LEadership in Preaching

Ep.9 | Interview with Scott Ridout

Hosted by Craig Smith

IN THIS EPISODE

• A snapshot of the Converge Movement and humble beginnings at Sun Valley | 1:40
• A passion for preaching, born in a library | 5:36
• Is it me? Seek truth | 10:10
• What do you see changing or what needs to change in the way pastors communicate with audiences? | 15:28
• S.P.A.C.E. | the key to application | 18:29
• Biblically faithful, and culturally astute are essential to preaching and leading | 21:44
• It’s good to draw crowds, but are we also creating believers? | 26:01
• What do you share with new preachers? | 32:39

INSTANT TAKEAWAYS

1 | LEarn Your Voice

Early on in Scott’s career, as do many preachers coming on to the scene, he imitated other preachers while trying to find his voice and success. Out of that he learned a valuable lesson, God has gifted us with a unique voice in the call to preaching and you should embrace that. Definitely learn from them, have them lead/guide/mentor you, but don’t try to be them. Don’t try to be something or someone you’re not, be who God created you to be. Find your voice, embrace that, and God will use you!

2 | S.P.A.C.E.

As Scott was developing his voice, and coming into his “own” for training leaders, he developed a really useful acronym to remember when studying a passage and pursuing the application piece of the sermon:
S. | As you look at a passage, do you see any sins to confess?
P. | Do you see any promises to claim?
A. | Do you see any actions or attitudes to take or avoid? 
C. | Do you see any commands to obey?
E. | Are there any examples to follow?

3 | LEadership + Teaching

Scott has a point that as you grow as a leader within a church organization, you have to put your leading hat on, not just your teaching hat (from the front, on Sunday’s). You have to figure out how to move forward as a church, corporately, and Scott has some awesome questions that you can ask yourself here, week in and week out, to guide yourself, your staff and your congregation(s):
1 // Was Christ central?
2 // Were vision and values on display? – Corporate Question
3 // What were the distractions?
4 // Was everyone challenged to take a step? – Personal Question

SHOW NOTES

We’re glad to have you back for our ninth episode on our Clarity podcast, preaching and communicating for church leaders. Today, we have Scott Rideout on the podcast, an old friend of the show. Scott Ridout is the current President of Converge Worldwide, a movement of churches working to help people meet, know and follow Jesus (of which Mission Hills Church belongs to). Tune in today as Craig and Scott discuss where preaching is today, how it plays into leadership, and practical applications of those. You won’t want to miss this one.