• About Dr. Sam

Engage the Pews

~ Sam Tsang's Preaching Blog

Engage the Pews

Category Archives: confidence

Sermon Presentation Tips 7: The Pause

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by samtsang98 in confidence, homiletic, preaching

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

sermon presentation tips

I heard from a friend that she falls asleep every time she is in church because the preacher reads his manuscript.  The problem may not have to do with the reading, but HOW the reading is done.

The preacher must learn to pause.  Many preachers make the mistake of not taking enough time to deliberate important points, especially regarding biblical principles and applications.  As a result, sometimes the audience remembers the illustration more than the main points.  Pausing between sentences has a dramatic effect.  Sometimes silence is more important than words.  Pausing can also allow the audience to take a mental breather.  In the case of a weighty matter, the audience can pause to think and absorb the full impact of the message before the preacher goes on the next point.  In the case of laughter, many preachers do not know how to use the audience’s laughter to their advantage.  Instead of allowing the impact of humor to drive home the point, the preacher hurries along to the point while the audience is still laughing.  Oddly enough, preachers can learn from comedians.  On TV, successful comedians have learned the timing of reentering the monologue in the midst of laughter.  The best time to do so is a second or so before the laughter totally dies down.  Again, the most important part of the application gets lost due to this lack of attention to such oratory detail.  For most preachers I have encountered, they can never pause enough.

What good will the pause do?  It does two things. First, it shows the preacher to be confident and in control.  Second, it allows the audience to take a mental breather in order to continue the journey of listening.  Everyone needs a break sometimes. Even the preacher.

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google

Like this:

Like Loading...

Sermon Presentation Tip 6: Fillers and Other Illnesses

20 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by samtsang98 in confidence, homiletic, preaching

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

sermon presentation tip

If you watch interviews with athletes, you will inevitably find some more attractive than others, mostly based on their communication habits.  One of the worst communication habits is fillers.  Many talk with fillers such as “er, ah”.  These sounds make the speaker sound boring, diffident and unqualified. For us who communicate for a living, we need to get rid of them now.

The preacher can eliminate all filler words such as “er, ah”.  Instead, use those times for taking an extra breath.  Extra breath helps gather thoughts by keeping the voice healthy and the mind refreshed.  Another obvious disadvantage with fillers is that they make the preacher look like he or she does not know the subject matter.  Worse yet, they make the preaching look like it lacks conviction.  Both problems can deflate the preacher’s credibility, especially if the audience does not know him or her.  Thus, the preacher must be even more prepared when appearing as guest speaker.  The best ways to start getting rid of fillers is first to eliminate them from daily conversations and second to get enough sleep so that the brain can function during the sermon event.  It will take a while. Do not get frustrated. Keep trying.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google

Like this:

Like Loading...

Struggle Over Self-Improvement

07 Sunday Jul 2013

Posted by samtsang98 in confidence, homiletic, pastoral habit

≈ 3 Comments

Many of my students struggle with self-improvement.  Some who have read my books on preaching have decided, “What’s the point?  I have too many faults.”  Others take a more positive outlook and try to improve on EVERYTHING.  Neither approach is good.  Giving up is certainly not an option, if you want to last in church ministry.  Taking the obsessive compulsive approach is also harmful to relationships and our other pastoral duties.  What should we do?

Let me share a secret with you.  Even after written books on preaching, I still don’t live up to my own ideal.  Some of my listeners may soon find out that I actually do not fit the ideal I present in the book, not because I don’t want to but because I’m a fellow homiletic pilgrim.  I still can improve.  Quite often, my knowledge runs ahead of my presentation skills.

This is what I propose.  We should try to improve on one single aspect each month or even each quarter.  Practice makes progress.  Perfect practice makes perfect.  In other words, only repeated practice can break our bad habits.  Do not try to be ambitious.  Many try to do many things all at once.  At the end, they find that they’ve made only minimal improvement.  Sometimes, they make zero improvement even.  We must stay patient by running a marathon rather than sprints in our homiletical improvement.  I think every preacher can improve on something, even well-seasoned ones.  We have the rest of our lives to improve and perfect our craft.  Why hurry?

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google

Like this:

Like Loading...

