Passion. When someone has an intense feeling on matters he believes in, it brings depth and weight to his subject. The listeners get glued to the speaker, it is like he speaks with magic. Emotion evokes emotion. People are drawn to people with passion. More so when the speaker carries his passion with charisma or charm, he/she becomes magnetic.
Passion is an intense emotion or strong feeling for something he believes in. A passion to help the poor, or the for network marketing or passion for social development. That intense emotion brings about power.
Conviction. It refers to unwavering belief to some specific results, belief in some conflict-resolution, belief in a new found knowledge that presents itself as the solution. When we speak with conviction, we speak with such certainty due to the extensive knowledge over certain matters. The speaker becomes logical, scientific or procedural because his information or foundation is solid. When the speaker has conviction, his tendency is to sway people on this side.
This certainty of the speaker is attractive to listeners, it is by this conviction that the speaker becomes persuasive. Passion draws attention, conviction moves his listener to his view, gives depth to the subject.
Death or Dying. This important element applies to Christian ministry. You see we have to remember and understand that a follower of Christ could and must never stand before a crowd or take a platform for himself. He is never to take it as his own as they are expected to in commercial or business setting because it is never about himself or his goals or his plans. He stands for His purpose and only for Him.
A trainer once asked, “Dying? You mean like a “harakiri”? “HaraKiri” is an important substance to effective public speaking in Christian ministry!
As Benny Hinn once said, “we have to be totally dead for God to work
through us.”
It sounds gory and awful, but blessings upon blessings will you receive as a speaker if you take note of this process. In my experience, when I commit everything to Him and ask Him to take over before I start the preparation, during the preparation, and especially before I step into the platform, my heart and mind becomes at peace and there is inner joy and confidence that takes over! You will be placed in the best position by the Lord. He provides words and your mind more alert than usual. Your ears get more attuned to what He wants to happen. You can practically literally hear God.
It sounds “ugh!” But when Jesus said on the night before his death, “this is my body, take this in memory of me, this is my blood, drink….” is very yakhy bloody isn't it! The mystery of death and resurrection is paradoxical. His death brings life. Our harakiri will bring life to Word and His message.
Platform Skills. There are five areas that we will cover to attain skills necessary to excel. We will tackle all these as we go on:
Eyes
Gestures
Body Movement
Writing on Board
Speaking or delivery
Platform skills is our human counterpart. This is where we spend time working at ourselves to learn and be useful. In all the five cornerstone, this is where we do most of our part, practicing, unlearning, learning new hand movement, eye movement, crossing the stage, proper stance, learning breathing techniques. These skills are not difficult at all I assure you. It just takes practice, practice, practice. I remember when my youngest son was about four years old, Care Bears would say,
“Practice, practice, practice…"
As children we were taught, so
were you....
"Practice makes perfect!”
The rest of the work His!
Preparation. It is a an enjoyable heart-warming process that God uses to tell you what He wants to say to your audience. It has lots and lots of praying time and taking care, we hear Him. It is a misnomer for people to think that because the Spirit is with you, we leave it all up to him and must rely on the “leading and movement of the Spirit.” Please, that does not work. Preparation is integral part of the your assignment as speaker. And that assignment never stops when you are in the Lord. Like I said, God will always give you a chance to talk, address a public, witness to a person on your left and on your right. We must always be prepared and more so when we are given specific time, place, topic.
Enjoy your preparation time because your speech assignment, on that corner, is a process that starts from preparation and finishes when you have finally delivered the message. You do not have to worry trying to prepare a very good lecture or speech to convict people. You do not convict people! That is the role of the Holy Spirit, don’t forget this. Your speech assignment will not convict them, it will carry His message and Will for them,. Conviction is not your responsibility, it is God’s!
