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The Three Voices of Effective Pastoral Leadership
I grew up in a church where visiting evangelists would scream, then gasp for breath, then scream a little more. They walked around on the stage and sometimes down the aisles, red-faced and often carrying a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat they’d collected on their foreheads.
I remember being scared that they would know my sin and start yelling at me in front of the entire congregation.
Here’s the funny thing — some people actually like to be yelled at each week about their sins. We often welcome the shaming, which is not entirely healthy, but it’s popular nonetheless.
Other people want their pastor to preach in soothing and subdued tones, or to be conversationalists, storytellers, or great eloquence and a poetic cadence.
Honestly, I have little interest in debating what style of preaching is best. God can certainly use a variety of personalities to do his work.
What concerns me, as a pastor, is the nature of the content I actually share, whether with an audience gathered on a Sunday or those who may read blog posts and tweets.
Effective spiritual communicators will learn that there are three particular voices in which pastors must be willing to speak, and balancing these three is the pathway to the long term discipling of a body…