Two Cliches about Confidence

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by samtsang98 in confidence, homiletic, pastor preacher, preaching

≈ Leave a comment

I think it was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said that there were many miniature Martyn Lloyd-Jones running around England in this time.  What he means is that there’re a lot of imitators.  The cliché of “imitation is the highest form of flattery” is only a cliché when it comes to preaching.  In my years of teaching this discipline, I’ve come to the conclusion that each person is uniquely equipped by God to carry out the task.  No two people do it quite the same way. I think the biggest problem with imitation is insecurity.  Many people are not comfortable in their own skins.  Some hate their voices. Others feel nausea when they speak in public.  Still others think that they’re too short, ugly, fat, skinny, small, big, and you can fill in the blank.  Some may fill in two blanks.  The fact is, there is always something we don’t like about ourselves, but no one else knows about that “something.”

When we’re standing on the pulpit, we must realize that each of us is uniquely created for the task.  We should not try to be someone else, no matter how great that someone else is.  Some may imitate Joel Osteen because he’s such a great orator. Others hate him, but no one is going to sound like Joel Osteen other than Osteen himself.  Most men are hardly that handsome and almost none of us can dress quite as sharp.  Love him or hate him, he is Joel Osteen.  You are you, last time I checked.  Negatively, we have to accept that we can’t change certain things.  Positively, we have to affirm that each of us has qualities that those famous preachers do not have.  In order to be comfortable in our own skins, we should affirm the above qualities.

“Be yourself. Accept yourself, as God accepts you.”  This is yet another cliché we use only for junior high kids.  All of us know that we have things we need to change.  Being comfortable in our own skins does not mean we do not improve ourselves.  It also does not mean that we need to improve everything all at once. This goes for both preaching and life.  My suggestion is that I need to find one thing to improve upon until I perfect it and then go to the second item.

What am I trying to say in this post?  I can summarize it in this paradoxical sentence: be comfortable but not self-satisfied in your own skin.

By the way, I’m not going to tell you what I don’t like about myself, just in case you’re wondering.  Don’t bother asking …

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google

Like this:

Like Loading...

Recent Posts

  • Dear White Pastor …
  • Book Review of Eastern Voices
  • First Apology as the Mirror of the True Self
  • The Resurrection of the Chair of Death: The Herman Miller Story
  • Writing is a Privilege!

Archives

  • August 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012

Categories

  • Advent
  • book review
  • celebrity conversion
  • Christ in preaching
  • Christian Education
  • church and politics
  • church fathers
  • Church tradition
  • confidence
  • death
  • discipleship
  • education
  • ethnicity
  • evangelicalism
  • expository preaching
  • funeral
  • gender
  • homiletic
  • Jay Chou's conversion
  • leadership
  • ministry change
  • moral lesson in narratives
  • N. T. Wright
  • Newtown
  • pastor preacher
  • pastoral habit
  • preaching
  • preaching community
  • preparing to preach
  • prophetic preaching
  • race
  • Rick Warren's Facebook Red Guard
  • Right Texts
  • Right Texts Wrong Meanings
  • sermon illustration
  • shepherd
  • social justice
  • social media
  • speech act
  • technology in church
  • the Lord's Supper
  • The New Testament and the People of God
  • The NEw Testament and the People of God Chinese edition
  • the preacher's attribute
  • Uncategorized
  • worship
  • writing
  • Wrong Meanings

Dr. Sam Tsang’s Public Page

Dr. Sam Tsang’s Public Page

RSS Articles from my other blog

  • Right Texts, Wrong Prayers? On the Prayers at the Inauguaration January 20, 2017
    Well, well, well, the day we’ve all anticipated has finally arrived. As expected, as one of my non-Christian friends remarked, …Continue reading →
  • Post-Election Sticks and Stones: Lessons on Words after the Trump Election November 13, 2016
    “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Nonsense. “The tongue is also a fire, …Continue reading →
  • “If Any of You Are Without Sin …”: Trump and Evangelical Illiteracy October 14, 2016
    “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw stone …” John 8.7 (NIV) …Continue reading →
  • Obligation to What? Christian Approach to the Political Process September 28, 2016
    “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…” Galatians 1.3 (NIV) I’ve been writing …Continue reading →
  • Colin Kaepernick Exposes Our Greatest Problem September 14, 2016
    “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be …Continue reading →

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.com
Advertisements

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: