because that day was “holy to the Lord” and that the joy of the Lord was their strength (Neh. 8:9-10). Holiness and joy aren’t necessarily exclusive.

When my children were growing up, I wanted them to look forward to singing worship songs, and not see a relationship with God as something that was only serious, sober, and solemn. After all, singing to God is meant to be pleasant (Ps. 135:3; Ps. 147:1). David danced before the Lord with all his might as he brought the ark back to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:12-15). The Psalmist was glad when they said to him, “Let us go up to the house of the Lord” (Ps. 122:1). So yes, when defined as enjoyment and not seen as the only aspect of our time together on Sunday morning, worshipping God can be very “fun.” People shouldn’t find our meetings dull or dour. Smiles and even laughter should abound as we consider how kind, merciful, and gracious God has been to us (Ps. 126:2)!

But let me rephrase the question one more time, to broaden the application.

“Should our fun be worship?” Well now the answer must surely be “yes.” We’re told in 1 Cor. 10:31 that whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we’re to do it all for the glory of God. Rather than focusing on making our corporate worship fun, maybe we should spend more time making sure our “fun” is worship.

Here are some questions that can lead us in that direction.

Do I choose a fun activity because there’s nothing else to do, or because I believe it will in some way cause me to grow in my love for God?
When I play games, participate in sports, or pursue a hobby, does my attitude demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit?
When I go out with a group of friends, am I seeking just to have fun, or to glorify God through encouraging them, challenging sin, and serving them?
Do the activities I consider “fun” increase my affections for God or dilute them?
Do I view my free time as belonging to me or to God?

The fun this world offers is unsatisfying, deceptive, and temporary. Let’s not idolize it or imagine it’s God offers nothing better. As Christians, we can enjoy fun activities without believing they’re the root of our happiness. The joy we experience when in worshiping God together is greater than the world will ever know, because the root is knowing our sins have been paid for through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ and we worship a risen and reigning Savior.

Our joy is ultimately in God himself. We’d be fools to look for it anywhere else.

For more on this topic, download the following messages from the Sovereign Grace Ministries website:
Worshiping God as the Source of All Secondary Joys by Randy Alcorn
A Biblical Understanding of Leisure by Jeff Purswell

[This is a slightly edited version of a post from Feb. 6, 2007]

13/08/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Watch “Psalm 139 (Live) – New Scottish Hymns” on YouTube

If you are looking for new ways to sing the Bible’s song book (the Psalms) with your local church then NEW SCOTTISH HYMNS could have some answers. If you liked the version of Psalm 139 then click here to download and print sheet music.

Here is what they have to say about their music:

Great hymns speak timeless truths with profound passion. They unite the church, giving Christians words to sing that articulate afresh the glories of Jesus Christ. The New Scottish Hymns project seeks to reignite that spirit of Scotland’s great hymn-writing tradition, and uncover its treasures for a new generation.

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

One aim of this album was to introduce some new songs that churches in Scotland might find useful in their own unique worship services. Scottish traditional music and folk melodies have an adaptable quality that renders the best of them timeless. Paraphrases from the Scottish Psalter like Psalm 23 have been sung across the world for centuries, and it’s important to remind new generations that these ancient words of scripture remain profoundly relevant. Scottish writers like Horatius Bonar and James Montgomery showed that a wealth of transforming biblical truths could be taught and absorbed through songs, so we also wanted to introduce examples of their lyrics to new listeners.

The motivation for making this hymns recording did not spring simply from a desire to create art. Hymnwriting is about making music firstly out of gratitude to Jesus Christ. With all our imperfections and limitations, Christians struggle to express anything more than an echo of His greatness, but we believe that this is a thing eminently worth sharing. For the person who finds this idea strange, it will hopefully make more sense as you listen! Our hope is that every listener might hear the joy that comes from the gospel: the good news of God’s saving and transforming love, made available to every person through his son.

