Preaching

I was asked to preach during the my church’s unofficial Memorial Day campout. I felt I did a good job preaching in front of 149 people. The audience was overwhelming positive toward me afterwards. I guess I may have surprised some people. I’m usually pretty quiet at church almost to the point of being anti-social.
Preaching takes alot out of me. I stressed that entire upcoming week trying to make sure I didn’t make a fool out of myself. Afterwards I finally felt like I could have fun for the remainder of the weekend.
At this point in my life I don’t think I could take on a regular preaching job. I’m sure preaching could get easier the more practice I put into it. Also I have more personal stressors in my life that would keep me from putting 100% of my efforts into caring for the lost.
Meanwhile I am preparing for the best week ever, or at least this year. Next week I’ll put in another week at Taylor Christian Camp – my 15th year. Camp has changed over the years – and not surprisingly I have changed. I still enjoy it tremendously, but it has turned into more work for myself, simply because I volunteer for more responsibility. “It’s the toughest job you’ll ever love,” as our camp director has described it.
I put alot of thought into it, but worry less about it. I have a tendency to go with the flow rather than stress about all the potential problems or having to have things “just right,” such as having the weather just right, at least one baptism, etc.