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Showing posts with the label Speaking Series

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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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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Stand and deliver

Today is my tenth post in this series on preaching, and if you missed the previous nine, just click here to catch up. Today I'm covering general things that help in the actual delivery process.  I'm sure I sound like a broken record for those who have been reading this for all ten posts so far, but remember, these are just things I've found helpful that you might too. I'm by no means considering myself an expert nor saying, "THIS is the way it needs to be done."  I'm sharing this because a good friend asked me to do it here on the blog.  So here we go. If you are speaking somewhere where you are not the person in charge, always acknowledge the leadership who invited you.  Never forget what a privilege it is to stand in someone else's pulpit.  You are there by their invitation and under their authority.  This weekend Larry and I are actually away from the church we pastor -- we are in Phoenix, AZ for the week for General Council and this weeke...
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We don't need another Joyce Meyer

This is the ninth post in this series on message preparation.  If you've missed the previous eight posts, just go to the "preaching" label to catch up. One of the main things I believe about delivery of a message is staying true to who God has made you to be. A concern I have for those who are starting out in speaking ministries today is that things have become so commercialized with formulas of how to do things -- everything from marketing your ministry to how to deliver your message.  I realized last week when a friend asked me for any preaching helps I could give here on the blog that this is probably the reason I've never shared any.  My concern for this is that in such many may lose the experience of allowing God to uniquely shape them and instead copying a pattern followed by another.  My feeling is that this can actually short circuits your efforts or dreams - not accelerate them, if you aren't careful to seek God for the way that He wants you to fulf...
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Don't tweak to the crowd! What about 2 or 3 don't we understand?

This is the eighth post in a series on message preparation here on the blog.  If you missed the previous seven posts, just go to the " preaching" label here on the blog and you can catch up on the whole thing if you've missed it. Today I'm going to focus on delivery and a few things that are personally important to me. One of my pet peeves is when a speaker changes what they do based upon the amount of people that show up.  Can I just say, I think that's lame.  It happens so much I believe this subject is deserving of it's own post. I committed from the very beginning of my ministry that I'd never tweak to the crowd, and I haven't.  I can remember years ago bringing guest speakers into churches we've pastored and having 10 or less of my women show up for an event.  I felt like a failure at times although it had nothing to do with me and I had advertised the daylights out of the event.  I have to be honest that I didn't realize just how ...
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They are FOR you...

This is the seventh post in the message preparation series that I've been asked to do here by a friend.  If you missed the previous six posts, just scroll back or go to the "Preaching" tab here on the blog. Today I want to tell you something important about delivery, and that is that all of the sane people out there are for you.  That might sound really strange, but I really must take time to say this.  The normal people who are sitting there listening are for you.  I know some of you are really discouraged right now because you're thinking, "Um, Deanna, do you know how many insane, irregular, and dysfunctional people that I know?"    :) Okay, besides them. One of the most important points that I can possibly make to lots of you out there who are feeling the call to preach but are nervous is that a majority of people are for you.   Yes, I know "God is a majority".  But I'm telling you as sure as I'm sitting here that MOST people w...
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Illustrations: the dessert!

Today we're continuing this blog series on message preparation.  If you missed the previous five posts, be sure to go back and check them out. If the Bible is the meat of your message (which it always should be!) then illustrations are the dessert!  I love the Word of God, and make no mistake - preaching is about the Word of God. Illustrations within a message serve to open people's eyes to the relevancy, the "now" way the Word of God is working in hearts and lives.  Illustration certainly shouldn't replace the central role of the Bible, rather they serve to explain what we are communicating from God's Word.  My husband and I always say that they help people to know how to live out the Word of God on Monday.  It's one thing to read in the Word of God what happened with Moses, but how does that apply to you?  To me?  To us?  Illustrations also serve to motivate and inspire people with how Word has been made manifest in people's lives, how He i...
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Nuts & bolts...page numbers and outlines and all that stuff...

This week I'm doing a series on message preparation since a friend expressed interest in me doing this, and here we are with post number five on this subject.  If you have missed the first four parts of this series, just go back and read the past few days on the blog and it will cover it.  Or, just look at everything under the label, "Preaching", here on the blog. Today we're talking about the number of pages to prepare as well as an outline.  Please note that today we're not covering what supporting sources (in addition to the Bible) that I get my information from or any of that.  We are simply talking about my personal method of outlining and deciding the number of pages.  Realize that this is extremely subjective and other preachers would   tell you something different, and they would not be wrong.  I am sharing this because a friend asked me to do a blog series about what personally helps me, not giving a "this is how you do it," or "this is...
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Substance and style, and all that good stuff...

Today we're continuing the series on message preparation, as I was requested to share some helpful hints by a friend in ministry last week.  If you've missed the previous posts on this, go here , here and here .  Many times I have been asked if I stick with topical or expository preaching and how that determination has been made for me personally.  The answer is that I have done both, and continue to. The decision is made by whether I am dealing with one specific text in a message, or whether I will be pulling from several or many different areas of the Bible.  If I am doing the latter, I generally set it up as a topical message versus going verse by verse.  Some ministers believe very strongly that expository preaching is the ONLY right way.  I don't agree.  I believe it all depends on the way the spirit is leading and I know God works through both. My life has been changed through both.  For those who say that is not really possible I'll just...
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Quiet time when every obstacle possible seems to be in the way

Today's post is the third in my blog series on message preparation.   Yesterday I shared that quiet time is of utmost importance to me in receiving message ideas.   When I share with others about having a regular quiet time most of them, especially women, talk about how hard that is.  They are living in noisy households, with a zillion demands pulling them in all different directions, and every obstacle imaginable seems in the way. The most important thing I've learned about quiet time is, you can't leave it to chance.  And, you must plan ahead and persevere.   I also encourage you to take advantage of spontaneous opportunities. I realize those greatest challenged are mothers of babies or small children and especially single mothers.  First let me say that quiet time  WAS much more difficult when my kids were little.  I found myself having most of my quiet time after they were asleep.  It was always my habit to stay up long en...
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Be quiet!

Yesterday I began a blog series about message preparation after a friend asked me this past week for any help I might offer here on the blog.  If you missed my post yesterday about starting with the end in mind, I recommend you go back and read it.  Today I'm going to talk about the second thing I do which I'm not really sure is always second, I guess most times it's first and starting with the end in mind becomes second.  You'll see what I mean in a minute. While I'm a person of prayer, most of my message topics don't come to me during the moments of passionate intercessory prayer.  Although I'm always open to that happening and I spend time weekly in focused prayer, the subjects or titles for messages, or the main points of messages don't come in those times.  They usually just come as I'm spending quiet time in general. One thing I have noticed is that anybody who I have ever seen mightily used of the Lord prioritizes quiet time.  You hear t...
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Start with the end in mind

Earlier this week a friend e-mailed me and said, "hey, real quick...where can I find something on your blog that you've written with advice about how you prepare your messages?"   I thought about it and realized I've never done a blog post or series of posts on that topic.  Never thought about it!  I had nothing to give her as far as a blog post but immediately thought, " Wow, great idea for a blog series!"  Today has been such a busy day.  Amidst several meetings and projects, I'm preparing a message to bring at the House of Prayer Church in Tampa this Saturday.  I'm not even blogging til' after 9 pm, so anyone who knows me well realizes it must have really been a busy day!  (I usually blog pretty early and not much gets in the way of blogging.)  :::smile::: Tonight my goal is to finish the message and that will give me another 24 hours to tweak it as I pray over it.  This will be a short blog post as I still need to do that, but...
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