06/08/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Sharing the Gospel online

This article from Paul Steinbrueck is an interesting read for anyone involved in promoting the gospel online, particularly through the local church:

What’s the best way to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people in your community? Are churches supposed to put on great services and outreach events that draw non-Christian people from the community to hear the Good News? Are individuals supposed to share their faith with their friends and neighbors?
The answer, of course, is both/and.
Even more than that, though, churches and the individuals who make them up can both be more effective at sharing their faith – online and offline – if they recognize what they’re each good at and work together.

People don’t have relationships or friendships with a church. They have relationships with other people. They listen to people. They trust people. It’s the people within a church that have relationships with those outside the church that don’t know Christ. It’s also the people within the church that have God stories. Their lives have been transformed. They have experienced God’s grace, provision, and protection.
Churches are great organizers and facilitators. They put on services and events. They have buildings and websites that can serve as the hub of their community of Christ. They can communicate and distribute content to everyone whose connected with the church.
Knowing that, here are…
7 Ways Churches and Their People Can Work Together to Share the Gospel Online
1) Share sermons. Churches – make your sermons available online. People – share them with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, email. Send the link to specific people who you think would benefit from seeing/hearing it.
2) Share events. Churches – facilitate services and events geared for unchurched people. Create web pages and Facebook events for them. Promote them on Facebook and Twitter. People – invite your friends to them.
3) Share God stories. Churches – ask people in your church to share their God stories in a worship service. Put video of those stores on YouTube, Facebook, and your website. People – share these stories with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. Send the link to specific people who you think can relate to the stories.
4) Share life. People – blog, Facebook, and tweet about what you see God doing in your life. Churches – listen to your people’s Facebook updates and tweets. Retweet those that will encourage others in your church.
5) Inspire and train. Churches – inspire and train your people to live their faith online. Preach about it. Provide resources like those on the Internet Evangelism Day website. People – listen, learn, and life your faith.
6) Collaborate. Churches – seek out and embrace the biggest bloggers, Facebookers, and Twitterers in your church. People – seek out your church leaders. Collaborate.
7) Share great content. Churches – follow creators of great Christian content – authors, bloggers, podcasters, video producers. Share their great content online. People – share and retweet the great content your church is providing you with your online friends.
Which of these ways is your church and its people working together to share the gospel online? What other ways can churches and their people work together to share the good news online?

http://blog.ourchurch.com/2011/05/17/7-ways-churches-and-their-people-can-work-together-to-share-the-gospel-online/

06/08/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

How’s your daily worship?

Even for professional worship leaders, it is easy to get so wrapped up in the logistics of leading a worship ministry that we neglect the daily art of worshiping God.

Sharing today some interesting thoughts from Nick Morrows blog, on the topic of daily worship. I’ve had an inking for a while now that many spiritual disciplines (staple daily activities for Christians for centuries) have now fallen aside in our culture of excessive entertainment and instant gratification. Other things have replaced them. (Think about things which have become daily ritual for you – are they good or the ‘best’ things you could do on a daily basis….are they in any way helping to grow your faith in Christ?)

“The deeper I dive into the world of Christian worship history, the more I want to go. Most people hear the word “history” and want to fall asleep in about seventeen seconds. But I’m convinced that we can learn much about ourselves and our spiritual ancestry by becoming students of worship history. Understanding worship history gives worship leaders a well-rounded knowledge of where we come from. As the famous saying goes, “Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

Here are a few themes I’ve seen in worship history, along with some practical suggestions in incorporating them into our worship services:

Worship as a daily practice. The earliest Christians inherited the “Tefillah” from their Jewish roots, a list of eighteen prayers to be said three times daily. Worship remained a daily ritual for most Christians up until the Middle Ages.

Many of us shudder when we hear “worship” and “discipline” mentioned in the same sentence. Many Christians today scratch their heads as to how worship works itself into our daily lives, outside of Christian radio and maybe a morning Scripture or two.

