And be comfortable in your own skin. I think early on I was trying to be a pastor, trying to be a preacher. More and more now I'm trying to be myself. And people respond to that, the authenticity when you're just being real. And so I think part of finding your voice is, in a sense, discovering your unique contribution to the kingdom of God.
C.S. Lewis said every life is comprised of a few themes. And I think discovering those themes helps us be confident as we communicate. On the flip side, it helps us realize that if we aren't careful we might ride on those hobby horses and preach on the same things week in and week out. And so part of finding your voice is: what are those life themes that God has woven into your life?
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The second part of it is gaining more confidence to preach on tough topics. You know, we are not doing people any favors if we dance around the difficult subjects. How can we complain about some of the sexual depravity in our culture if we aren't talking about it from the pulpit? I know those are touchy topics, they're difficult to communicate about, but we've got to have the boldness. Part of finding your voice is the confidence to be able to communicate on tough topics but do it in a way that is more concerned about being biblically correct than politically correct. And in those moments when God's put something on your heart, let it rip.
My word of encouragement would be to thank God for His anointing. I don't know that I can even define it. I don't even know exactly what it is, I just know I need it. I know when I have it, and I know when I don't. And I think as preachers that keeps us humble.
At the end of the day, I think God's anointing is Him taking whatever message we've communicated and using it beyond our ability. It's an amazing thing—once those sound waves leave our lips and somewhere between there and hitting the ear drums of listeners, the Holy Spirit goes to work. That's when preaching is that wonderful tag team. The anointing of God, I think, can accomplish things in peoples' lives that we certainly can't.
SIDEBAR:Mark Batterson on Using Blogs and Social Networking SitesI see the blog (evotional.com) as an opportunity to do digital discipleship. Today I will have thousands and thousands of meetings with people without meeting with anybody. It's just beautiful to be in a place where I can have lots of relationships mentoring a lot of folks without going any place.
Originally I did it because, as the church grew larger, I wanted to give people the ability to know what was happening in my head and in my heart and what was going on at any given time. Then it started being read by more and more pastors, and that's kind of the primary audience now. I've always been a journaler, and I thought to myself: Why not just turn it into an online blog and share what God's doing in my life, be as transparent as I can and share some of the lessons I'm learning along the way? If that inspires and encourages some folks, then so be it.
Ironically, now we are at a point where, quantitatively, it is by far the most significant thing that I do, given the number of unique visitors and hits throughout the year.
I love technology. I think we've got to redeem technology and use it for God's purposes, and I guess that's really what I'm trying to do with the blog at evotional.com.
We also utilize Twitter and Facebook significantly just because those are networks where we can communicate. I think there are some innovative uses of Twitter that are right around the corner. For a lot of churches it could be a way to maybe turn the pulpit from a monologue into a dialogue.
I've spoken at some conferences—and we might incorporate this with some of our sermon series—where while I'm speaking, people can ask questions via Twitter, and I can respond to them. So we love those tools. I think it's a wonderful way to be able to speak to a larger audience and create a little bit more of a dialogue instead of just a monologue.
