The Preacher's Voice: Click | View Series

Stress Affects Your Message

Preachers encounter stress and this can profoundly affect the delivery of a clear message. Unrelenting stress is called hyper-stress, which is considered a type of stress that the human body cannot adjust to very easily. An example of hyper-stress in the Bible is when Scripture tells of Jesus Christ sweating drops of blood. His spirit, mind, and body were beyond the point of fatigue and in a traumatized hyper-stress state.

Extreme tension and hyper-stress can eventually saturate every aspect of the preacher’s message and work. The preacher can become ineffective and exhausted. Astute listeners will recognize burnout stress by the tone of the preacher’s voice, body language, and overall appearance. Jesus Christ went to the Father for help. What should you do?

Tips For Handling Stress And Tension

• Recognize warning signs and listen to the counsel of trusted people if they tell you to slow down.
• Pray seeking direction and action for renewal and relief of extreme stress.
• Commit to properly caring for yourself and family (family life, diet, exercise, and relaxation).
• Set the tone for ministry; don’t let ministry set the tone (evolving at a steady pace is healthy).
• Set and keep priorities. Make sure that God and family are always the priority.
• Get quiet with God, putting away all electronic devices and tuning out all distractions.
• Be accountable to your staff and make known your need for time off.
• Trust your assistants to handle matters when you are at rest, even if they may not do it as perfectly as you.
• Know when to say no!
• Leave your worries behind and cast your anxieties on Jesus Christ.

Christ Will Restore You

I love the passage 1 Peter 5:1-11, as it outlines the most succinct guidelines to sustain a healthy preaching ministry:

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”

God’s Spirit will comfort, direct, and defend you during times of extreme stress. Cast all your tension and stress on him, and you will experience the rest you need. Surely the preacher’s voice will resound through the noise, clutter, confusion, and suffering because Christ himself restores, confirms, strengthens and establishes you through it all.

To be continued.

Religion Saves

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The Preacher’s Voice series: Click | View Series

There are primarily four areas of concern when it comes to the use and care of the preacher’s voice:

• Strain
• Tension
• Digestion
• Immune Health

Strain

Preaching is not the only thing preachers do. They teach, counsel, speak at different events, and have casual conversations. You might see your preacher at a sports event yelling with excitement on Saturday, but then he’ll be preaching on Sunday. Or you may see your bi-vocational rock star preacher jamming on Saturday, but then preaching Sunday morning, which contradicts all principles of healthy voice care. Whether jamming or preaching your voice needs to rest and recover.

Strain is the number one killer of the preacher’s voice, and the number one cause of strain is lack of a proper night’s sleep. When we sleep, the brain recovers from the previous day’s activity, as does the voice. Relaxation, gentle conversation, and proper rest and recovery of the voice are essential elements for planned healthy voice projection like preaching.

Tips to Preventing Voice Strain

• Rise early and drink warm liquid, such as water with fresh lemon juice.
• Do not have a large meal before speaking.
• Exercise early and lightly on the day of preaching.
• Do not nap before public speaking.
• Stay calm and avoid strain the night before preaching.
• Do some light public speaking before preaching.
• Pronounce words clearly and distinctly; mispronounced words cause strain.
• Keep room temperature water with you and sip throughout preaching.
• Do not force excitement; let it come naturally.
• Adequately test the PA system before preaching.
• Do not use excessive bass in the PA system.
• Change up your pace during the message.
• Rest your voice after preaching.

Preach Jesus clearly, firmly, and lovingly, with conviction, grace, and action. Mostly, preach in faith with a loud and healthy voice.

To be continued

Rain City Hymnal

The first offering from Re:Sound is the Rain City Hymnal. Listen online and get the record from the Re:Sound website. Find out more.

The Preacher's Voice: Click | View Series

The focus of this series is to understand the importance of preserving the health of a preacher's voice.

The Preacher Needs Energy

The preacher needs an incredible amount of energy to meet the preaching demand. I have heard through the years that preaching is not a difficult task, and that it doesn't require much energy. This is based upon the fact that most preachers are overweight, unfit, and indulge in poor eating habits. However, I believe that this results from the stress of the job itself.

Quick Energy Fixes

Sustained intake of carbohydrates with constant adrenalin output can be a vicious cycle. In cases like this, the preacher looks for quick energy fixes to keep on going, and often these choices are loaded with sugar and stimulant agents, like caffeine. If the tank is empty, an octane booster won't fill the tank. It will just give a bad message to the complex regulating systems of the body that metabolize and burn calories.

