Isaiah 61

Frances has asked me to say a bit more about my preaching. I'm a 3rd generation woman preacher. My Mum and my Dad's Mum also occupied the pulpit now and then - although none was/is an 'ordained pastors'. Mum actually went to Bible College with Dad back in the 1940's as originally they thought they were going to be missionaries in China. But she ended up being a Pastor's Wife. She was good at it!

Like more many famous Baptists [eg Spurgeon] I was born in Essex. These 3 pictures are some of my favourite T-shirts - but I do usually dress smartly and relatively formally when in the pulpit.

 

And no, I do not possess one of those T-shirts for Lady Vicars I saw last year which says "Does My Bum Look Big In This Pulpit?" - nor the one for clergy wives which reads "I don't do scones"

Teaching is a passion for me, and especially Bible-teaching, so I love sharing my faith like this, but do not get as many opportunities as I would like. Usually I am a traditional English Baptist bible-based-3-point-sermon sort of girl - but in recent years have been exploring new ways to get the message across.

I find All Age Worship a real challenge - creating an hour of worship which engages everybody, and does not degenerate into just 'keeping the children entertained and singing lively songs with a Bible story thrown in somewhere' - I want to ensure that our worship is truly giving God our praise, and also hearing Him speak to us through His Word.

I do 're-use' old sermons if I am preaching somewhere different - but they have to be prepared and re-worked first, even if I stick with the original theme and teaching points. Quite often as I think and pray about the passage, I find new ways of sharing the old truths.

Last year I began developing first-person-narrative style sermons. Here is the first one I ever did, "Mary's Meditation" http://angalmond.blogspot.com/2009/01/mary-meditation.html Since then I have done one on Nathaniel, called "Under the Fig Tree"

I've not had any formal theological college training - just 50+ years of listening to two brilliant preachers - my Dad and my husband, and access to their extensive libraries of Bible commentaries.

My next preaching engagement is on November 29th, when I shall be going to Whitwick Baptist Church for the first time.

So now you know!