Preaching

In the last two days all twenty two 1st year cadets have presented a full 15min sermon, the result of many hours of study, research, sweat and tears. Was it worth it?

The comments and discussions from the class are helpful, so is the process of watching yourself afterwards and picking up on gestures you do or words that repeat, like saying 'um' or pacing around, or wringing hands together or avoiding eye contact with the listeners.

But the situation and audience are different from what we will encounter in the years/churches to come. This is the practise time - as in a few weeks we begin preaching to the congregations we have been attending for the past few months. So instead of a supportive group of cadets in the same boat, we have an unknown audience who will more than likely share exactly how well they thought you did... Will we be ready? How will we handle this new pressure? How will we handle the comments/criticism?

I think, luckily, that because we are 'cadets' there is alot of support and encouragement given whatever we do, no matter how big the nerves are!

There's a good quote going around that says 'if are not nervous before you get up to preach the word of God to people, then you shouldn't be doing it...' This is an awesome responsibility we are being given, to share and uncover biblical truths with people. I just pray that when the time comes - we will be prepared.

Study Week

We have just finished our first study week off class, and how much study have we done? Well, some have completely finished assingments, others done a little less... Some have been dedicated to work and are fasting from TV until things are finished, while others are rewarding themselves for the work they have done (Transformers 2 is awesome - a great reward!)...

But more importantly, for me at least, this week has been a nice break from structure schedules and a chance to work at our own pace, be us early birds or night owls. It also gives those with children time at home to get things done.

Hopefully all this work will pay off on Monday as we present our 15 minute sermons to each other, and the Exegesis assignments will all be completed by Friday. And it is slowly dawning on us, more so on the 2nd years, that this year is almost halfway through. We have only 6 months of study left in this year and we are halfway through our study before we are released into the world. The 2nd years are coming to grasp that soon they will be on thier own practising what they are now learning. It is a challenging and exciting concept, one which will increase in excitement as the appointment board meets this coming month...

Goals

Setting goals can be difficult. We are supposed to set goals for the year which arise from our personal evaluations and consulations with the Training Principals.

These must be practical and acheivable - not things like 'I want to be a better preacher' as how can you really assess the success of this? Better means what? Better than what? How much better do I need to be before I am satisified? Ultimately you can never acheive this and may feel dejected at never reaching your goals...

So start small, things like, I aim to spend more time reading in the next few months with the set goal of reading two books (outside of the required.) I could aim to relax more and have more fun, being assessed by stress levels and programmed activities for stress relief. Maybe I could aim to open up more to others, and can assess this by my relationships with key people over time and how they grow.

Think out of the box. Maybe aim to get outside more so set a running/walking distance and time goal/challenge to achieve. How great would it feel to achieve these goals! It would make you set more, achieve more and grow more...

So think practical, aim high but acheiveable - I could never be the General by the end of the year! (or could I?!?!?!?... watch out Clifton...)

Evaluations

Today we officially finished all our 'real' classes for the semester before spending the next two weeks studying for our exam and finishing the big three assignments due... The end of a semester is always so exausting! So much work still to do!!!... But it does really make you look forward to the coming holiday rest. Theres a quote I like that says "without the storm we would never see the rainbow...' All we have to do is survive and struggle through and soon, in two weeks exactly, we can sit and relax and enjoy a few weeks off, visiting family, not having to worry about study.

As for evaluations - at the end of each paper we have to fill in evaluation forms to assess how well everything went over the semester - the class work, tutor, assignments etc. We also received during the week personal evaluations collated from other peoples opinions about us. I personally hate these, as I am very self critical of myself already and do not like having to critically assess others. But I am resolved to thinking that these are actually helpful, highlighting areas for improvement and growth to work on over the rest of this year. (I'll keep telling myself that until I do believe it...)

But the best thing about today is that it is FRIDAY!!! Yay, weekend.

Preaching Class - 17 Feb

This morning in class we practised a variety of ways to encourage the congregation to respond after the message has been delivered - you know, the soft music playing over the altar call or the take-home bookmark to remind people throughout the week... What you choose depends on the tone of the message and the intended result - are you wanting the people to sit and reflect, make a decision, leap out of their chairs in praise or be challenged on something throughout the week.

I did find it interesting; the different ways to connect and keep things fresh in people's minds. But I think the key is variety - getting a wallet card every week would very soon fill your wallet, the same as everyone doing a reading after the message every week would soon just become routine.

Any suggestions?

New Blog

We are trying a new thing - to see if anyone would be interested to hear about whats happening at Booth College of Mission.