Burn Off Those Calories

Billy Graham once said that before a preaching event he would have a carbohydrate meal the night before and a steak dinner afterward. Fitness, however, was an essential item on his list. He ate this way with the understanding that consuming higher calories required exercise to burn those calories. He didn't just rely on the sweat produced from his preaching.

Preacher, if the greater omentum (Latin for the fat mesh of the tummy) is gaining momentum (gaining more weight), then you are consuming more than what you are sweating off! This increases the risk of poor health and takes away from your voice energy in more ways than one.

Unfit Preachers are like Unfit Doctors

Would you listen to an overweight and unfit doctor giving you health advice on diet, cholesterol, sugar management, and exercise? An unfit preacher demonstrates poor discipline with his health, and he similarly hampers the effectiveness of communicating the disciplined life of the Christian.

If the evangelical message is to be taken seriously, the preacher must strengthen his voice through the support of healthy disciplines.

To be continued.

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The Preacher's Voice: Click | View Series

The focus of this series is to understand the importance of preserving the health of a preacher's voice. Practical points will be given to protect and enhance the preacher's vocal ability. We will also discuss the importance of health and energy, vocal preservation, elements that may compromise the voice, and actions required to enhance the vibrancy and longevity of it.

"The Voice"

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea… For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.'" Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Matthew 3:1-4

John the Baptizer came in the verve and passion of the Old Testament prophet Elijah. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, heralding the message that Jesus Christ, the greatest preacher of all time, was coming with an evangelical thrust that would not be ignored.

He received a diversified response from his listeners: casual hearing, deep conviction, total rejection, and complete acceptance. He received both applause and thumbs down (or the traditional Roman thumbs up) from the common crowd, his own people, politicians, and religious leaders.

Bugs and Honey?

John needed to be in great health to have the energy in spirit, soul, and body to herald this world-changing event. The world was never the same after John proclaimed Jesus as the answer to all of the world's conflicts. He required nutritious and sustaining food for this athletically demanding message. Preacher, so do you!

No way would your pastor agree to eating bugs and honey as a main staple of his diet before preaching, unless there was some odd behavioral thing going on. Well, John didn't either. According to some New Testament experts, John's diet in the rough and arid terrain consisted of dates, date honey, and bread cakes that were made from the bean of the locust tree. This seems to make more sense. This diet would provide immediate energy to meet the exhausting task of preaching to the masses the message of the Messiah.

To be continued.

Rain City Hymnal

The first offering from Re:Sound is the Rain City Hymnal. Listen online and get the record from the Re:Sound website. Find out more.

Healthy Pastors Series [Part 3 of 3]: Click | View Series

On the eve of October 19, 1856, Spurgeon commenced services at the Royal Surrey Gardens Music Hall, a popular amusement hall that Spurgeon's congregation rented when they had outgrown their building and had not completed a new one.

During the morning service he preached at New Park Street Chapel on Malachi 3:10: "Prove me now." With chillingly prophetic voice he declared, "I may be called to stand where the thunderclouds brew, where the lightnings play, and tempestuous winds are howling on the mountain top. Well, then, I am born to prove the power and majesty of our God; amidst dangers he will inspire me with courage; amidst toils he will make me strong... We shall be gathered together tonight where an unprecedented mass of people will assemble, perhaps from idle curiosity, to hear God's Word; and the voice cries in my ears, 'Prove me now.' ...See what God can do, just when a cloud is falling on the head of him whom God has raised up to preach to you..."

Reason Shattered, Distressed, Ministry Flourished

The evening service was held at Surrey Hall, which seated up to twelve thousand and was overflowing with an additional ten thousand people in the gardens. While the evening service was underway, during Spurgeon's prayer, several malicious people shouted, "Fire! The galleries are giving way!"

The panic produced rushes of people. Seven people were trampled to death and twenty-eight were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Near the Furnace of Insanity

Spurgeon (only 22 years old), was carried from the pulpit and taken to a friend's house where he remained for several days in deep depression. He was so distressed he was unable to preach for several weeks and later said the experience was "sufficient to shatter my reason" and might have meant his ministry "was silenced for ever." He remarked, "Perhaps never a soul went so near the burning furnace of insanity, and yet came away unharmed." A friend and biographer commented that his early death may have been the result of this tragedy, "I cannot but think, from what I saw, that his comparatively early death might be in some measure due the furnace of mental suffering he endured on and after that fearful night."

