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How to improve your public speaking

We don't like having our presentation criticised by other people. I find the best way to improve my public speaking from the pulpit is to record the service with a small dictaphone and then criticise myself. I know the dictaphone is impartial so I have to believe what it tells me. For other tips on starting to preach look at this How to become a local preacher with the Methodist Church in the U.K.

Preaching lens

You might like to take a look at my Squidoo lens below. I have been charting my progress learning to be a local preacher. I try to be honest and put in the difficult bits, for instance getting a poor mark on an assignment and reacting badly to the fact. There are plenty of good moments too. Here it is How to become a local preacher with the Methodist Church in the U.K.

Oh dear!

I haven't been a very good blogger lately. First let me tell you about the weekend I mentioned in my last post. It was most enjoyable and I met lots of new people from our newly amalgamated circuit. We learnt about God's covenant with Moses and our covenant with God. One really important thing was that it was pointed out that the God of the Old Testament was a God of loving kindness and not the fierce God he is sometimes represented as being.One of our friends fell and cracked her arm. Fortunately I had travelled down in a car with friends and so was able to drive home the lady with the damaged arm.I've written a squidoo lens about Job. Here is the link if you are interested. Interesting Bible People:Job

Weekend coming

Tomorrow I'm off to Torquay for the weekend with other folks from my circuit.I'm sure we will have a good time. I'm looking forward to a break from the PC, much as I love it.I will tell you all about the week end when I get back. Before I forget my latest assignment for section B of Faith and Worship gained a mark of 65 from my tutor. That is much more encouraging. Now here is a link to see some of God's wonderful creation this Autumn. The Devon lane in early Autumn

Bible stories

On Squidoo I have written several Bible stories. If you want to get a quick idea of one of these interesting Bible people take a look at my lens. I give a link below. If you click on my photo you can then navigate to my other lenses. This one is about Rahab, there are others about Esther, Naaman, Ruth and Mary Magdalene. Feel free to use these Bible stories wherever you can. Interesting Bible People Rahab

I'm back

It's certainly time I posted here again. So what have I been doing? Well I've completed more than 50 lenses on Squidoo and become a Giant Squid. After that I went on holiday. Also I had a disagreement with my Faith and worship tutor because he gave me a low mark. Our problem is that he is a first time tutor so neither of us really knew if he was marking correctly or not. However an experienced tutor took a look at my work and backed up the tutor, so I had to humble myself and re-do it. My problem is more essay technique than lack of knowledge. the original mark was 42 now it is 54. I am quite content with that and hoping for better things in future as I pick up the essay technique of answering what the question asks. I have taken an all-age service since my last post and enjoyed it very much and it has been a great help with Faith and worship as this was the topic of the unit 8 assignment.I am now beginning to prepare for a Remembrance Day service, first of all askin

Supporting one another

We all have friends and from time to time they need our support. This is one of the most important things we can do, to bear one another's burdens. Of course our turn will come to need the support. Accepting help is not easy for some people, when they have spent their lives being the strong, resourceful one. Allowing others to help us is important as it brings a blessing to the helper. It is a form of humility to accept help. So when after spending a busy life helping others you come down to earth with a bump, be gracious and accept the help offered with gratitude.

Divorce

I've been married twice and divorced twice. I'm not proud of it and yet neither am I ashamed. It is just the road life has taken me along. I was brought up in a strictly christian home where the thought of divorce was something to be avoided at all costs. My father was a difficult man (what man isn't) his was because of mental health problems and my mother did in fact talk about divorce but, I think, not seriously. I certainly intended to stay married to my first husband come what may and succeeded for 28 years. I will not go into the details of what happened but I married another man and after 8 years found this impossible to live with. Being a caring person I now have two men to worry about. However I feel I now have a huge advantage as a preacher in that I can relate to today's people and understand some of their problems and as I have experienced the Lord's forgiveness in my life, I can assure others that they too can receive this forgiveness.There is no l

Squidoo for you

On squidoo I have posted a lens, as we call it, of my experiences in training to be a local preacher in the Methodist church. I would like it and my lenses about Interesting Bible People to be useful to as many people as possible. Also many of my poems may be useful in a service and I am quite happy for any preacher to use them like this. Below is one link. If you click on my photo on that lens this should lead you to a list of all my lenses which you can then click on to navigate my site. How to become a local preacher in the Methodist church

Poems of loss

This is the address for my Poems of Loss. I have written about folks losing their Grandchild; an elderly lady losing her husband; my loss of a little friend when I was three and the loss of a marriage. I would like the poems to help others going through bereavement. My faith in Jesus does not make me come up with any slick answers to these events. We all have to find our own answers in our own way.I grieve through my poetry as I am not a person who finds it easy to cry. Here is another address for my poem about losing a lifelong friend earlier this year. http://www.squidoo.com/lastingfriendship . If you find it hard to cry perhaps you should try poetry too. http://www.squidoo.com/poemsofloss

Faith and worship

(10.09.13  Faith and Worship is the name of the course that local preacher's in the Methodist Church in Great Britain have to go through to become accredited preachers.  The bulk of this blog was written when I was still studying.  I became accredited in October 2011.) I've been doing far too much squidoo, but at last it is under control and I have returned to Faith and worship. I have just sent unit 7 assignment to my tutor and await his comments with interest. I feel refreshed after the break from it and am plunging with renewed energy into unit 8. This looks fairly straight forward and the assignment is about planning a service, which should be not an impossibility after taking services for 9 months.I have had five weeks off from taking a service and I didn't like this gap. As I'm called to preach this is what I want to do. I took my first family service last Sunday and enjoyed it very much. I was talking about Job and his problems and how he tore his clothes and

Section A

I've posted off my work for section A. Now to get on with B. Onward and upward as they say. It does feel good to have completed A, progress is being made.I think my tutor is more nervous than I as to the outcome, but then I am his first student. We are learning from each other.But then that should always be the case. It's an adventure we go on together.The course seems to be suiting me alright but I feel there are a lot of potentially excellent local preachers out there who are put off by the study. Something should be devised to include these good people, we can ill afford to do without them, especially as the numbers of ministers is dropping. What did Wesley do? You don't need a degree, or even A levels to preach. You need a call, and a close relationship with God.

Music theory

Here's my latest lens on Squidoo, about music theory http://www.squidoo.com/theory-of-music-1 I have 40 years experience of teaching music so it should be easy to understand. Went to a good send off for our retiring District Chairman John Carne. I don't know him well, but he's done a good job and is most friendly and approachable.Look forward to meeting the new one Pete Pilinger.this time of year is a busy one for the furniture vans.Local preachers have the job of keeping things steady while all the changes take place.Tonight I am signing and sorting things of section A ready to send off for assessment. Then I have to wait till November to hear the verdict while I get on with the next section.

Piano lessons

Take a look at this. It's my squidoo lens encouraging you to play an instrument. You are never too old.I have a pupil in his seventies and he's doing wonders. http://www.squidoo.com/PNOVLN

Giant Squid

I'm going for Giant Squid on Squidoo, which means I have to make at least 50 lenses by the end of September. The big question is, will this cause any conflict with my preacher training. I am sure not. I am retired and so have plenty of time. Also I can use some sermon material for my lenses as one of my purposes is to encourage people to think about God. So I see no conflict, it is all part of the same calling. I do also write humourous lenses and lenses about sport, just to show that I am not lop-sided. So here's to an interesting couple of months. Do pop in to Squidoo. I am LizMac60 there.

Study evening

Went to the Local Preachers' study evening yesterday. These are excellent evenings where we can all learn things from one another. I think it would be good if we could have a short description of what we are doing, before we go. We were discussing theological reflection last evening and a short summary of what was involved would have meant a bit of reflection could have gone on before hand. Earlier in the year we had a study day"On bring hefted." I think some people were put off by the title. We are not here to be esoteric, we are here to help one another become preachers, who take the gospel to others, in a form they can understand. My pet hate in a sermon is to say something like,"this of course was the pre exilic era." We are supposed to make the message clear not show how erudite we are.

There's life after assessment

I've recovered from my assessed service. Now I have four week's without a service so I shall be wading into units 7 - 10. I'm on the assignment for 7 and I've already taken a little peek at the others. As I am retired and so have plenty of time I am aiming to finish the course by a year September or failing that the following March. However I wont beat myself up if it takes longer. After all I feel called to preach and I am doing that very thing. In fact I think I will have withdrawal symptoms in the next few weeks.

Constructive criticism

First of all thanks to Fat Prophet for your interest. I see from your blog you are having trouble commenting. To get back to my assessed service. Criticism albeit constructive is harder for some to take than others. I felt a little crushed after my assessed service but then remembered I had recorded it on my dictaphone. I listened to it all through and although my assessors were quite right about me speaking a little quickly and rushing from item to item, I was actually very pleased with the content of my sermon and how I presented it. So I have decided to take heart. I highly recommend other trainees to record your services. You can hear your good points and your bad and there is no argument about it, it is all caught on the recorder.

Do like Wesley

i wouldn't say I'm copying Wesley yet but I've got some fire and enthusiasm. I'm not sure open air preaching is quite the thing any more and I'm not cut out for it but at least I'm having a go on the internet. The chance to help anybody in the world to find Jesus and salvation in him cannot be missed. Here is the link to one of my poems with an explanation of it and a taste of the sermon I used it with. http://www.squidoo.com/stormyweather

Assessd service

The assessed service was fine. I felt comfortable taking it and felt that I related to the congregation quite well. Apparently I have quite a good speaking voice. I tend to rush from one item to the next, so I must learn to relax and take things at a leisurely pace. I added in some thoughts to my sermon and at the end found that I was running out of time, so I cut out the next hymn and went to the prayers of intercession and the final hymn. After the service three gentlemen deliberated in another room and then called me in to discuss their thoughts on the service. At these times you tend to think you are about to be thrown out no matter how confident you feel. But it was not an unpleasant experience and their comments were helpful. And so we proceed.

The bit I don't like

This is the bit of preaching that I don't like. There is an hour and a quarter to go, I need to get in the car in a quarter of an hour, so I'm feeling nervous, especially as it is an assessed service. That won't bother me at all when I get there. As far as I'm concerned it is a normal service and my job is to lead the congregation, including the assessors in a time of worship. At the moment I'm feeling as if I haven't a clue what I've written in my sermon, whereas in fact it is very thoroughly prepared. I do think we should all have a little nervousness, it proves we are taking our preaching seriously. I will probably drop by later to tell you how I got on.

Sin?

How on earth can we churchy types express the idea of sin to non churchy types? When you say "sin" to someone there is a sense of accusing that person of terrible things. I think "human nature" is a better way of expressing it at first. After all we all have that and understand its limitations and drawbacks. Also we realize we are all in it together. There is no sense of one group of people accusing another. So that's it Jesus came to save us from human nature. He came to buy us back into fellowship with God, to turn us away from the bad things that bug us, from all the regrets and into his way.

Second trial service

I'm getting ready for a trial service at the end of this week. Also I will be visiting a synagogue on Friday evening, so it's quite an eventful time. I'm working on unit 7 which is all about worship past and present. My readings for Sunday are Jeremiah 20 v1-11; and Luke 10 v 1-20. I have an awful desire to thoroughly lash my congregation. It's to do with my childhood when I was not in the Methodist church. Mind you we all need to be challenged about our treatment of God, as to whether we do give Him anything like enough attention. But I don't suppose the dear ladies in my congregation have sacrificed any children lately, so I must build in some encouragement for them also. Isn't it wonderful how human nature works. I find myself giving extra attention to this service just because it is a trial service. Perhaps I can use it to raise my game and not slip back into a lower standard again. Find more like this on http://www.squidoo.com/Preach

Respect the elderly

So what do you do, when you need to take the pews out of your church building, in order to make the place usable for more people in the village and you have two elderly people who are adamant that the pews should stay? The majority think they should go, the pews that is!It looks as if we have to say,"Sorry but they are going" and risk losing two members. I suppose that is their choice. The pews are standing in the way of progress. We have a pre-school which could do with extra space. They are our outreach and should be encouraged.

Almighty

I'm reading through Jeremiah at the moment. I have a service to prepare around Jeremiah 20 1-11 for July 5th. I like to think well ahead and as I am retired I have the time for that.When did you last hear a sermon that warned your congregation, indeed when did you ever deliver such a sermon? I have a strong desire to warn, and so have to remember to encourage as well.There is a great need for warning when we are all so inclined to put other things before God.We all say,"Oh God won't mind, He'll understand." this is foolishness and presumptious folly at that. God is not some jolly old gentleman in the skies. He is totally other and all powerful, and the only one who deserves our praise. But is He getting our praise? Even we christians only allow Him one hour a week and even then we spend part of the service thinking about what is going to happen in the up-coming week.Our God deserves far better than that.

Silver surfer

I'm 62 and struggling to keep up with technology, but determined to succeed. One's children have no patience so have to struggle on as best as I can.(Not altogether fair, they do help sometimes.) The books I've worked through seem very basic now. Everything that is available to do I want to try out. Squidoo has been a huge learning curve but no doubt there are even more mysteries to conquer. I guess more and more things are being invented as I write.

The Internet

The Internet is a funny place. There is the potential to reach out to millions upon millions of people and yet you can get stuck in a little by water all of your own and just be speaking to yourself. Hopefully, eventually I will break through and actually make contact with someone. Today I had another glorious walk through the Devon Lanes, taking photos as I went. Otherwise I have been working on my Squidoo lenses. I feel tranquil and satisfied.

Lovely day

Had a smashing day. Had three ladies round for coffee to discuss prayer. We decided not to have a prayer meeting as such as people didn't feel happy with that. Instead we are going to have a prayer chain in which we will phone around to let people know what needs praying for. I can understand why prayer meetings are not popular. They can be boring if unenthusiastic and can be taken over by the person with the biggest ego. Prayer is just thinking, but acknowledging that God is listening in and taking an interest. So carry on thinking. In the afternoon I had a glorious walk of almost three miles and took more plotos for my Squidoo lens Down a Devon Lane http://www.squidoo.com/DevonLane which you are invited to view oh lonely stranger who has strayed to this solitary spot.

