I want to show you exactly how to build an online platform in any niche. You may be where I was four years ago. You have a passion welling up inside of you, but you’re not sure how to get the word out. You want to influence and contribute in your space. You want to make a difference by sharing your expertise, passion and creativity with the world, but getting started seems so daunting.

What if I told you it’s easier and harder than you think? It’s easier than you think because if you want it badly enough you can do it. Its harder than you think because building a platform requires hundreds of small steps. These small steps add up over time to become something amazing, but so many people give up after a few steps if they don’t see things happening fast enough.

I want to detail my journey for you. This is not to brag because I could also show you many others who went further faster. Rather, I want to give you an honest look at what it has taken to go...

In Part 1 of this series, we examined what the curse of knowledge is and how it affects preachers. If you haven’t read that yet, definitely check it out. For today, we are going to dive into the two reasons why we preachers are so prone to fall into the death trap that is the curse of knowledge.

 Let’s Get Real About Why We Do This

In addition to us unknowingly assuming that people know what we know – the result of the curse of knowledge. I think pastors are inherently motivated to sound confusing because of two traps we are prone to fall into. I would bet you can relate to one or both of these. So, why might you have a tendency to speak over people’s heads?

1. You would be embarrassed if someone thought you didn’t know a particular truth or concept.

There may be theological truths and biblical concepts so common knowledge to you that you can’t fathom someone not knowing them. You think, They should know this! Doesn’t...

I moved from Oklahoma City, OK to the Washington, DC area straight out of college at 22 years old. It was an adventure to say the least. DC is a fast pace, high capacity, leader-saturated, type-a-personality, beautifully diverse, traffic-jammed, long-commute, action-packed, never-a-dull-moment place to live. I loved it. The people there blew my mind. I met people from all over the globe who were intrinsically driven to succeed in changing the world. It was exhilarating, but at the same time, intimidating. I was a kid from the mid-west who had not seen much of the world (or even the US at that point). I quickly discovered there was a lot I didn’t know. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t know these things, I just didn’t know what I didn’t know.

So I found myself constantly in situations where I would meet someone and we would do the usual, “What do you do?” exchange of pleasantries. I would tell them I was a youth pastor which was my job at the...

Every preacher needs to be aware of a potentially hazardous problem that can show up in their sermon delivery: distracting physical habits. In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the first two distracting physical habits of preachers:

1. Turning your back to the audience to read from the screen
2. Using filler words and vocal pauses

If you missed that post, check it out here. Today we are going to look at three more distracting physical habits of preachers:

 3. Aimlessly pacing back and forth on the stage

In college I majored in Communications. In my program, we studied presentation techniques extensively. We examined what works and what doesn’t when it comes to public speaking. And we practiced presenting in front of each other routinely. In the first speech I gave as a freshman, I paced a lot. Back and forth across the room. I was mimicking what I had seen some of my favorite speakers do. Only, their pacing was purposeful and intentional. Mine was aimless....

Every preacher has physical tendencies that unintentionally distract the audience. Sometimes these are known by the preacher and other times they are ticks and habits that must be pointed out to be changed. Public speaking in any context, and especially in a church setting, engages your whole mind and body. This means speakers can easily find themselves neglecting to pay attention to their body language and physical habits because they have to remember what to say … and everyone is watching.

 All of us could use some coaching in this area. When I look back through videos of my sermons I notice more distracting physical tendencies than I care to admit! But there is hope and we can all overcome these by knowing what they are and working to eliminate them.

I want to offer five common physical distractions I’ve observed in preachers over the years. I’ve also seen a good amount of these in my own preaching over the years and have sought to correct and eliminate...