Spurgeon later recounted the agony he went through: "Standing in this pulpit, this morning, I recall to myself that evening of sorrow when I saw my people scattered, like sheep without a shepherd, trodden upon, injured, and many of them killed. Do you recollect how you cried for your minister, that he might be restored to a reason that was then tottering? Can you recollect how you prayed that, out of evil, God would bring forth good, that all the curses of the wicked might be rolled back upon themselves, and that God would yet fill this place with His glory? And do you remember how long ago that is, and how God has been with us ever since, and how many of those, who were injured that night, are now members of our church, and are praising God that they ever entered this hall? Oh! shall we not love the Lord? There is not a church in London that has had such answers to prayer as we have had; there has not been a church that has had such cause to pray. We have had special work, special trial, special deliverance, and we ought preeminently to be a church, loving God, and spending and being spent in His service."

Not Erased From My Memory

"I cannot speak, as a grey-headed man, of the storms and troubles which many of you have endured; but I have had more joys and more sorrows, in the last few years, than any man in this place, for my life has been compressed as with a Bramah press—a vast mass of emotion into one year. I have gone to the very bottoms of the mountains, as some of you know, in a night that never can be erased from my memory—a night connected with this place."

Spurgeon's ministry was vast and people all over the world loved him, but I believe he would have lived longer if his sheep only cared more deeply for his total wellness!

Your Pastor-Shepherd Feels Deeply

Your pastors may be built as tough as a Dodge, but I tell you they weep, ache, sweat, agonize, intensely labor and lose sleep over their tribe. They weep over those who are living separate from Christ and labor to keep sheep in healthy pastures away from harmful predators. They sweat to provide nurturing food. They ache and agonize to provide a better way for you and for me. Give them the best of your prayers, service and work—your sacrifices and action of faith will be the aroma of Christ.

Learn to appreciate the work of your pastors, and when they don't seem to meet the mark don't just throw them in the trash compactor with the hopes that they will see things your way after the battering is done. Give way to grace, for we all have our down days and it's good to have a friend in our corner to give us the light of reason when we need it most!

Lift up your pastors!

Vintage Church

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Healthy Pastors Series [Part 2 of 3]: Click | View Series

Pastor, how can I help? Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the greatest revivalist preacher of the 19th century, was asked this by many parishioners. His response to this question was to establish a serving and prayerful church. His ministry became the largest prayer-based evangelical work in the Christian church since the days of the apostolic era.

How to Help Your Pastor

• Understand. The first way to help your pastor is to develop understanding and sensitivity to the stress and demands of a pastor's work.
• Pray. Secondly, pray for your pastor. A very active prayer ministry to support the pastors in their evangelical work is fundamental to the health of pastors and the church at large.
• Grow. Thirdly, mature in the faith. Grow and work to preserve the work of God in your sphere. Do not contribute to confusion, gossip and bitter attitudes. Get involved in action, service, and financial contribution, which are all vital to the health of the Christian mission of proclaiming Christ in your community and the world.
• Lead. Finally, faith in action is serving others above what you want in support of the ministry of the church. Don't just get involved in ministry; actively work with the leadership to provide healthy momentum in ministry and to become a personal preacher of the ways of Christ!

Preachers Are Human

Your pastors can become physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. Again, C.H. Spurgeon shares his afflictions and trials throughout his ministry to demonstrate that it was in his weakness that Christ's strength within him was magnified.

Spurgeon was afflicted with spiritual agonies, slander and scorn, the weight of preaching, emotional trials of depression, ministry burden, and physical illnesses of gout, high blood pressure, and kidney disease.

Saved From Much, Called To Much

His journey began with the foundation of suffering and by his own words he gives a clear picture of his agony before his conversion. "The justice of God, like a ploughshare, tore my spirit," he recalled. "I was condemned, undone, destroyed--lost, helpless, hopeless--I thought hell was before me... I prayed, but found no answer of peace. It was long with me thus." Thus, he clarifies through his life that the present suffering he encountered in ministry was no match for the devastating bitterness of soul he experienced before living for Jesus. This taught him to pursue the holiness of God and to loathe sinful living.

Slander and Scorn Go With the Territory

During the early years of his ministry he encountered intense slander and scorn, and his response to this was, "If I am able to say in very truth, 'I was buried with Christ thirty years ago,' I must surely be dead. Certainly the world thought so, for not long after my burial with Jesus I began to preach his name, and by that time the world thought me very far gone, and said, 'He stinketh.' They began to say all manner of evil against the preacher; but the more I stank in their nostrils the better I liked it, for the surer I was that I was really dead to the world."