Baby boomers

I've just published a lens about childhood after the second world war http://www.squidoo.com/mypartinthebabyboom Have a look and enjoy the nostalgia if you are from that era. Otherwise enjoy some history.

Sunday here again nearly.

Time I posted again. So far no one has found me here but I guess they will sometime. I don't want to be a voice shouting in the dark. I will be preaching tomorrow at a little chapel in the hills. I go there frequently as a member of the congregation so know them well. I would like to hear from other preacher's. The only one I've found is a bit too political for me. when you live in the countryside as I do you are looking after the welfare of little old ladies and although there are political implications it all seems a bit distant.

Grey and gloomy

That's how it was in Devon today. But I had a good day. First short mat bowling which I love. It takes your mind off anything that is worrying you too. Then a lunch at the chapel for which a donation is given. This goes to missionary work. Then I had a nap. Next I got fired up to continue writing my sermon for June 21st. It just came so easily. They are usually the best. I'm a beginner so I like to keep well ahead with my sermon writing. My sermon for June 14th was originally written for June 7th, then there was a change of plan. The one for the 21st just needs prayers added now. Probably they are better added nearer the date.
Dreadful weather yesterday but sunny today although not very warm. Last evening the Occasional singers gave an evening of singing and ringing. Some of our ladies also ring hand bells. the food afterwards was good. It was a happy time and we gave money for a school for blind children in Bethlehem. Not sure how much was raised yet. It was a happy christian occasion but it made me wonder about our need to reach out to others who don't know Jesus as Saviour. So I wrote a poem and you can see it at this link http://squidoo.com/InspMed it is near the bottom and called Wake up Call. When I see the christian church these days it reminds of what was said by the German seagull in Watership Down. He said,"Stupid bunnies, no chicks." We have very few children in our churches. So where is the future. It's not to late to do something about it.
Hopefully I preached with a purpose today. Of course it was Pentecost which is the birthday of the whole church throughout the world. So I took along a birthday cake. The congregation looked pleased! I had candles too. The youngest member of the group was about 40 and the oldest 89. I think they might want me to go there again. I had those candles that relight themselves if you blow them out. I said that we try to stop the Holy Spirit showing in our lives. I blew out a candle to illustrate. It didn't relight, so I kept my cool and re-lit it from a match and this time it did what it should and re- lit. It's a lovely illustration of how if we have the spirit he never leaves us and wont be hidden in our lives for long

Lovely Day

I spent today with my daughter. We went to Killerton to see the garden and take photos. I need lots of photos for my Squidoo lenses. We had a lovely time. I've had quite a tiring week, not sure when it will let up. Squidoo going really well. If you like creating things try it. This lens might help you especially if you are technically challenged as I am. http://www.squidoo.com/lensdummy

Occasional Singers

We have a ladies choir, sometimes augmented by men. It sings all over the circuit. I belong. It sings all sorts including special words for farewell songs when a minister is leaving. We have lots of talent in our circuit. I'm taking my 10th service on Sunday. I'll tell you how it goes. It's a big topic this week. The coming of the Holy Spirit. today I've been working on my squidoo lenses. i love doing that. I have 9 lenses now. I started at the end of March. I've just joined senior squids which is for the over 50's in age.

Car problems

I set off for short mat bowls but my car was making a funny noise. Couldn't get hold of the garage so will see to it tomorrow. so an evening in with the P.C. Is my life being taken over by the internet.Is it a government plot to keep us all in our homes out of the way? With this title I had better tell you abut the preaching. I am training to be a local preacher with the Methodist church in the U.K. On Sunday I shall take my 10th service. I knew I would like it but I didn't realise just how much I would enjoy it. It takes a lot of hours work to put a good service together and I don't fancy doing bad ones. I don't want to bore people. I want to inspire them and help them get nearer to God and do the same for myself. If you want to see some of the kinds of thing I do take a look at the following. http://www.squidoo.com/MaryMag and http://www.squidoo.com/BiblePeople I want to get Bible stories on the web because so few people know them any more and they can te

Hi to all

So here I am on Blogger. I,m hooked on the internet, so much so that I've just burnt the carrots and potatoes. I am a retired violin and piano teacher. I am training to be a local preacher with the Methodist church in the U.K. I like writing poetry and you can find some on http://squidoo.com/InspMed . I think it's time people heard about how great God is. I assure you He's real, I know Him personally.I live in a lovely flat with super views of the Devon hills. I live alone, except that God is with me. So I'm not lonely at all. Hope to get to know a few people here soon.