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Showing posts with the label Preaching

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...
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This Could Have Ruined Everything... (But It Didn't!)

 No one would ever guess what happened to me this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida...so I'm going to tell you. :) As I was preaching at the Fearless Tour at New Hope Assembly of God this weekend,  I got choked up, literally. For probably 2-3 minutes I coughed profusely and greatly struggled. Then I drank some water and kept preaching. Everyone was gracious to give me a few moments to get my bearings. If you were there, you'll remember it! What no one realized at the time was that I swallowed a bug that flew right in while I was preaching! So disgusting! I said nothing because I was at a point in the sermon where I was really connecting and I knew if I said, "I swallowed a bug," everyone would either laugh profusely or be really concerned, or start feeling sorry for me.  And at that point whey wouldn't be thinking about the message anymore, but the fact that I had just swallowed a bug. They would then imagine what it would be like, and feel grossed out which...
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The Day I Almost Suffocated at a Women's Conference

Years ago I was in a place of deep depression. I was reading my Bible, maybe more than ever, because I was in such a desperately low place. I was praying daily. I was seeking God. I was not only seeking Him, I was begging Him to help me, to speak to me, to do something that only He could do. In the midst of this, I was the speaker at a women's conference. I've never stopped working or serving for the past thirty years, even when I've been in a low place. Some people might say, "Well, that's your problem, right there!" I guess one could look at it that way. I just see it that even on my worst days I get up, dress up and show up.  And believe me there were plenty of days I didn't feel like doing any one of those three things. On this particular occasion I was the keynote speaker, but the host of the conference was also speaking in one of the sessions. As I sat there, I experienced something that was common for a women's conference or church servi...
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What Communicators Can Learn From Donald Trump
(You Can Learn Something from Everyone!)

“What is the fascination with Donald Trump?   I don’t get it.   I’m stumped about what people – especially Christians, see in him, and why so many are following him.” I see a variation of this statement on Facebook at least once a day.    Donald Trump isn’t my candidate.   My choice has already dropped out . This post isn't about my choice for president , for quite f rankly I'm undecided .    Many say it's going to come down to the lesser of two evils, come November 8. I don't believe that. I believe what we will eventually be faced with is the evil of two lessers. But I digress... The goal of this post is to not to promote anyone. I want to share my thoughts on the fascination factor as well as give those who preach, as well as anyone who communicates publicly -- something to think about.  I'm a firm believer, we can learn something from every person and every conversation. The le ssons from Trump are rich, pun intended....
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When You Want Speaking Invitations

Are you totally itching to get speaking invitations? Here's something you might want to think about. Time Out I took the summer off from traveling to speak outside the church. Even before my natural mother got diagnosed with cancer or passed away, I did this because I needed a time out. It wasn't a hard decision to say no to invitations, because home is my favorite place to be. I had no aspirations to go anywhere in 2014, except for my preaching trip to Africa which is already scheduled. I'd be perfectly fine should Jesus just decide to keep me here. It would be nice to not have to flat iron my hair yet again.  But this past week people have started to reach out to me about scheduling for the months ahead.  So I'm open, and praying and saying, "Whatever you want, Lord."
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Who Wants Speaking Opportunities?

"How do you get speaking opportunities?" I'm often asked this question. I haven't really struggled. And there are a few reasons for that, some of which may surprise you. I'm actually really content to stay home and write til' the cows come home, but people keep asking me to come speak. I'm humbled and honored, each and every time. I believe one of the reasons I continually get invites is, I know how to do exactly what I'm asked to do. Don't ever underestimate this. Even if you're good at what you do, maybe even GREAT at what you do, you have to become good at doing whatever people ask you to do. How good you are at what you do doesn't really matter to those bringing you in unless you're actually delivering what they want. If you're a chef and someone asks for chicken cordon bleu and you deliver them a lobster, certainly lobster is amazing but if it's not at all what they wanted, or they may even be allergic to it, ...
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On The Road Again...

I'm headed to Bradenton tonight to preach at a Christmas event at Harvest Chapel . The lead pastors of this church are Brian and Paula Royer. Wonderful people! Just love 'em! I've preached at this beautiful church once before, for a sectional women's event. It was a great time. Can't wait to be back there with them tonight.  If you're in the Bradenton area, why don't you come over and join us? ( 7 pm) Before I head to Bradenton, I've been attacking the stack of work that's on my agenda upon my return from our trip.   We're gearing up for a lot more at Celebration Church that's happening this season, particularly our Christmas Show which is this Sunday night. This year our team has written the Christmas Show -- we've all contributed, but it's me at the helm of this project and it's been quite the ride! It's going to be a powerful night. Can't wait to see what God does. The show is more than just beautiful ...
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Life changing memories...