The Crushing Blow of Scorn

Spurgeon's again on his deepest emotions regarding the scorn and slander he faced: "Down on my knees have I often fallen, with the hot sweat rising from my brow under some fresh slander poured upon me; in an agony of grief my heart has been well-nigh broken; ...This thing I hope I can say from my heart: If to be made as the mire of the streets again, if to be the laughing stock of fools and the song of the drunkard once more will make me more serviceable to my Master, and more useful to his cause, I will prefer it to all this multitude, or to all the applause that man could give."

Don't contribute to the sufferings of your pastors by gossiping, backbiting, or scorning. Instead, get in the trenches with them!

To be continued.

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Healthy Pastors Series [Part 1 of 3]: Click | View Series

He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

I have the privilege of being a pastor to the pastors in coaching and praying for their wellness. The expectations parishioners place upon pastors in this church age are both complex and demanding. For the last two decades I have observed the continual decline in the heath of pastors in the Pacific Northwest. It is both distressing and grievous when pastors share some of the pressures of the ministry and the criticisms and burdens they carry. I believe the best place to begin is to clarify the pastor’s responsibility list.

Unhealthy Expectations

• They are not substitute parents
• They are not shrinks
• They are not janitors, plumbers, or construction workers
• They are not crisis managers
• They are not perfect problem-solvers
• They are not corporate executives
• They do not have wireless access to the Holy Spirit concerning your problems
• They are not responsible for your sin
• They are not constructed for long-term bashing
• They are not required to shoulder repeated harsh criticisms
• They are not celebrities
• They have families with real problems too
• They are not always available and tireless
• They are not God in human form
• They can burn out

Healthy Expectations

• They serve
• They teach
• They lead
• They inspire
• They pray
• They cry
• They get tired
• They are human
• They need family time
• They must be renewed

To be continued.

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Acupuncture Series: Click | View Series

Acupuncture is a safe Eastern practice except for when it is practiced as a religious practice. Scientific study of acupuncture reveals its effectiveness in a variety health conditions. However, as a Christian believer it is very important that you understand where to set the boundaries. Priestly practices of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in general are given to dark and oppressive forces that will harm spiritual health in an unfavorable way.

Receive

Acupuncture is safe and effective in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and enhancing immune health. It has been known to stimulate defense mechanisms of the body to fight against disease. When acupuncture is used as a practice for its known medical benefits, with its safety evaluated, and it is practiced medically by an acupuncturist trained as a medical practitioner, then an individual’s faith is not in jeopardy. The key here is to be sure that you thoroughly research the practitioner’s credentials and the outcomes of use in your current health application.

Reject

Shaman and Buddha are roots of harmful priestly practices of acupuncture. Ritualistic uses of needles are dedicated as a sacrificial act of worship in the worship of Buddha and dark entities within Buddhism. This is in direct opposition to Christian faith and the Bible and must be rejected. There are many traditional acupuncturists that do practice with ritualistic and priestly authority. The Christian will be harmed spiritually when embracing these types of practices. An example of this is the use of Moxibustion, which is the burning of Chinese Mugwort incense that is supposed to take away bad energy and revitalize body Qi.

Redeem

The acceptable practices within acupuncture are the use of approved and medically safe acupuncture needles to address legitimate health conditions that are documented in the literature recognized as safe and effective. The key words are medically practiced and regarded as safe. Medical acupuncture uses sterile needles and sterile techniques in clinical applications. A Christian should not use acupuncture if there is questionable legitimacy, safety, and medical benefit.

Relate

Faith is to be active and renewed daily. Acupuncture in and of itself will not hinder your faith. The failure to be obedient to God’s known direction for your health will. Holy Spirit-directed healing is based upon prayerful, careful, and submissive action to this divine leadership. Compromising dark forces within healing systems like acupuncture will have consequences upon faith and must be avoided. The same Spirit with the same powerful healing that is consistent with his purpose for your healing will not deceive. We are not to be given to deceptive spirits and deceptive teachings.

"For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills" (1 Cor. 12:8-11).

