Seeking Excellence

I was delighted with the posting to my last question about what I should tell Senior Pastors at this upcoming conference (Center of Excellence in Congregational Leadership ). I was urged to ensure these "battle worn scar satuated pastors" receive some JOY rather than academic lectures. I resonate with that!

Another suggestion has been made to me that I include time to talk about "preaching without notes." Apparently this person had heard me speak on this subject some time ago and it transformed his subsequent preaching. I am always concerned that "preaching without notes" can be deemed merely a clever technique for improving communication skills. Certainly it is a technique and developing the primary (short term) memory is something I encourage all my students to do. But, of course, no amount of skilful presentation can compensate if there is no faithful exegesis and sound interpretation of Scripture and sheer zing of the Spirit blowing through the whole process.

However, since I have seven hours for teaching I think I will include a challenge about preaching without notes. I need to do it joyfully though! I am also deciding on a Scripture text for practical work during the day. More on that shortly.