Finding Your Preaching Voice: Finding Your Voice as a Minister

Ever feel the pull to sound like your favorite preacher, while a quieter nudge inside reminds you to just be you?

In this first episode of our Discovering Your Preaching Voice series, we talk about how real impact begins when you stop trying to impress and start owning the voice God shaped through your story, scars, strengths, and calling.

We define a preaching voice as the authentic fusion of message, mantle, and ministry, expressed through your God-given personality—and we lay a clear, practical foundation for how ministers discover their voice and preach with confidence and consistency.

In this episode, we walk through the Four M’s that shape and stabilize a preacher’s voice:

Models — How learning from diverse voices expands your range without turning you into a clone.
Mentors — Why honest feedback sharpens your gift and turns performance into proclamation.
Methods — Sermon preparation approaches that bring clarity to content and freedom to delivery.
Mastery — The role of practice, repetition, and discipline in moving from nervous to natural.

Along the way, we share real stories about comparison, platform pressure, and growing in confidence while maintaining unity and authenticity. You’ll walk away with practical steps to refine your study habits, strengthen your structure, and welcome feedback that actually makes you better.

Most of all, you’ll be reminded that your voice is your ministry’s fingerprint—unique, needed, and connected to people God has specifically assigned to you.

🎙️ This is Part 1 of the Discovering Your Preaching Voice series.

👉 Listen now, check the show notes for helpful resources, and if this episode helped you, subscribe, share it with a fellow minister, and leave a quick review.

Transcript

Welcome & Subscriber Invitation

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Five Fold Food Podcast, hosted by Dr. Robert F. Dial, where ministers receive the spiritual encouragement they need to receive. The Word of God declares an gate of apostles and of prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the faith. Edified of the body of Christ. Prepare to receive revelation, wisdom, and insight. Empower your ministry for victory. Now, let's speak.

Topic Set: Discovering Your Preaching Voice

Pastor Dowell 0:43

Welcome to the Five Fold Food Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Robert F. Dowell, and I'm so delighted to have you here with us for another Five Fold Food Podcast. We want you to bring your seat to the table and we get ready to serve up some ministers' food. We pray that you enjoy today's podcast. I want to encourage you, whether you're listening to this by audio or video, we ask that you subscribe so that you can get the latest podcasts as they come in. And so if you're on iTunes or Spotify, they'll put it uh where you can get our latest podcasts if you subscribe. Also, if you look in the show notes, you'll see some great resources. Uh, some of them are free resources that we believe that'll be a blessing to you as you are a leader in the body of Christ and in your five-fold ministry. Also, if you're on YouTube, please be sure that you subscribe as well. Also, be sure to share it with another minister if you believe that it'll be a blessing uh for them as well. You can go to the playlist, also, where you can find many of the previous uh videos that we have uh uh that we believe that'll be a blessing to you in the Fivefold Food Podcast. Our desire here is that we can feed you well so that you can eat well and excel. I'm excited today about our podcast. Today, I'm joined again by my podcast partner. I'm gonna welcome my podcast partner, Pastor C P Caninians. How are we doing today, man of God?

Pastor Cornelius 2:15

I'm good, sir. How are you doing today?

Pastor Dowell 2:17

Um great, man. I'm looking forward to our time together. Uh, we don't never know what's gonna come out in these times, and so what we just decided uh to be efficient with our time and everything that we have, many of the conversations we have that we want to just bring in others as we discuss and chop it up in here. And so I'm looking forward to our discussion on today. We pray your day has been blessed.

Pastor Cornelius 2:40

It's been a great day, man. Just got through giving out some food somewhere, man. Just giving out some food earlier today. Feeling real good, man. Real excited about this time together.

Why Voice Matters: Vehicle Of The Message

Pastor Dowell 2:50

Doing that work of the ministry, and it sounds like you're uh you you were flying with those wings, you give them the wings that we talked about in our last uh podcast series. Well, today I'm excited, Pastor C, uh, about our discussion today, and I want to get right to our discussion today. Today, we're going to be talking about the subject. We're gonna be talking about discovering your preaching voice part one. And we dealt with leadership in our last time together, but now we want to deal with some of those pulpit aspects of ministry, discovering uh your uh preaching voice, how to discover your your preaching uh a voice, and we think that's uh something that's uh need for uh for uh the minister. You know how we like to start this time out, Pastor C to first of all get a feel of of you know the the importance of a minister being able to discover uh their preaching voice. And so when when you think about this topic and this subject, what comes in your mind so we can frame it before we even get into it, uh, why you believe it's important uh and critical for uh ministers, especially early on in the ministry, uh, to discover uh their their preaching voice.

Pastor Cornelius 4:08

Uh one reason that I would say because your voice is the vehicle, it's the vehicle God used to move his message. He does it through your personality, through your experiences, and through that anointing that's on you. So I think that's why it's important that you discover your voice because your voice is actually that vehicle in which the message that God has, if He moves it through you based upon your personality, your experiences, like I just got through saying, and also that anointing that's upon you.

Defining A Preaching Voice

Pastor Dowell 4:45

I think that's I think that's good. I love that terminology. The the visual you give that's a vehicle, it's what's gonna take you. Is it vehicle takes us somewhere? So when we talk about your voice, we're talking about what God uses you so that through your personality to express what He wants to get in the earth realm through you. I think it's important for ministers to uh discover this early on because if we don't get this early on in our journey, then what the sad thing can happen, people can be in ministry 5, 10, 15, 20, uh perhaps even 30 years. And sad to say, maybe they haven't truly found their voice yet. That you can have a lot of time in ministry and really never truly uh find your voice. And when we talk about that, I I like to always say, like, there's levels to this. I believe that there's levels uh to to finding to finding our voice. If a minister don't find their their voice, then I believe uh, and what we're gonna talk about today and helping ministers deal with it, we're gonna talk about the four M's that a minister must know. We're gonna deal with some M's uh to help them discover it through the four M's that ministers need to know. But what happens if ministers don't find their voice, what they're gonna do, they become clones. You you'll become a copy, you you you won't be an original. You you'll you they'll walk in intimidation instead of walking in authority, you know. They'll I like to put it this way they won't have their own authentic anointing, they'll have a borrowed mantle, they'll wear somebody else's mantle. Why? Because they didn't find their voice. So, Pastor See, if I don't find my voice, then I'm gonna yield to your voice, I'm gonna have Jake's voice, I'm gonna have Darius Daniel's voice, I'm gonna have John Hannah's voice, I'm gonna have George Meyer's voice, I'm gonna have Jasmine's, was it Scholar's voice, whatever. I'm I'm gonna have somebody, whoever it is, I'm gonna have their voice if we don't discover our own voice, and then if they don't discover it, their voice become un unusable, you know, it won't uh be usable. Now think about Moses in the beginning. We see Moses in in Exodus 4. Moses, he he felt like he had no voice. He when God gives him his assignment, he says, Hey, I can't speak. I um I don't I'm in um I can't speak, I can't, I can't talk. And God said, Hey, I got you, I got you, I got you. I'm I'm um I'm I'm I got Aaron for you. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna be with you. Who made your mouth, Moses? And so and Moses went from uh having no voice in Exodus four. And when we get into Exodus seven, we see now he's found this voice because that same Moses is saying, Let my people go. And so we can't go from a point of not knowing our voice till he found this voice, but there was a process that God led Moses through, and I believe our podcast is gonna be able to help walk up those same elements. How God did with Moses, he sent an Aaron in his life. He said, I'm gonna be with you. In other words, Moses, I'm gonna teach you. Moses, I'm gonna train you. I got you, and that's what I believe this podcast is important because if we don't get our voice, Pastor C, we're gonna end up with a mess instead of that. One of them M's we're gonna deal with, that they're not a mess, but you're gonna get a mess because you never found uh your voice.

Pastor Cornelius 8:02

Yeah, and I and I think it's important that we emphasize what you said that early on, you're surrounded by you're surrounded by influence. You just call out some names, and they normally influence you, and you you're surrounded by also certain expectations that people put upon you this to your early stage, and even the truth be told, you you also have to deal with being comparing, comparing to some someone as you're being compared to. So it's important that you intentionally discover your voice early on, that you discover your voice so that you can grow into your own original voice. If not, I call it, or you'll end up performing. That's all you're doing is performing instead of proclaiming, you're performing instead of proclaiming. That's what you'll end up doing, and then the other thing is you'll find yourself in in in actually you're in all of a sudden I'm following somebody else, so therefore, however they move, whatever they say is what I'm saying, and so now I'm getting confused from even knowing what God is saying to me because I haven't even discovered my own voice. So now I'm I'm actually doing saying and repeating and using the voice of others. Whew, I like that.

Pastor Dowell 9:32

Performing, yeah, you're performing. That's it. I think that's good now. Pastor C, but before we put the cart before the horse, for those ministers better not be quite familiar when we use this term, and I think this is a term that preachers need to know that you need to find your preaching voice. It's like a child has to learn how to speak, but we believe you're gonna be an effective minister, you need to find and discover your preaching voice. Let's define this concept before we move on further, because I think we need to maybe take a pause for those that might not be quite tracking what do they mean, like how loud we speak, how you know that you know we mean my voice, like you got to have that preacher talk, you know, like praise the Lord, and how you pronounce everything. What do we mean, uh uh by by preacher's voice? Because you know how I often always like to say this if we don't properly define a thing, then we can't find a thing. So you can't find what you don't define. And so when I think about uh a uh a preacher's voice, I think about preacher voice kind of similar to what you said, but I wanted to make sure we anchor it down. Uh when you talk about severe cobbler, but when I talk about preacher voice, your preaching voice is my uh I look at it, it's my authentic message, correct? My my authentic message, my not only my authentic message, and when I say message, where there's a message of healing, see let's go levels, deliverance, breakthrough. We know that we we know certain people like you know in different ages of ministry, they were known for certain things, like he's known for faith, he's known for deliverance, she's known for healing, she's known for family that they're known for uh for for this, and so it's it's it deals with your authentic message, not to put you in a box, but to help you realize what is your sweet spot, what is the the message that God put in you? It it's not only your message, but also your mantle. Your message is what comes out of your mouth, the mantle is what you wear, right? And so it's the it's the your voice is the anointing that's on you, what you carry, what is draped out. That's part of your voice, isn't it's in your message, it's in your mantle, and it's in your it's your ministry. That's what I mean. Your your ministry that that comes that God releases through your mouth, and so I think that's when we talk about your voice. It deals with your style, it deals with your your rhythm, your flows, it deals with you, your message, your mantle, it's all those things being you. So that's what I think about. Uh, when I think about finding your your voice, what comes to your mind, Pastor C?

Signs You’ve Found Your Voice

Pastor Cornelius 12:16

All of that that you said, but I I like to put it like this my my preaching voice is my God-given fingerprint. It's my God-given fingerprint. So, meaning that that that God have given me that comes out of me, so it's not just about making a sound. I think, like what you said earlier, I don't think it's just about you know me making a sound, because I want to make sure that it is the insight, my my voice, my preaching voice become that insight and the insight, the revelation I got that's my fingerprint. That's my ministry, that's my area. So, from the revelation, the insight that I have, that's how my finger fit my fingerprint was formed. So now what I'm doing, I'm not just making a sound. So we're not just talking about the sound you're making, even though the tone is in there, like you said, the rhythm, you got your particular rhythm, all that's all that's a part of it. But for me, I just feel like it's my fingerprint, meaning that's my my uniqueness. Okay, so whatever that whatever that message is, whatever that ministry is that the Lord have given me, it it becomes that. So from that, I feel like it's formed. I think the sign is formed from my story. Because somehow, Bishop always to say, we all have a story, not only from my story, but from my scars. I think that that's how that message and that voice is is is formed. So it's actually my me being spirit that that I have been spiritually formed, all that comes together to glorify Christ, of course.

Pastor Dowell 14:05

I love it, Pastor C. Uh man, I I love it. It's not just the sound, it's your unique sound. Yes, see, it's it's your uniqueness, and I like to even take it a step further. Not only your fingerprint, but your voice print. Good. It's it's your boy, it's it's your sound, it's your voice print. And I love how you said that it's formed through your story, it's all things you and so you have to find that we and we have to discover our uh our our preaching uh voice, and so we got to discover our preaching. Well, that's what we want to deal with in part one, and how we're gonna deal with it today. We're gonna talk about uh uh the four M's, but before we get into this, Pastor C and helping them discover it. How let I think this will help. How does a preacher know then when they've found their their their their voice? Let's deal with that. How will a preacher know when they've found their voice? And maybe you can lean into maybe as well, however, you want to deal with it. How did you know when you found yours? Help us with that, and then we want to go deeper into this.

Pastor Cornelius 15:09

First of all, I think you stop trying to impress and you start impacting. Your impact is my word. So you stop trying to impress people and you start impacting them. That's one way you begin to find it because you realize you know what, I'm making an impact. So, this ministry, this voice that that my my unique voice is actually impacting people's lives. So, I I think that's one of the ways you begin to discover that when you shift from just trying to impress people and you start impacting people, you begin to discover that's mine, that's that's mine's that this is what I am called to. So this is my voice. For me, I feel like leadership is a part of the my voice, that's my message. So that's my voice. Okay, that's my sound. So, in that, it's I impact in that area. I'm I'm not it's not about impressing, it's it's more about me impacting in that area. So that's one way, you know, I feel like you find it. And I know when I I learned that when I could I discovered mine when I when I started being able to to voice what was in me, like you just said, that voice print, so that fingerprint, that voice print, when I was able to voice that that was on me now with with not without trying to sound like anybody else. That's when I discovered this mind. I wasn't trying to sound, move, react like anyone else, and so now I'm not trying to impress. So it's two things I wasn't trying to be like nobody else, okay. And then I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Then I that's when I discovered this my lane, this is my voice. So that side helped me.

The Four M’s Overview

Pastor Dowell 17:06

I love that. Uh man, I I just love to I love that. You're no longer trying to impact. I mean trying to impress, but you want to impact. Do you know your area of impact, ministers? Can you jot down and say it now as you're listening? What is your area of impact? Like you say, yours is leadership, it's not to limit you, but it's your sweet spot. It's kind of like what a restaurant is known for. You can get you can get chicken at Texas Roadhouse, but we know what they're known for. You can get wings at Texas Roadhouse, right? Right, you know, you you you you can go to McDonald's and get uh nuggets, but what are they known for? So it's a lot of things that you can get, but your message is what you're really known for, even though you might can get other things there at Red Lobster. You can probably get a hamburger, I believe, at Red Lobster, Pastor C, couldn't you? But it's what they're known for, they're known for uh a certain thing. So I love that. Well, where you were able to uh I love that make impact. Then I love what you said too. When you no longer stop trying to sound like somebody else, that's how you kind of know uh that you kind of found your voice. The way I think about it, Pastor C. Uh, when a preacher knows his voice, I I kind of put it, I thought about some seeds. I thought about that you you there's a confidence that you have when you find it, there's a not a pulpit confidence, a confidence that when you are before people handling the word of God, there's a certain confidence, and it's not a natural confidence because it's like something comes upon you and you turn into another man, another woman. You know, when you see people who they might seem meek and mild or shy, but man, it's kind of like in football, man, when they get on the field, something happened. That's that means they found their voice. It's like man, they switch, and so there's a there's a confidence that you will have, there's a a competence that you have, there's a certain level of confidence because you mean that you can't find your voice if you don't know what you're saying. Yeah, so there's a certain competence, and that's why you say it's when you find your sweet spot, when you find particular, yeah, we preach the word, but it's it's what is what defines you when people think about you. What is your message or in the world? I may call it your brand. Yes, good. That's your brand, and so that's helping you. And so, ministers, if you're finding your brand, this will help some of you to know that you found it and you can more find it and get more confident in it and take it to another level. Confidence, competence, there's a clarity, there's a clarity in your in your in your when you are ministering the word of God. You're able to make it, thank you, Lord. Like you said, Pastor C, a clear sound. What does it matter if a people make a sound if it's not a clear sound? In other words, when you teach, when you preach, when you minister, there's a clear sound that people are able to hear, and you know, when they hear a clear sound, it helps them to abound, and so there's a clarity in your in you, also there's a consistency. You find your voice when you're not one one good message, another one not good, too good, this one not good, this one not that. That means somewhere you have you haven't found your voice if there's not a consistency in your delivery, in your approach, and so and then I thought about this one there's a contentment that you have, and I think that speaks to what you said, Pastor C, that you get to a point that you're no longer trying to be like somebody else.

SPEAKER_04 20:41

Oh, yeah.

M1: Models That Shape Excellence

Pastor Dowell 20:42

Now we always will learn from other people, but not after we will always grow from other people. Uh why? Because I believe even as an expansion that there's levels to your voice, because think about this in Revelations, Pastor C talks about how I think John the Revelator, when he refers to Jesus, he said his voice was like that the voice of what many waters. That's right, meaning that there's a there's a depth, there's a diversity, many waters. His voice had many water, so it you're not locked in a box, but your voice print expands. That there's a diversity to you as well, and so pastor C, like you said, man, you're a part of your mantle is leadership, but there's a diversity. You you help couples, you help men, you help believers. So, meaning that there's an expansion, and so I believe there's a contentment, but so you always learn, but you're not trying to be like nobody else, and then the last one, Pastor C, I just putting them C together, you get comfortable in your own skin. You you you you get comfortable and you get settled where you're comfortable in what you do, you're you're not you're not intimidated by other preachers, other other teachers, other preachers. No matter what they do, you're you're confident. And me and you talked about this before if I said. I think about it when you know you found. I think maybe when you found your voice and you know you found your voice. I think this is why it's so important. I think the light bulbs are coming on uh for many ministers and pastors, maybe apostles and prophets. Maybe they have found it, but they never thought about this terminology or never thought about it. Maybe they had found it, but they didn't know it, so they didn't own it. They found it because there is a confidence, they found it because they do all these things, they just never thought about it, but they didn't own it. They didn't embrace it. Yeah, they didn't own it, embrace it. And this is what I believe will happen. See, when you don't own and embrace it, when you get in certain situations, then that's when you can uh you could retreat because you never owned it. Meaning that when you really found your voice and own your voice, then the lights will never be too bright. Yes, correct. The stage will never be too big, meaning that there's some people they'll get on certain stages under certain lights. And we say, like when the lights come on in sports, that when the lights get bright, then they switch up and try to be something or someone that they're not, and they lose their voice print. Why? Because now you what why did you go? Why did you change? Because Jakes, uh uh Joyce Meyer, uh, you were on TBN, you you got invited to Rod Posse Church. You you you went to you was at Transformation, you you were what whatever we put in the name, you got sent uh uh Joe Osteen, and now they promise keeper, whoever, whatever we say. Why did you change up and you weren't your authentic self? The lights was too bright, the stage was too big. Had you never known your voice, why didn't you be you? Why? Because now intimidation, so now you tried to become something that you were not. So what do you add that past? I think that's why we gotta own it so you will always remember, man. There's never, you know, never no two stage too big, yeah.

Pastor Cornelius 24:02

Like too bright. Because when you own and embrace it now, you get a natural flow, it just comes to your natural, you stay in that. That you what what's your thing? You don't try to change it, or you you're not trying to imitate anyone else because you have a you have a natural flow. See, so now I'm inspiring and I'm not imitating. But if all you're trying to do to imitate, oftentimes you end up not inspiring because of the bright lights, you end up tripping up, you trip up because there's no natural flow there. So so that's what I would add to that. Everything you're saying. So now you go in with I say you you like confidence, you like it. L A C K. You like confidence because you haven't embraced your voice. So when the lights come on, you don't have this confidence you're talking about, you don't feel comfortable. So you got to try to come up with something to make you feel comfortable in that. And it's easier if you just embrace your voice. Yeah, and so if I invite it down, usually whoever doesn't invite know your voice. I'm inviting you for what your voice is. So why do you come now to me and try to change what your voice and you came out of the bright lights? This is different for me. So I'm gonna try and something else. Now I find myself trying to imitate somebody else.

Pastor Dowell 25:30

Yeah, but yeah, because you you know your voice, and now because because they they're a hooper. This church they went to, and everybody else is on the program was a hooper, but you're not a hooper. Everybody else in there talk flat footed, teaching, power points. They they had a lapel mic, no, but you you that's you, you teach, but you you why you putting on the lapel and the headset around your head? Why you doing that? Because see, you haven't you found your voice, or you you didn't own it, because you got to a place and a space where you got intimidated, you felt that you you that you wasn't enough, Pastor C, I hope this is helping ministers. Let's go a little deep deeper. Maybe you mentioned it, but how how did you know when you discovered your your voice? How did you know uh when you you know you discovered your your voice?

Pastor Cornelius 26:25

Like I said, um I know you you you're gonna give those M's.

Pastor Dowell 26:29

But yeah, uh anything else that would you when what was there a moment then was there a moment when you kind of knew like I found my voice?

Pastor Cornelius 26:35

Yes, yes, I I I do, and I think that that moment was I was also influenced. I was what I mean by influence, to be honest with you, I had somebody to help me to discover my my voice. So as I was reaching, I knew it by the influence, by the help, because of someone that I looked it up to that taught me how to look beyond, I call it the fluff, and say, What's really you? What's really you? So I I learned that because I cut my teeth earlier different, and then I believe they become like you say, different layers down, and after a while, I finally after peeling away some things, I discovered this me. That became my comfort zone, as you put it, my sweet.

Pastor Dowell 27:28

You got into a comfort, you can you felt a comfort zone, yes.

Pastor Cornelius 27:32

Say everything you listed, to be honest with you. All of a sudden, now I I felt more comfortable, I felt more convinced of what I was doing, and I had clarity, and like I said earlier, a natural flow, it came easy. Now, I'm not saying I don't have to prepare, but I'm saying it came easy. Others would see it, and they would say stuff like, Oh, how you did that? I thought none of it because it came so naturally easy.

Diversifying Models Without Cloning

Pastor Dowell 28:04

That's good. That's when I discover this. Is it honestly? I because I didn't grow up in hearing those terms a lot, like preaching voice. So I I really when I discovered it, I really didn't know I discovered it because I never I wasn't familiar with that term preaching voice. I didn't when I came up in the preaching ranks, Pastor C I didn't that wasn't a term, but when I look back over it, even uh thinking about this podcast and thinking about when did I discover my preaching voice, I think it when all those things I was discovering it and I had it, but I didn't know it. But it's when I got into that confident zone, confident and one moment in particular that I can reflect back to that's not when I did it, but it shows proof text that I had it, and it was and me and you talked about it. I had uh I just said I had got an opportunity to speak at our holy convocation with our beloved uh uh bishop Holcomb, Pastor Holcomb that passed away. I remember you remember when I got the invitation, and that's when all the pastors from all his people they could all come together, right? Right. So that's a grand preacher moment where you know you got ministers and preachers, you got bishop, you got a room full of preachers. Correct. And when I got the invitation to come, uh it to me it I it was an honor, I was honored, but it was it was not a uh an intimidation thing. And I remember one of the uh leaders in the organization uh that shared with me in a great way, they was like, hey, and they wanted they was encouraging me. They just said, hey, you know, just you know, you know, say praying for you. And the main thing they say, you know what? Just you know, be yourself, be be yourself. They was encouraging, and and to me, I was like, Hey man, I didn't get it. I I I got it then, I appreciated it. But now years later, I really realized why because they didn't know to me, and like I told you, I have my no, it was business as usual because I always do what I do when I come with my congregation, I give my A game with my congregation, so it was like no different. But in other words, when I look back now, I was a person who had found their voice because I didn't I don't care who was on the program, who's on the ticket, who preaching before me or after me, I'm not intimidated, I'm not saying that I'm better than them because I'm just confident I know what this is what I bring to the table. Good, and I think that's when I when I reflect back when I got to those those stages like that, not worrying about who preached first. So if you always am worried about who go before you, who preaching after you, who's on the ticket for you, that means you haven't found your voice because all you can do is be the best steak that you can. If you're pork chop, man, I'm pork chop, man. I bring man, I appreciate state, and I don't know if that helped, but that I think that that's how I found mine. See, it I was finding it, but I didn't know it. And that's I think I hope that helps the minister realize if you're not at a point now where you still feel intimidated, who's on the ticket or who else is preaching, or who goes first. Not that you're not anointed, that means you're you you're not owning your voice yet because you're you're thinking you're not enough. Because when you find your voice, you realize I'm enough. That doesn't mean we don't grow, we don't learn, but we are enough. Now let's let's really dive into this now. Since we laid the groundwork and we want to be here for a minute, we want to help ministers discover uh in this series. This is part one. We want to we want to help them just discover uh in it. What would you what would you say now? We want to deal with the four M's that every minister must uh must know in order to it. And the first M, Pastor C when I think about it, we're gonna help them discover the first M is that you need models. I think you need um uh the first M is you need a model, and what I mean by a model, a model someone that you you you you look to, you look at them, you look to them. And so I think the first thing is that you need a model. So let's talk about now early models. So this is how you really discover your your your preaching voice, you need models. Let's talk about early models uh in our life and maybe who they were and how they how were they important to you, Pastor C. So talk about your early models, who they were, and how were they important because that's how we discover our voice with models.

Pastor Cornelius 32:42

First of all, I'm gonna start out with Anthony the first end. For me, the first the the bite part of that, the bite end of it is the importance, the reason why they were important to me. Each one of them, they they gave me a vision of what excellence looked like. What it looked like, excellence, like where how to perfect your voice, and and they they they helped shape my sound, if I can put it that way, as we're talking about this sound. So, and above all, my standards that I can as I discover my sound, I feel like these ones I'm finna this, what they did for me, they taught me how to shape it up and and my standards, how to shape my standards. And first of all, I would say with our beloved bishop, who's a model for me. Now, let me share. I like how you define the model, it's one I look up to. So, some of these ones I'm on the list. I I wasn't in personal contact like I was with Bishop, with my bishop, but when I think of model, that's what I think about. See, that's what I think about. See, model, you look, you don't they don't they ain't talking to you. They ain't talking to me. I know we're gonna do the next M. We're gonna get another M with that. So, for that, like I said, my beloved Bishop, because I wasn't one that was talking to Bishop every day. I studied bishop from afar, from afar, and so that's a model.

Pastor Dowell 34:18

Do you look at like that?

Pastor Cornelius 34:19

Yeah, so he was a model, and once again, the model showed me excellence. I watched his standards. That's what the model, you know. So it helped shape my standards, and it helped me to get clearer clarity on my sound by me watching how they was operating. The other one was um price, fair price. Fair price was fair price, was uh uh as you know, fair price, then 10 toes down and talk. That's how I started. That's how I cut my teeth with just teaching. That was that voice I had. I was that teacher, I was that teacher, sat there teaching, watched him from afar, learned excellence in that, how to take that scripture, break it down, all that was fitting, what my my sound was, my voice was that it that was of a teacher, that teaching voice. Other one, R. Re Vernon. Ari Vernon, Ari Vernon did another one my voice is a pastor. That's what I seen with him as that pastor. How how he did that helped that was the another model I looked at for the voice that I had, that of a pastor. So my bishop also is a pastor, but more so bishop was how he led men and how he led leaders. He was our bishop, had all of us on how he led leaders. That anybody just can't lead leaders. You got a leader got to know how to lead leaders. Okay, so the leader got to know how to lead a leader. So that's why I got that from Bishop. The teaching I got from Fred Price, the pastoring also at my model was RV and R V and those R A. And those are my voices, my sound.

M2: Mentors, Feedback, And Integrity

Pastor Dowell 36:22

Good. Well, when I think about when we were helping people, if you're gonna discover your voice and even own your voice, you need models because models is gives us, I love, like you said, they showed us what excellence, they give us something to ascribe to. You look at them. My early models were uh uh uh Fred Price, uh models was uh Creflo Dollar, uh Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagen, you know, those those were and what I learned uh from them it was the teaching, the teaching manual, the the the the teaching, especially of the of the word of faith to teaching the the word and making sure people had not just inspiration, but they had revelation. You know, and that's what that's really what I learned from them is that teaching with with with with revelation. And so those were my models. Also, uh Mike Murder was a model, learning uh wisdom and structuring things of that. That's a part of Mike Murder. Uh Bishop Jakes was a model uh where I learned storytelling, uh uh to be to be inspirational, not just revelation, but inspirational to be breakthrough, you know, that that preaching that that uh that giving deliverance type ministry breakthrough inner healing. And of course, so I had several models. Andy Stanley, I mean not Andy, Charles Stanley. I love the way he outlined the teaching. Charles Stanley was a model. Uh, and of course, uh my bishop, our apostle Nate Holm, he was a model, man. Well, I learned the pastor's heart, humility, revelation. I learned uh stickiness from him that that that he had sticky that he would have messages like soup face, soukes, souffle. Stuff now, still remember messages soukes, souffle. Why? Because souffle is something that's puffed up, and but then soukes meaning soul, mind, so it means puffed up soul, soukes, souffle, kisses and cleavers, you know, you know, uh uh show the house to the house. I mean, you know, he meant just you know, the whole thing about Ezekiel and you know, and showing patterns. You remember those things? Get Gethsemane, just the one name, Gethsemane, the place of precious. So it I learned stickiness that he he crafted messages and stuff that would stick to you, and so I picked up that. I had a whole lot of models when I thought about this, Pastor C, that I really wasn't intentional about the models, it's just that who I was attracted to. I didn't know I was looking for a model. That's why we want ministers to know you got it, you gotta do with intentionality. And as I learned of that, but in the beginning, I didn't do it with intentionality. Now I still look for models, but I do it with intentionality, what I'm looking for and what I want to gain. And from the but but by watching TBN, I went to TBN University before there was a YouTube, and I would just watch it day and night. That became a school, so I I was picking up different uh uh different styles and different things from people, and so that's how those models uh they help me. Models uh I think models matter, Pastor C, and they help me because models are like training wheels. They they it's like it get it get me started on course. You don't keep the training wheels on, but it gives you those training wheels. Uh they they taught me to see what preaching you know could be, and so that that's what those uh those how those models uh help me, they help they help me find my lane, and so that's that's how those early uh models uh were uh uh to me. And I think about John the Baptist, like while we you know, he he's a model now that we can look at because John says, when we find John, when you hear the introduction of his ministry, John doesn't say, I'm here, I am, I'm joined, I'm a preacher, John, I'm a I'm a pastor, John, I'm a teacher, John, I'm an apostle. He said, No, I'm a voice. I I am a voice crying in the wilderness. I'm not not a preacher. Now he was in tune. That is all about, and so I think that can be a model for us as well. That that our our dimension, our value, what we do, it's in our voice, not in Pastor Apostle, it's in Johnson. I'm a voice crying in the wilderness, and so I think that can even be a a voice uh for us, uh a model for us now. So I think we need models, and so we gotta have people that we look at so we can pull up out. Anything else you want to say, Pastor, before we go to the next M. But I think that's the M. If you're gonna find your voice, you need a model because with a model, they'll model out what you will become in your own unique way.

Pastor Cornelius 41:31

I I think also some you said earlier down that I think tie here too about the different phases of of uh of your voice, how you moved in. Because one thing I would say with my models, what ended up happening, they was there, the ones like the ones I listed, and many others like you listed, many of the ones you listed. I also had as models, but then I noticed as my life went on, some of them shifted to other models because my voice on my lane shifted. So it's the many waters, you like Jesus talked about voice of many waters, waters. So that ended up happening, like what you brought up earlier about the many the million waters. So, with that, it began that my because my voice did change some in some areas, also because of that, my models change, you know.

Pastor Dowell 42:27

You know, it just jolted in my spirit that as we would grow and mature, especially we know with males, I think it's the same way with females to dimension our voice change.

Pastor Cornelius 42:36

Yes, that's true. As we mature, that's good, that's good as we mature, our voice changes natural first, then spiritual. That's good.

Pastor Dowell 42:46

Our voice changed, and that's why. And this thing I want to say about models, Pastor C, to help people realize important that you you need a diversity of models. And if you're not aware of this, how if you're not careful, if most of the time, what can handle most ministers, it may not be, and you can kind of speak to this, maybe this might be outdated now, uh, because we're in a social media age is different, and so maybe you can put, but maybe those that came up before then. But how some people the only model that they have is their pastor, yes, true, and that's not good, true, because it because because he that's only he's only one model, so they model their whole ministry become from the pastor, and that limit you, and and sometimes it could come from a good place where, like, hey, no, hey, I don't want to try to eat off everybody's table. Uh, I know that's good, but as a preacher or minister of the gospel, you need more than the model of your pastor because you because you because that's not gonna unlock all the dimensions in you.

Pastor Cornelius 43:52

You you you know, you're opening up something with that, man. You open it up some when you make that statement because you have to be careful. In that some pastors don't want you to model anyone else but them. If you in this house, you under me. That's all I want you to model. So that's why I say you own up a lot. So you got to be very careful as pastors, as pastors, that you don't hold anybody back from that. But you put out what you just said, Pastor Dow. The importance of recognizing I don't want you to be one dimensional. Don't be modeling after me. You're gonna be one you're gonna become you can become one-dimensional. I don't want you to become one-dimensional, you're better than that. See, so it's okay for you to model others. Others now, for you all to choose to do that, you have to understand though what roof of what house you're under that you ain't trying to bring into and make the house you at, because it ain't the way pastor's doing it. You think it should be the way this person that you modeled should doing it. All of that you have to be careful of, you have to be very careful. So you got to know how to model. Now, both of us, myself as well as Pastor Down, he could speak for himself. When we were just naming the ones that we model after, I was still under a pastor, both of us were still under our bishop, but yet we was able to pull from other tables and still maintain the same with our bishop, if that makes sense to you.

Coaching Others To Find Their Voice

Pastor Dowell 45:38

Because it's about having because the people who you couldn't for if you're a pastor concerning people you lead, and if you are under somebody, it's it's about having the same spirit of faith. There you go, it's it's having the same spirit, not the same style. That's it, same spirit, not the same delivery, same spirit, not the same personality, same spirit, not the same mantle or anointing, but the same spirit now. Uh, in that let's deal with the uh uh let me say this one thing I was important too, just hit me past with models, and I just throw this out. I what we have to realize. What most let's say this I am with my people, and that's why you got to realize you don't want to be locked into a model, and you don't want to lock people into your model because I I don't teach my people everything that I eat and everything that I'm exposed to. That's true. So they don't get everything that I'm exposed to get, they only get what I teach and share with them, meaning that there's a whole lot that make me who I am, it's good, it's good, but my message is not all that I eat and teach. So you limit your people if all they eat from you because I'm just not in from one source, I listen to a plethora of people, but don't necessarily mean that I'm teaching that, and so that's why you don't want to be limit yourself to that. The the next empathy that I found that we're gonna help preachers find their voice is we need mentors, we need models, we need mentors. I look at models of what we look at, we look at them, but mentor brings that thing a little closer. Mentor, you talk to them and they talk to you. That's how I distinguish the mentor because now meant my mentors can be models, but when there's a mentor, there's an exchange, meaning that this I can talk to them, they can give me feedback. If you can't get no feedback and talk to them, and the definition how I see it in the clears of the word, they're really not a mentor, they're a model, that's right, but a mentor, you can talk to them and they can talk to you, and they can give you uh feedback. And so, this is how I found my voice, this is how we discover our voice. Let's talk about now uh who mentored us in preaching and how did they help you? And I start this out. How I got mentored in preaching, and who mentored me is my my uncle. My uncle man, he he mentored me in preaching, and how did he how did he uh what did he help me discover? He gave me foundational structure, meaning that uh a hunger for the word, to spend time in the word, to to hear, he gave me that as a model and a mentor that and I learned from the gide up that I have to have a lot of word in me. And the pattern was in my high school year on Saturday, you pray an hour, study an hour before we do anything, our prayer in the spirit and worship, hour in your personal devotion. That's standard Sunday, Saturday morning. Rest of the week, we'll Bible study maybe three times a week, through three different maybe Bible studies that we'll go into and teaching. The other times we'll we'll we'll we'll listen to cassettes that came in from Hagen and Copeland because we had to get a mail back in there or watching Fred Price on BET. And so I learned that foundation. But then he taught me sermon preparation, he taught me study habits, and so uh those things were those essential. And so uh I I think mentors are important. I want to say this I think it's important that you have a mentor so that you can get quality feedback. And I want to encourage uh ministers, you know, uh especially as we're forming and you're finding your voice, that spouse and friends, spouse, I guess, excuse me, one second, spouse and friends, uh, they they can be they can give you feedback, but you got to be careful with spouse and friends unless they are are trained or have the uh anointing to give you good feedback, proper feedback. Why? Because sometimes we have to watch with our spouse and friends, unless they've been trained. Your spouse and friends are gonna kind of be like the uh like we call preaching to the choir. Well, if you're not careful, I'm not saying it might be different every spouse, but they're gonna just always tell you, you were great, you good, you the bomb, it was great. And I'm not saying you need a mentor to tell you that you you were bad, but you need to give them we need that's it. You need them to be able to coach you up. You don't need nobody that breaks you down, but somebody that can coach you up. What do you mean? Can tell you how to get better at what you do, or to help you understand what you're doing so you can own it. That's what coaching does, it's not about telling you what you were wrong and how you did bad, but they're able to help you do better, and so that's what you need those mentors for, Pastor C. That's why I think a lot of us get robbed because we don't have anybody to give us that feedback to help make us better, and so that's that that's what I want to talk about. Uh mental, and I want to think about it on the biblical thing. Think about it biblically, Pastor C Samuel. Yeah, uh, but but but before before he learned uh the the the uh before he spoke as God's voice, he had to learn God's voice. Yes, so before he spoke as a voice for God, he had to learn God's voice, and who he learned it from? He learned it from a mentor, and so he learned it from his mentor, he learned the voice of God before it became a voice of God. So that speaks to us and shows the power of mentorship in that. Can you speak to the subject of mentorship, Passy, and yeah, how did it impact it you?

Pastor Cornelius 51:44

Yeah, um, but with in that same thing you just got about Samuel. I man, it's amazing you just brought that up. I was just dealing with something with that the other day. Um, also Paul with Timothy, when he told Timothy to stir up the gift, that means fan fan the fire that's in you. So he mentored him, he showed him the importance of stirring up what was already in him. Just fan the fire is already there. When you fan that fire, it it grows bigger. So when you said that, and that's what mentors do now. Five is me is my fan. Oh, I like that. Yeah, they fan it, yeah. That's what mentors do, they fan that fire is in you, and it explodes out, it goes bigger, whatever it is, they fan you. That's what they're there for, and I think they do it through insight, not just by telling you you did good.

Pastor Dowell 52:38

That's true. That's why I say maybe your spouse or friend can do it if they good in that area, if not, but just by telling you, great job, you killed it, or like amen. And they're not lying, but that doesn't make me better.

unknown 52:53

That's good.

Pastor Dowell 52:53

Just by telling me I did good. How why did why what was it about it that was good?

Pastor Cornelius 53:00

Yes, yeah.

Pastor Dowell 53:01

What made it that's what I mean? That's what a mentor have that capacity.

Pastor Cornelius 53:06

Oh, that's part of that fanning. That's fanning it. Yeah, that's what I thought about. Yeah, that's fanning it. Um, my ass was Pastor Pollard, my first pastor. In all honesty, my only pastor. I had my bishop, but my only pastor was Pastor Pollard. He what he did is first of all, he helped me discover, I would say, the discipline behind the anointing. How it was so valid to become disciplined. He was a very disciplined man, so he taught me discipline. Where I at first I looked at it like he was too routine, but I I got discipline mixed up with routine. He was he was disciplined, that's why he did things consistently, because he was distant, he he was disciplined, so he taught me that. He also taught me, do you mind, Pastor?

Pastor Dowell 54:04

I want you to lose your thought. I'm just inquisitive. What way what do you mean by that? What things you saw that was you thought was you know just routine, but it was really teaching you discipline.

M3: Methods For Study And Sermon Prep

Pastor Cornelius 54:13

What you just got through saying, for example, with your uncle. See, when you said you it's in you every Saturday, that can be called as being routine if you ain't careful, but it wasn't really routine, it taught you discipline. So now that's easy for Robert to do that now because you consistently did it. So it ain't like that's how I cut my teeth. That's how I cut my teeth. I know no other way. That that was so he was teaching you discipline. Pastor Pollett did it. He a book, he had a certain number of books he read a year, every single year. So he taught me to read. You need to read this book. Give me a book, question me about the book, ask me about the book, these kind of things. Okay, so that was man, come on, man. But he did it consistently, he did it financially with his savings. He, I mean, consistently he did it. He did a vacation consistently. He said, What all that got to do with divorce? What all that got to do with it? No, it was teaching me discipline, and these are things he was saying, you need I even outside of the pulpit. So he mentored me in that way. So I think that that's one of the things I would say now. The other thing he now don't lose the don't see.

Pastor Dowell 55:28

Let me just add this real quick. Okay, it helps you with your voice because it helps you have a more authentic and a voice of integrity. Because you are effective outside the pulpit as well. Because if you you're not disciplined in your finances and your family and all these other areas, you don't you have a you don't have a in a voice of integrity. See, because we we need see that's part of your preaching, it'll impact your preaching voice. Because what we're having now, this is like a podcast voice, yeah.

Pastor Cornelius 56:02

True.

Pastor Dowell 56:03

See, you you you that there's a the different types of voices that affect so you you there's a different voices, and so but that's speak that's why your preaching voice has impact because you have a voice of integrity. Well, that's good in all your areas of your life.

unknown 56:19

That's good.

Pastor Dowell 56:19

So I won't just had to add that it does affect your preaching voice because now we see that you live what you preach, man. Your life is in God, your family, your finances, all of that. So I just had to add that. That that's I that just hit that's very important.

Pastor Cornelius 56:33

Yeah, then he taught me how to handle the text. He taught me how to handle the text. You he always say you don't play around with the text. So to this day, as you know, you always tease me about it. I I preach the text, I stick to the text because I was trained that way. He taught me how to handle the text. He said, You stick to the text. He taught me how to study, how to pray through a sermon, how to pray through it. He would always say, he always say, You can't say everything in the first setting. You want to leave something out there to make them want some more. So that way he was teaching me not to be too long. He said, Because you can't say it all, make them want some more. He said, When you go out, you want to make people want to invite you bike because you feed them just enough till they want some more of that. So that was another thing he taught me. He he taught me how to stay faithful to the assignment. So he passed it here for oh uh right up to 30 years. So he taught me how to stay faithful to your assignment. He said, You stick with what you're called to, you stay faithful to your assignment. Now, one thing about it, he never tried to make me sound like him, but he helped me to find my own sound, never like him, but to find my own sound. He will critique my messages, and that grow me up, that matured me. He would critique it, he would let me know, and from that, I think from him mentoring me, I became what I'm am today, to be honest with you. So I learned how to handle the text, you know. Then I learned how to critique the ones that's under me, so I could speak to those ones now that I'm actually mentoring because of the way I was mentored.

Pastor Dowell 58:41

Talk to us about that. Then what are some of the things that you you share with those that uh you mentor now? What do you teach those that you mentor about finding their preaching voice? So, what are some of the things you teach or you share with preachers uh to help them find their preaching voice?

Pastor Cornelius 59:00

Some of the things me and you talking about now, first of all, a model. Don't don't don't just get caught up in one. You you you need to listen to more than one and get that, and then the same thing that leader said to you that day when when you was there at uh leaders that lead at our holy convocation, what that leader said to you, be yourself. I tell them you have to discover who you is and get comfortable in your own scheme, be yourself, you're not me. I always share you. I tell them that you're not me. Be yourself, that you'll be a bad, a very bad carbon copy of me because you can't beat me being me, and I and you can't beat yourself being your own self, so be yourself. So I always tell them that that's one of the things. I always tell them to stick to biblical, make sure you stay biblical. Your voice must be rooted in the word of God that that God has called you to. You want clarity of your calling, so you got to slow down, don't always be moving. Take some time to be still so you can get some clarity of what you're called to do. Okay, God won't anoint the version of you that's pretending. That's why you got to be your own unique self. He does not anoint the pretender, somebody that you're trying to be like. Always teach them the importance of being patient. Got to be patient as it's developing. You you you got to recognize that your voice will emerge, it it'll get there, but you got to be patient, stay in your lane. Icidents always happen when you get off into somebody else's lane. Stay right there in your lane. That's to prevent icing and stay steady, stay steady, keep going at it to develop, keep stay steady. I think that's good. That's those things I usually share.

Pastor Dowell 1:01:08

Yeah, and I echo some of them same things. One thing I like to share is part of my philosophy is uh I I encourage them that I don't pressure them to be like me, and I always encourage them about that, and exposure the ears to different. I encourage them to exposure because you from the teacher you will learn clarity from the apostle, you'll learn how to walk in government authority and systems and structure. From the advantages, you'll pick up their passion, the prophet, you'll pick up their fire. So you want to have those different models, different people. Then I encourage them to uh with uh to have honest reflection with them. I try to get them to reflect about what went well in your message. When I'm mentoring preachers and talking about it, it's like, okay, what do you think went well? What went like you planned it? Let's evaluate it. What went like you planned it? You why do you think it went good? Now note that keep that, bottle that you might not do that, but learn that principle because you know that works for you. That's something that worked. Because if you don't, you won't have your you'll that's how you get your formula because this is what worked for me, and you'll start seeing patterns. That that worked for me. I'm good at that because you and so you can build a consistency. I have them think about that. I try to help them find their rhythm and and and their structure and and their their their even their consistency in them to find their rhythm and then encourage them. What do you want to work on? What things do you think you want to work on? And I and I try to give them that voice, what you want to work on? I'm gonna work on this, and then I'm able to try to help coach them up in those areas and try to if where they can always have improvement. What do you want to add? Well, you want to add to it, what or things that I see that they're not doing. It's like uh not that you have to, but these are some things that you can add, Pastor C. I I I I talk about other people, preachers that we know, uh like you on TV, like him, like you kind of that's out. Watch them, you have a similar style to them. Pick up some things. What you do is that's how that's how Jake's do it. He gets in character. That's what you I try to label what they do so they can they can own what they do. What you're doing now, that's called getting in the character. And I teach them I don't get in the character, I get in the character sometimes, but what when Noel get on the ground and crawl, like the woman, he's in character. I make characters, I make in automate things come alive, but they get in character sometimes. I do, but they get it. Jakes, he gets in the story, he's telling the he's weaving his message with the story. I don't weave, I'm topical. So I help them identify what they do so they can look at models and put terminology to what they do because sometimes when you don't have terminology with stuff, you can lose it, you can't own it, and you definitely can't teach it. There you go. So I try to help them have terminology uh uh with them and being themselves. So those are some of the things I share. Like one thing my uncle said that you know, you always it gotta be you got the word is important, that everything got to be founded on scripture that with we're preaching, you know, word. And so those are some of the things I mentor and I do it on an individual basis and kind of coach and share with them. And uh, one thing we always talk about I'm talking when I'm talking to men about sports, the more you do it, then the game will start slowing down. See the more information they know, the game will slow down to them, and so I try to give them just that that personal feedback. But this is the thing we got to know that a good mentor mentor won't make you that echo, they'll help you find your own voice so that you can flow.

Pastor Cornelius 1:04:53

That's good.

M4: Mastery Through Practice And Reps

Pastor Dowell 1:04:54

That I like that won't make you that echo. You don't want to be an echo. They want you help you try you want them to help you find your voice, and so that's why you need a skill, you need someone who is a student of the game. Now, anybody can mentor you, give you feedback, do it with friends. But I want to encourage you, you know, listen to podcasts like this. You know, uh you contact us, find somebody. I'm not saying we gurus, but you need some level of feedback that that's somebody that's a student of the game. Because if they're not a student, what do you mean student of the game? They're a student of homiletics, a student of hermeneutics, meaning that they into that, and so you can find other podcasts, different things that talking about sermon stuff. Why you know you're learning from that? A lot of people you put in, but why? Because now it's gonna help you learn different nuances and put terminology and things that you don't need to do. So, those are some things that I encourage them them in. So we're gonna find voice past we need models we need mentors and before we close let's give them a couple more before we close but i feel that you need methods i think you know you need you need methods uh i i think we need methods we need uh i i i think we need sermon prep methods study methods could they help our uh our flow and so uh talk with us pastor c what are some sermon preparation or study methods that that uh that help shape shape shape your flow or ministry what thing let me say this too before we begin while i want to frame it study methods and preparation methods are important because in order to have an effective delivery time you have to have a good preparation time and so if your preparation time and what you put on paper or how you get on paper is that if that's not good your delivery is not going to be as good so this is why it's important that we have preparation methods or study message when we're getting ready to go into the holy pulpit and so what are some of the methods pass see that shape your delivery and your flow one of the things is now I try to build my message on what I call a peer okay and meaning I ask myself a simple question first of all what's your point what's your point you know so this what I'm fit whatever I'm gonna form what's my point okay and then I ask myself what instructions you're gonna give them to make your point what examples you're gonna use and what resources what scripture text now reason I put that out there first that's my frame that's framing it that's what I build uh maybe I should my foundation that's what I build it on now the method I do is that I I start the Sunday night no later than Monday already forming in my head picking up something for my next Sunday this is for Sunday preparation for my next if if I'm not in a particular i i have how to put this unnamed series I know you use this can you you'll do series I do what I call unnamed they're named in my head are they're named in my journal my iPad but they're not named out what I mean by that so here I our overall theme this year was was um more over more over so with that what I did and I went through I spent some time on faith to get into more over so my series was on faith but I didn't label that like that I had different topics so what why are you telling us all this what takes place is I'm working towards faith so on Monday night I'm so on Sunday night I go on into Monday I'm looking at stuff I'm reading things in the area of faith I'm just hearing it I'm opening up my spirit for it so me and you might have conversation you might say something I jot that down now then I have where I use my Tuesday I'm jotting I'm planning something I'm adding to my fountain to that pier the points I'm I'm kind of just shouting around in my head by Friday I'm memorizing what I'm getting ready to do because I do mine by memory so I'm working on it now where I'm actually memorizing it I'm working towards memorizing I don't put it kind of together and then you know I am a little different than you then saturday night I don't preach it a hundred times and now I'm ready to spit it out now and I do all of mine by outline so in my in my further my preparation part of it my my study part is I'm using different reference books but offline now I do most everything that offline I listen even the sermons that's dealing with the text that I'm dealing with to just hear others and I might pull from that then I'm doing a word study a lot of time for words and I still I tell stories so most of my messages is give around a story that's gonna fit my my my my particular points I'm trying to make man that's good you dropped some gems some gold and some nuggets you need to rewind this podcast and make sure you look it down and write those things down and you talk about that uh that that peer method pastor see when I talk about methods they're important because if you don't have proper preparation you're not gonna have a good presentation so your delivery your voice is going to be affected by the choice that you make with your methods and so that's why we want to you need to know some methods studying methods uh studying to prepare to preach so you we want to study to learn the word but then we need studying techniques to preach two different things because I'm studying sometimes just to eat we need to do that that's all believing right but then there's a certain study and prep that you need when you are getting ready to prepare and one of them you share is the prayer your point illustration example your resource your text you talk about that if you look up for those that are on YouTube uh you'll see a QR code you scan that uh and it's a book that I wrote entitled Foundation for effective ministry and in this I talk about different methods that you can use that are helping your presentation and your method is in here too that we talk about that pastor see when you talk about your peer method that's in here uh and so be sure you can get that it's a free resource those that are uh iTunes uh uh spotify whatever look in the show notes you'll find a link you can get it it's a free book we want to make it available to you for free scan the QR code look for the book there'll be a free link just put your email in there we want to bless you with that it'll share with you some methods and some other things that'll help uh equip you and some of the things that I talk about in the book pastor see that that that my mentor taught me see that's what that I and other things I picked up along the way I uh methods that shape me is I do pure pure outline uh this what I another I call the step method one two three bullet teaching full manuscript teaching uh the method of bullets manuscript the rhyming method the uh alliteration met method and so there's a lot of different methods that that I use for sermon construction not just to learn but construction and so those that affected me my my preaching because it helps me my delivery uh why because the uh like you say you do by memory work I do some memory work but those things that help me I call it one one tip I do I have to properly encode it so I can decode it so I I like to structure my message in a way like so that I can easily recount it what it is and so I can recount it what it is but now I haven't memorized it because I use a mnemonic theme with the acoustic method or like we're doing now the M's we talked about the uh that you got to understand that you need models you need um um uh mentors you need methods see just the M's so it's easy to recall and it gives people handles and so I won't go into those in detail but I want to encourage you you need some methods of preparation so get the book it'll it'll it'll help you also I got to expose how this how you find your voice because in the different methods Pastor C I learn what what flows with me I learn what fits me that I learned how to preach out full outline then I then I preach using bullets one two three I I preach using steps one two three I preach using acoustic let's look at love l-o v e so I preached the acoustic I preached the full outline I preached the bullet I preached the full manuscript I preach with alliterations the five auras I preach with rhyming amplification revelation and destination so when you teach those different methods the peer methods I learn what flow I learn because each one of them has a distinct part of my voice my I learn from this that's a part of my voice I learn from that that's the part of my voice and then I'm able to craft my unique style where it's a hybrid between manuscript and outline and acoustic it's a hodgepodge why it's all different but if you never had those exposure and the different preaching delivery methods then you will never learn to find the different nuances of your voice I did the same thing with mantles of different people I listened to apostolic people the prophets the evangelists teachers preachers why because I get the passion from one I get the revelation from one I get the prophetic from one and I learn what resonate with me not that I copy but what resonate with me what what fit me and now I don't mimic what I do is I want to learn the principle what they do I look at their practice and unfold the principle so that I can see how it applied in my ministry and so that's how how methods will really help you while you need that exposure.

Final Takeaways & Free Resource CTA

Pastor Cornelius 1:16:09

See if you don't try different sermon uh different things you'll never learn how it fit uh your voice so that's what helped me pastor seeing those different methods and and and I learned different things and I pick up that and say you know what I like that I I like I like that and so I see methods teaching but methods of delivery that others have as well and I study that out for not the practice but the principle because I'm not trying to copy but I want to learn the concept well what it's called make your own make your own cheese yeah barbecue sauce and so fast see we we we got models we need no we need we need a model we need a mentor we need methods and I believe the last M that we're gonna need we're gonna help these ministers we're gonna find our voice we need mastery yeah we need mastery you hit upon that what do you mean what do you mean mastery see that's that alliteration what do you mean mastery mastery just meaning that that you need you need you need you need practice right this you need you repetition so what role Pastor says we put prepare to close this podcast what role did practice and repetition play in you helping you find your you know your confidence your clarity and I was i i was just finna say what practice did for me now it helped me to grow from being nervous to being natural that's what practice does for me when I practice it but I and I teach it I I I teach it on all levels what I'm finna say now what I mean all levels not just out of the pulpit not just preaching i when I when I used to coach coach football I I did it with my son I I say it now oftentimes I say it to my leaders because people always use the term that practice make perfect I say no only for good practice because if you practice something bad let me mark that off something I was gonna say yeah so it got it got to be good practices man so what I do is I I I preach to myself but I started this way as a little boy literally as a little boy I had to gather around my cousins and I used to practice out of a out of storybook whatever book we were reading at school I would use that like that was my Bible and I would tell them the story I want them to sit down we playing church I always had to be the preacher so I was practicing then and still do now over and over again I keep practicing it I go over it some of the different methods you just got to use it I I I I I do that I might take the word love like you said L is such so I get it so memorized from just practicing it.

Pastor Dowell 1:18:54

So no matter what happened if there's a glitch in the system the sound or anything you know I use a lot of overhead stuff if there's a glitch it doesn't matter because I tell them it's in me some bishops always talk about you become so full that when you get in the pulpit it's just supposed to be an overflow out of you that comes from practicing and praying practicing and praying praying and practicing so that's that that that's the thing it impacts my life man I'm telling you the practice part now instead of being nervous I find myself natural I mean that's uh I love that see I did all that with practice and let me go deeper how it impacted me then and I do the same thing now in my early days I would preach to empty chapels when I was in the military literally the empty chapel and I would preach like people were there say amen I would talk to the people I would go through a full sermon not just off the cuff I would preach to chapels I would do a recording once a week on a cassette tape and send it to my my uh mentor my uncle so he could critique it and and and uh give me feedback concerning it and what what would you say we'll do we do so many weeks working on an outline so we're doing full outline intro uh topic subject point one points under point one point two points under sub two point three examples illustration point four closing then we'll do step step five steps to victory producing faith five steps to get your healing so step teaching step one step two then we did one on revelation what do you mean revelation revelation number one revelation number two what mean like don't give a point what's the major revelation that you're teaching the major revelation is that Jesus is better Jesus is what's the revelation not a point he would not a point what's the revelation so I learned the difference between making a point and something that's revelation what do you mean revelation not nothing that's new but there's some substance in this thing what's the that's some truth so I learned the difference between making a point and teaching revelations teaching stuff that got substance in it anybody can make a point but was it right so then he was like nah that wasn't a revelation that what that was a point so and I would preach it outline teaching and then I would do some manuscript uh I learned to do that on my own he didn't want he was more outline teacher but then manuscript meaning you write it all out and so then he practice the manuscript so I would preach all of those things uh and so I got reps this is the key I was getting reps and then in those reps I found my voice I natural from nerve why because you learn because when I first even started preaching in churches I wasn't even comfortable with my own voice I didn't want to preach with a mic I didn't like the way it sound I don't have a deep voice now I don't have I don't have a deep voice I just I didn't I didn't like the way it sound I like I don't need a mic I remember not literally one I like I didn't I don't need a mic why it sounded funny because I wasn't used to and that's how everybody see people ain't used to their voice they do that because they ain't they ain't used to it because it sounds funny until you get used to the you you naturally I don't need it so that's a sign you ain't got comfortable you ain't found your voice yet because you don't want you I don't need a mic I want a mic give me a mic I want and I want to cut me up in the monitor man give give me some more monitor sound I like it give me some more monitor see but when you don't you you and so uh see so those things those reps gave me reps so I I I learned what flowed in my spirit and so even to this day I don't preach a sermon i the first the put this way God forbid I preach a sermon and the first time I preached it when I was in a full pulpit I've already preached it several times to myself the first time I hear it is not there so I'm able to preach through transitions like ah that didn't flow right that didn't transition that the illustration I I already did the illustration I've already said it I went through it in my mind I've seen myself walking it out I see myself doing it I grab the bottle if I'm gonna do an illustration I do it I talk it so the message my thing is not just in my head I get it out of my head so I can put it in my hand then I put it in my heart so it can come out hot head hand heart so it can come out hot so I'm sleeping with it and when we at the shower so I I'm locked and loaded by by by Friday it's in me said I'm at football game I'm everywhere but that whole message is already burning and I memorized it not point I I I got the concept so wherever I'm go I'm still I'm studying everywhere I go see so I'm still I'm studying everywhere I go why because I've done my work I ain't uh we won't go into all that now but I've done my work so that it's in my hand in my heart and now I'm walking with it and it's incubating and so but you got to get reps and you got to get a methods and we'll deal with that later but with methods but you got to get those reps and that's how you become a master so that's why you need to be preaching with children's church preaching to youth preaching every time you get don't take it lightly and and uh somebody said you can teach on Facebook and all that yeah but you want to make sure that before you start doing it outwardly that you've done your work because sometimes your first impression can be not only a lasting impression it can be your last amen you don't want to practice on people you want to practice in private and so you want to get those reps and and preach it and never preach a message so uh see man this is this is how we found our voice man and uh uh uh uh I'm excited about what God has released in this today for these ministers and be sure you get that book and so there's so much more see that we could go into we're not out of topic we're just out of time in this podcast uh what's some closing things that you would like to share or takeaways and something you want to share uh with the ministers because and and and for them to to and finding their voice one of the things I would say I I really enjoyed here today your C's about being about the comf comfortable all the different things here I jotted down confidence yeah the confidence yeah the clarity all of this here being consistent yeah uh that that was man that was good but you have to do that because I think it's so valid important is like I shared earlier is that you're not trying to impress but you're trying to impact and so that's what I would leave you want to make sure and only I'm gonna do that if I get in my lane and I and I really know my voice and then the last things that you just said that about mastering this thing is is getting that thing from your head I really like that man getting that thing from your head to your hand then to your heart and it'll come out hot and when it comes out hot what ended up happening what came to mind that uh when when when you said that it'll come out hot number one it's gonna help see that's the heart it's gonna help not only is it gonna help it's gonna overcome the doubt because see it's hot so any doubt someone got it'll be able to overcome that and then lastly it the when I thought about that tea it's gonna come out where it's gonna help me it's gonna overcome that doubt and then you know what people gonna do they're gonna tell it they'll tell it they'll tell it because it's hot people tell stuff that's hot that helped them and overcame any doubt they have so man that's what I believe man that was the blessing for me yeah that's that's that's but we get that through master we need those reps and we got to practice right and that's why be sure you scan the QR code look in the show notes if you listen to the audio version it's a free book with where do you different teaching methods preaching principles uh that that'll help you in finding your voice so that you when you are ministering you can do it the right way and my final thing what I want the minister to realize see that your victory is in your voice your victory is in your voice John said I'm I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness your victory is in your voice your Your value is in your voice. Your vision is in your voice. And your voice, God got a people, a sound in your voice. He said, My sheep know my voice, and the voice of a stranger, they won't follow. All of that, your victory, your vision, your value is in your voice. Peter, before Pentecost, he he would make bad choices. He made a bad choice. But after Pentecost, he found this voice. He didn't find this voice in a boat. He found this voice after Pentecost. And he said, He stood up and lifted up his voice, and 3,000 souls, I believe, that were saved.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:37

Yes.

Pastor Dowell 1:28:38

Paul said that I'm a I'm called. He realized he had a voice that was called to the Gentiles.

unknown 1:28:43

Yes.

Pastor Dowell 1:28:44

In Isaiah, he says, Lift up your voice like a trumpet. It's a cliff or lift your voice up like a trumpet. All throughout the Bible, we hear about the power of the voice.

Pastor Cornelius 1:28:56

John the Baptist. Just a voice in the wilderness crying out, repent. John the Baptist has voice, man.

Pastor Dowell 1:29:07

So it's the power, your value, your vision. It's in what you're looking for. Minister. It's in your voice. Your sheep, the ones you assigned to, your assignment is in your voice. We pray that this podcast is in some kind of way got you on the track through finding a model, mentor, mastery, and the methods that you can find your voice. Somebody needs your voice. And like my friend said, my podcast partner said, just like your fingerprint is unique, and no one's like yours, your unique voice. No one got your voice because nobody got your story in your background. They ain't gonna come out the same way. Be sure that you be with us in our next podcast. Be sure you scan the QR code. Be sure you write if you're on podcast on Spotify. Write a five-star review, share this with a friend until our next time. We pray that you have eaten well. You will excel. Well, Pastor C, I enjoyed it, man. It's it's been good, man. It's been good. Thank you for helping me continually develop and find my voice through how you model, man, and how you cook on Sunday, man. You helped me find different dimensions of my voice. Same here, same here, man.