Religion Saves

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Acupuncture Series: Click | View Series

Key Terms Regarding Acupuncture

• Meridian: In traditional Chinese medicine, a channel or pathway through the body along which qi flows. Practitioners use acupuncture points to reach the meridians and affect the flow of qi.
• Qi: In traditional Chinese medicine, the vital energy or life force proposed to regulate a person’s spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health and to be influenced by the opposing forces of yin and yang.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): An Eastern medical system that originated in China. It is based on the concept that disease results from disruption in the flow of qi and imbalance in the forces of yin and yang. Practices such as herbs, meditation, massage, and acupuncture seek to aid healing by restoring the yin-yang balance and the flow of qi.
• Yin and Yang: The concept of two opposing yet complementary forces described in traditional Chinese medicine. Yin represents cold, slow, or passive aspects of the person, while yang represents hot, excited, or active aspects. A major theory is that health is achieved through balancing yin and yang, and disease is caused by an imbalance leading to a blockage in the flow of qi.
• Five Element Theory: The Five Element theory is used to explain the cause of particular diseases, and to associate signs or symptoms with particular organs and afflictions. In the context of "phases," the Five Element theory helps to explain the processes that are occurring in the body throughout various stages of disease and healing. The Five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. For more information, check out this link: http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/abc/fiveelementtheory.php

The Practice of Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been practiced in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years. Scientists are studying the efficacy of acupuncture for a wide range of conditions.

Few complications have been reported from the use of acupuncture. However, acupuncture can cause potentially serious side effects if not delivered properly by a qualified practitioner, due to its use of needles and energetic principles.

If practiced in the strict Buddhist tradition it can be risky for the Christian believer. There are Buddhist rituals practiced that are contrary to biblical principles, for example, dedication of needles in sacrificial worship to Buddha and other gods associated with Buddhism.

There are channels known as meridians. Fourteen of them are considered main channels "connecting the body in a web-like interconnecting matrix" of at least 2,000 acupuncture points.

Acupuncture in the United States

Acupuncture became better known in the United States in 1971, when New York Times reporter James Reston wrote about how doctors in China used needles to ease his pain after surgery.

American practices of acupuncture incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries. Acupuncture use in the United States continues to grow, and ongoing research continues to validate its use in varied health conditions.

A report from a Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1997 stated that acupuncture is being "widely" practiced—by thousands of physicians, dentists, acupuncturists, and other practitioners—for relief or prevention of pain and for various other health conditions.

According to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey—the largest and most comprehensive survey of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use by American adults to date—an estimated 8.2 million U.S. adults had ever used acupuncture, and an estimated 2.1 million U.S. adults had used acupuncture in the previous year. A recent survey not concluded yet for 2009 estimates that 6 million adults will have used acupuncture as a form of treatment.

Check out this website for more information regarding traditional chinese medicine and acupuncture: http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/abc/.

To be continued.

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Acupuncture Series: Click | View Series

A Funny Story

In my years of practicing medicine I have heard many amazing and humorous stories about healing encounters. This one had me in stitches of laughter. A man had chronic, excessive body heat and sweating. He had been seen by many traditional physicians, but no cause was found. A friend recommended that he see an acupuncturist in Chinatown who had a reputation for clearing such strange symptoms. Even so, he was nervous about his first acupuncture experience.

He arrived at the Chinese acupuncturist’s office and was met with strange aromas of moxibustion, a traditional Chinese medicine technique that involves the burning of mugwort, a small, spongy herb, to facilitate healing. Moxibustion has been used throughout Asia for thousands of years; in fact, the Chinese character for acupuncture, translated literally, means "acupuncture-moxibustion." The purpose of moxibustion, as with most forms of traditional Chinese medicine, is to strengthen the blood, stimulate the flow of qi, and maintain general health. It is a strong aroma and can smell like something is burning.

This Is How They Do It in China

The patient realized that he was seeing a truly traditional and authentic man, as he did not speak any English. The doctor motioned him to the table, and then motioned to him to take off all of his clothes. He did as he was instructed, and the doctor began treatment. He had 20 needles at different points on his face, arms, legs, back, and feet. Just after the last needle was inserted, the doctor was distracted by smoke that was coming under the doorway of his office.

FIRE, FIRE, FIRE

He didn’t seem too alarmed at first, because moxibustion creates a good amount of smoke at times, so it could have been the practitioner next door. At this point the patient was wondering if he should have ever listened to his friend regarding this treatment. When the Chinese doctor opened the door, he began to scream in Chinese and English, "FIRE, FIRE, FIRE!!" The patient, with no clothes on and all these needles, jumped up, looked through the door, and saw that the entire office was going up in flames. He and the doctor fled and managed to get out of the building safely. From that time this patient has never had another bout with excessive body heat and sweating again—he was cured!

To be continued.

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