Even for professional worship leaders, it is easy to get so wrapped up in the logistics of leading a worship ministry that we neglect the daily art of worshiping God. Incorporating worship into our daily routine is more about intentionality than anything. Whether it’s reciting the Lord’s Prayer, a lunch time prayer walk, or bedtime confessions, our daily worship routines shape who we become.”

http://nickmorrowmusic.com/standing-on-the-shoulders-of-the-saints/

23/07/2014 by sevennotesofgrace

Reflections on effective Preaching: “A view from the pew”

For a preacher to have mastery of a passage, the passage ought to have mastery over him.
Preachers who preach God’s truth into life (births, deaths, marriages, job losses, debts, breakins, car accidents, cancers etc.) give me the equipment to fight and survive as God’s child in the real world.
Good preachers obliterate the divide between lofty grandeur of God and the messiness of real life, so that I see and do something about the constant rub of idolatry against the call to discipleship in my own life.
I love it when preachers tell me what arrests, intrigues, amazes and captivates them from God’s word. A preacher’s delighted, wide-eyed insight is a massive aid to engagement.
Preachers with a humble conviction about the authority of preaching pack more punch.
“Unpacking a passage” is much less exciting than releasing a wild lion into our midst.
I sense when a preacher’s preparation has included preparation of his own heart, because he preaches not only to me but to himself.
I find preachers who walk boldly into a passage hungry for vital truth, fearless of apparent exegetical, theological or pastoral difficulty are far more compelling for their courage.
I like to hear a preacher’s certainty born of a thoroughness of preparation and theological conviction.
It is frustrating when a sermon has no application.
I am discouraged when applications are effectively an exercise in heaping guilt on the listener. Rhetorical questions are a cheap way out! It is different from being challenged by gospel. My guilt has been taken by Christ!
I’m captivated when I get sense that the preacher’s hardest fight has been the fight for his own soul, obedience, understanding and submission to the truth.
Only after taking God’s word to his own heart is a preacher able to cleverly, sensitively, wisely, boldly craft a sermon that has the hearts of others as its goal. Pastors make good preachers – they are students of their own heart and other’s. They anticipate my questions.
Laughter opens hearts and minds and helps me stay awake.
Listeners lose interest when the preacher has lost interest first. (Boredom is the new morality – if it is boring it is more than wrong!)
Every preacher must ask himself at the end of every sermon, “So what!?”
God-breathed scriptures are full of risk, danger, opportunity, drama and daring – not like a stuffed lion in a museum. Tame sermons turn the living Word of God into a lifeless museum exhibit.
Preachers shouldn’t be afraid of deep truths that average mortals have to take time and thought to comprehend. It isn’t bad that a listener doesn’t understand something this time round.
I feel secure when preacher shares his sermon structure/aim for his sermon with me.
Passion in preaching is by product of love for God.
Preachers who tell me how to feel – or how they feel – leave my feelings unstirred. Challenge is to so use their words and their insight into the text and people to add the weight of all their energies to the Spirit’s sovereign work.
Choose someone interesting if you are going to copy another preacher!
Poetry and art are the preacher’s friends – they move hearts and stir affections…that my life would be warm to God!
Biblical theses and models are helpful in my understanding and recall of breadth, theme and unity of the bible.
Biblical theses and models can suck the life out of sermons when they become wheel ruts.
Good preachers don’t take themselves too seriously, but take God’s truth seriously enough to die for.
A sermon must be personal, passionate and pleading – not just a talk.
A truth known intellectually may not be a truth truly comprehended, believed and obeyed. (It’s helpful when a preacher knows I believe it, but that I haven’t acted on it or truly comprehended it. It’s great when a preacher probes, personally, from pulpit!)
You may never say anything really new, but that’s no excuse for not saying it in a fresh way.
My obedience (thought, word, deed) completes God’s purpose for preaching.(These points were taken from a talk given at the QTC Preaching Conference 2012 by musician Colin Buchanan)