Well, after all that worry and fuss, preaching for the preachers at the preaching conference wasn't so bad. In fact, I actually had fun. It helped that about halfway during the sermon, the presenter/preaching professor Craig Satterlee gave me a "thumbs up" from the back of the room. He told me later that the line that won him over was: "When the people came out to see what had happened, they may have noticed the healing of the former demoniac, but what they really saw was the dead pigs."
The preaching evaluation was just four questions:
1.) Did you hear the gospel?
2.) What was it?
3.) Any commendations?
4.) Any recommendations?
Our presenter Craig said this is a great way to evaluate sermons in groups of clergy (synod clergy gathering theme, anyone) and is also good to do with members of the congregation (anyone want to do this when I get back?)
The feedback was helpful. People told me they heard gospel and were able to articulate it in a way that generally matched my intent. People gave me kind praise on my delivery, craft of the sermon, good use of story-telling, sense of humor and tying the ending/beginning together.
People gave me good feedback, primarily to SLOW DOWN (ah, the bane of my existence. One of my college friends always said I should be an auctioneer). Another piece of feedback was avoid using "scholarly" language when it's a word you wouldn't use in normal conversation and to watch how much I moderated the pitch of my voice (too much for some and they couldn't catch all the words).
It was an incredibly helpful, affirming and humbling experience. I'm grateful.
I'm also getting some great insights into preaching and things to do in the congregation for when I come back. Today, for the first time since I went on sabbatical four weeks ago, I heard an idea about something to do with lay people in a congregation and thought, "Wow, how great! I'm excited to get back to Central and try it!" I think this means I'm getting some rest.
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