Three Chord Wonder: Sunday Eighteenth May Two Thousand and Eight

Became the day that I first preached my church. Or any church in fact.

Following from some of the challenges that God gave me a few months ago, I met with Ian (Savory) to talk about what God was up to and what I should do about it. In that conversation, I asked if I could speak at OG.

When Hol and I first went to OG, Ian would often ask me to speak , and each time I thought about it and said no. I never felt I knew enough to speak or that I had anything to say!!

I'm not seeking knowledge for the sake of it, but I have since read stuff, and heard stuff and lots of it has sunk in! This time, it was the right time.

So, bravely, Ian gave me a slot in our series on Spiritual Gifts to look at the gift of Shepherding. This turned out to be kinda ironic given that between being given the topic and speaking on it, Keith Hazel turns round and gives me a prophesy which includes shepherding.

How did it go? Well, quite well I think. I had lots of positive feedback which was very encouraging, including several people saying that I was very 'clear', which I'm very happy with. In fact, based solely on the feedback, I'm the best speaker in the land! What that really means is that I have yet to hear the 'improvement' type comments or worse still, that I will be my own worst critic when I listen back to it (which I will be doing, painful though it sounds...)

I enjoyed the preparation, which I didn't leave until the last minute. I enjoyed being at the front and talking to the church as a whole. My head has not swelled. I was not nervous.

One aspect that I'm very pleased was a technological challenge. A piece of video that I was going to use just would not play on the church machine (missing CODEC I believe.) It was the only visual element I was going to use. Though it was short, it would have made an important point, yet it didn't throw me and I think I managed to keep the flow of my notes without it.

For those that want to see it, click away: