Observation on Preaching

[Parakaleo]

I stopped by a farmer's market yesterday and there were two men and a woman playing some live music. Soft rock. What stood out was the complete lack of any true musicality in the man's voice. It sounded like maybe he was trained to sing by using an app that measures whether you are singing the correct pitch and note length, and that's it. It sounded like he might have been inwardly considering what he was planning to do later and had his voice on "autopilot" in order to sing the song. Who knows? Maybe he was just doing it for the money someone promised him and so did the minimum he had to do for his pay.

It made me consider the counsel I might have given him (if he had asked me, not that I go around handing out unsolicited advice):

- Sing out from your diaphragm; sing as intending to be heard
- Your posture, face, eyes, hands, etc. should match what you are singing about
- Sing with skill, passion, feeling, etc. demonstrating that you are fully engrossed in what you are doing

As I was thinking through this, I was amazed at how much application this has to preaching. That last point, especially. It's not as if a preacher should knowingly put on a performance that isn't true to his inner experience, but there's also something wrong if a man can preach of the weightiest things of all time and do it like this performing artist I saw at the farmer's market.

 

[beardedreformer]

Interesting, and I have to agree. I was talking to one lady who, being a former actor, teaches elocution to seminary students at London Theological Seminary. She told me that it can actually be worth going through singing warm-ups before public speaking, including singing and strange tongue twisters (not to be confused with speaking in tongues). Apparently this helps prepare you to speak with more clarity, and fewer mistakes.

 

[Gforce9]

It made me consider the counsel I might have given him (if he had asked me, not that I go around handing out unsolicited advice):

- Sing out from your diaphragm; sing as intending to be heard
- Your posture, face, eyes, hands, etc. should match what you are singing about
- Sing with skill, passion, feeling, etc. demonstrating that you are fully engrossed in what you are doing

As I was thinking through this, I was amazed at how much application this has to preaching. That last point, especially. It's not as if a preacher should knowingly put on a performance that isn't true to his inner experience, but there's also something wrong if a man can preach of the weightiest things of all time and do it like this performing artist I saw at the farmer's market.

Blake,
I agree on both points. As for singing, Steve Perry ought to be the gold standard. I have never heard another move through four vowel sounds in one syllable so masterfully. The singing "tricks" that man has in his basket and employs regularly is striking and not common......he is truly in a class of very few.

As to preaching; When we hear, through preaching, and know the graciousness, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, and incredible ongoing kindness to wicked liars, adulterers, slanderers and, dare I say, God-haters like ourselves, that should stir not only the preachers affections, but should also stir all those hearers who were purchased, at such a great cost, to be moved to both repentance and to awe. There is none like our God.

 

[Andres]

I stopped by a farmer's market yesterday and there were two men and a woman playing some live music. Soft rock. What stood out was the complete lack of any true musicality in the man's voice. It sounded like maybe he was trained to sing by using an app that measures whether you are singing the correct pitch and note length, and that's it. It sounded like he might have been inwardly considering what he was planning to do later and had his voice on "autopilot" in order to sing the song. Who knows? Maybe he was just doing it for the money someone promised him and so did the minimum he had to do for his pay.

It made me consider the counsel I might have given him (if he had asked me, not that I go around handing out unsolicited advice):

- Sing out from your diaphragm; sing as intending to be heard
- Your posture, face, eyes, hands, etc. should match what you are singing about
- Sing with skill, passion, feeling, etc. demonstrating that you are fully engrossed in what you are doing

As I was thinking through this, I was amazed at how much application this has to preaching. That last point, especially. It's not as if a preacher should knowingly put on a performance that isn't true to his inner experience, but there's also something wrong if a man can preach of the weightiest things of all time and do it like this performing artist I saw at the farmer's market.

One (of many) things I appreciate you brother, is the way you read the Scriptures. You do it with emphasis and inflection that gives a weightiness to the word of God.

 

[Gesetveemet]

When we hear, through preaching, and know the graciousness, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, and incredible ongoing kindness to wicked liars, adulterers, slanderers and, dare I say, God-haters like ourselves, that should stir not only the preachers affections, but should also stir all those hearers who were purchased, at such a great cost, to be moved to both repentance and to awe. There is none like our God.

Nice

 

[Parakaleo]

One (of many) things I appreciate you brother, is the way you read the Scriptures. You do it with emphasis and inflection that gives a weightiness to the word of God.

You're very kind, brother. In public reading, I have experienced unexpected, intense emotions. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

 

[Jake]

I'm curious how you develop this. I have filled the pulpit a few times, but I admittedly do not have a voice that carries very well.

I filled in recently for Frank Smith as he was recovering from surgery. Afterwards he commented that the message was effective but I did not have a "preacher voice" -- especially notable as I was preaching without amplification in a large building.

 

[RamistThomist]

I've seen pietists who prize "unction" in the pulpit give the driest lectures imaginable. I think it comes with just speaking a lot and, to risk sounding Gen Z, "finding your voice."

 

[ZackF]

I've seen pietists who prize "unction" in the pulpit give the driest lectures imaginable. I think it comes with just speaking a lot and, to risk sounding Gen Z, "finding your voice."

Exactly. What do we say of deaf folks who have to read lips?

 

[Pictet]

I'm curious how you develop this. I have filled the pulpit a few times, but I admittedly do not have a voice that carries very well.

I filled in recently for Frank Smith as he was recovering from surgery. Afterwards he commented that the message was effective but I did not have a "preacher voice" -- especially notable as I was preaching without amplification in a large building.

You can, of course, dig into proper voice training techniques for singing or public speaking, but it's possible to improve a lot without that.
My voice isn't great, naturally speaking. I've found, though, that it does improve a lot with regular preaching. If you aren't doing that, consider:
1. Watching some YouTube videos on breathing from your diaphragm, and on how to project your voice.
2. Find another way to use your voice regularly: this could be reading a Bible passage out loud, with proper posture and projection. But it could equally be singing along to something in the car or the shower several times a week.