I will be doing something at the end of July that I never thought I would do. Preach. The sheer thought of it makes me want to hurl. The irony is that I have been leading worship in front of people for close to 20 years and been giving presentations at work for a while. I’ve stood before some high level decision makers within our government to present projects I’m working on. But public speaking is not something I’ve really ever done. But that’s about to change in a little over a month.
My pastor asked me to be a part of a series we will be doing on worship, which is right up my alley. The anxiousness I feel isn’t about the topic, though, because I have a lot to say about living a life of worship! It’s the delivery of the message. Will I say something stupid? Will anything I say be interesting or engaging for those listening? I want to interact with the audience but my fear is they won’t participate. How I can be effective? All of these doubts and questions are filling my mind to the point that I could easily talk myself out of doing it altogether. But I feel compelled to do it for some reason.
I have decided that I’m going to talk about it over the next month instead of fret about it. I’m reading Austin Kleon’s newest book Show Your Work and he recommends that artists share their process, not just their product. It is one thing to present a painting, but it’s another thing to talk about the actual painting process. And that’s what I want to do with the message I’ll be preaching in July. And I want to get ideas and feedback from anyone willing to share what engages them with a public speaker and ways they wish they would be engaged. I think it’ll be a fun process.
It would mean a lot if you would be a part of this journey in helping me develop and deliver this very first message of mine. I genuinely hope you will decide to join me!
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