You're probably familiar with the 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle: 20% of your effort will produce 80% of your results and so on.  Along that line, I just read a great blog post about how the Pareto Principle applies to public speaking.  I pass it on for your perusal. Use the Pareto Principle for More Powerful Presentations The 80/20 Rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, helps explain the power of simplicity. The 80/20 Rule is pervasive in our world. For example: 80% of traffic jams occur on the 20% of roads 80% of beer is consumed by 20% of drinkers 80% of profits come from 20% of customers 80% of sales are generated by 20% of sales people In other words, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that…

Know why. "You shouldn't give a public speech unless you want to make something happen." - Tom Peter I first became acquainted with Peters when I read his book "In Search of Excellence" and then "Thriving on Chaos."  What makes for an effective business makes for an effective sermon or speech: knowing the purpose behind what you're doing or saying. When it comes to preaching, our goal is two-fold: 1) to faithfully communicate God's truth and 2) to see lives changed.  Knowing why you are preaching helps shape more than just the outline, it shapes the heart and passion you bring to the platform.

Stick with it. "All the great speakers were bad speakers at first." - Ralph Waldo Emerson The only way to get better at preaching (or public speaking) is to do it over and over and over again.  In business terms, it's called churning.  Develop the product and churn it. When it comes to preaching, it's a never-ending process of learning what worked and what didn't.  It's getting comfortable in front of a crowd.  It's sticking with it.

Paraphrasing Phillips Brooks, a 19th century preacher in Boston, preaching is "God speaking through personality." Effective preaching occurs when the Word that been stirring within the preacher becomes the words he uses in a sermon. That's why it's almost impossible to preach someone else's passion. Once when Mark Twain's wife grew weary of his constant foul language, she repeated back word-for-word a sentence filled with curse words.  Twain smiled and said she had the words right but she lacked the passion. It's why David refused to fight in Saul's armor; it wasn't the right size.  It wasn't David's armor. God wants to speak through jars of clay.  Out of our life experiences God wants to work and use them to bless others. As preachers we want to say the right words but let us never just recite them back without passion. Posted from WordPress for Android