The Neurology of Faith
Am I getting old? Man, I don't know why but three messages per weekend is pushing me these days. I almost lost my voice in the 11:00. But I feel like a wimp because I have friends who are preaching five times each weekend!
Great start to The Neurology of Faith series. A new series has a way of generating momentum. I was actually a little nervous going into it. These series require twice as much study because you're juxtaposing theology and neurology. Plus someone emailed me and told me that a group of neurologists who had read my book, ID: The True You, were really looking forward to getting the podcast. I better work on my neurological pronunciations :)
In this opening message I actually touched on some themes that have been threads in my teaching for several years. For what it's worth, I used to think I had to say stuff I've never said before every week. I used to think "old material" was a crutch. And then I realized two things:
1) People forget 95% of what you say in three days anyway.
2) If it's worth saying it's worth repeating!
Some series have very little "old material." Some of them have more. But I think 80% new material is a good rule of thumb. And 20% is worth saying over and over again. For me, that 20% are the core convictions and core values that are part of our DNA. Today was probably a fifty-fifty message. I used alot of themes I've talked about before. But the rest of the series will probably be eighty-twenty.
Anywho.
It was amazing how many people expressed gratitude that we weren't afraid to delve into the realm of science with a series. I think there are alot of spiritual scientific types who crave this kind of series.
I honestly don't get the false dichotomy we've created between science and religion. I think Ralph Waldo Emerson was right: "The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide."
5 Comments:
As far as old vs. new content...
Isn't a lot of it old content since we are basing it on scripture (2000+ years old).
And then of course there is that whole "nothing new under the sun" passage.
I try not to say things the same way all the time, but things that are key to faith get repeated a lot.
Hey brother! You need a voice coach! I'm being serious. There's technique involved in using your voice for extended periods without causing problems. I'll do some checking with a few buddies and E-mail you with a suggestion or two for folks in the DC area.
kdl
Have you read the book, "Can a Smart Person Believe in God?" I thought it was very well done and who knows, maybe you can use some of the content in your sermon series.
Love the book. Highly recommend it. I actually got it before our Physics of Faith series last year.
I second the voice coach suggestion. I recently looked up some local options for a ministry leader and it looked to me like theworkingvoice.com would be the best bet.
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