Today I'm sharing a video that's real special to me...it's from one of my trips to Africa and includes some favorite preaching and altar clips. (Special thanks to Gary Boggess for doing the edit and making it possible!) This makes a great addition to my speaking page which was just updated. Most of my day was spent lying on my back in a dark room trying to get rid of a migraine with nausea. (Ugh!) So...no deep insights today here on the blog -- just sharing a video and I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts. Much love,
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WOW, WOW, WOW...we GET to do this!!!

Whether you are teaching a Sunday School class of three year olds today, or you are giving a devotional at a homeless shelter, or you are the pastor of a church of twenty people, or the leader of a mega church, please realize the HUGE honor it is to speak to ANYBODY. God has entrusted US.  Does that blow your mind like it does mine?  I'm tellin' you, I never lose the wonder that God gives me opportunity to talk to anybody. When I'm a little bit more rested I'll blog about my weekend in North Carolina.  There's no rest yet --  after flying in last night, unpacking and catching up with my family,  I have service at Celebration this morning.  Then Larry and I leave to minister this evening at Harvest Assembly in Lakeland, FL.  It's Pastor Appreciation Sunday for our dear friends Pastors Keith & Joy Conley and they've asked us to come and speak for this special evening in their honor. Tomorrow night is our October Women's Connection at Cel...
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Do something powerful. Remind yourself.

I feel weird. I mean weirder than usual. I'm living on Zyrtec and Zicam after returning from NC with a bad cold.  Last night before I preached I told the crowd, "Sorry for any accidental heresy that may come out tonight...I'm high on cold medication and really don't know what I might say..." I have to do a bunch of church work today and tomorrow, plus handle four job seeker appointments, and somehow I'll manage this even though my head feels like it has about a million tiny push pins in it. I can't put off doing anything because I leave Thursday morning again for North Carolina for another few days of ministry.  I can't put it off til' later, cuz there is no later... So here I am blogging. I'm sure some may wonder, "why?" If I'm so busy, why do I blog? If I feel bad, why do I blog? If I have other work sitting there that needs to be done, why do I take a break and blog? Because this is an important daily reminder to ...
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We're fighting over BOWLS

This is what happens every time I'm getting ready to preach somewhere.  My husband and I start to have some very intense moments of fellowship.  ::smiles::   Sometimes it's over big things and sometimes it's over stuff like bowls. You might want to click this link before you go any further, and come back, just to have a good understanding on what I'm about to say here.  I know many pastors won't admit stuff like this, but Larry and I aren't most pastors and we will tell you right up front that what you see it what you get.  The other night,  Jeff Staudte,  our missionary guest at Celebration said, "This is the most REAL church I've been to in a long, long time!"  Well it starts with the pastors. This is real life, folks.  Men stereotypically accuse women of being complicated.  We get accused of playing games, not really saying what we mean, saying one thing and meaning another, yada yada yada. I often tell my husband how bless...
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3 Ways to Evaluate Yourself to the Next Level

Evaluation is not always easy but it's always profitable if our heart is open.  Yesterday I promised to share some things I do to get the right kind of feedback to bring improvement in preaching.  Here are three things I do: Evaluate Myself Without a doubt I'm my own toughest evaluator.   Back when I started 25 years ago I would listen to  obsess over cassette tapes of my preaching every time.   (Yeah, remember cassette tapes?  I remember 8 tracks too, although we didn't have them as sermon tapes.  Classic!!)  Then CD's came into existence and I started evaluating those, and now I review the messages online when our sound person e-mails them to me. I will often put a message on my iPod and listen to it later while I walk or exercise.  I think, "let me detach and pretend I don't know myself and am listening to a stranger.  What would my first impression be of this person talking?  Would I be inclined to keep listening?...
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Why most preachers never significantly improve

I'm about to step into a controversial minefield.  I know that.  It happens.  It's why my husband has called me, "Sassy" for 25 years.  I tend to dare to say things that nobody else will verbalize which is why I keep getting invitations to teach about sex.   Don't worry, I'm not going to talk about sex in this post.  I'm kind of tired of talking about sex, at least this morning.  ::smiles:: How many preachers do you know who are basically the same this year as they were last year?  I know most people are better than the first time they preached.  That would pretty much be everybody.  But this post is about significant improvement and reaching your full potential -- not just a little tweaking here and there or the fact that less people are going to sleep when you preach. I'm just going to cut to the chase and say that most male preachers never improve much because the person they trust most has lied to them.  And they are...
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