Today, I was asked to deliver the welcome and invocation at the groundbreaking ceremony for The Augusta on the Square apartments, a new project adjacent to the downtown campus of WVU in Morgantown, this coming Friday morning. My wife Belinda is the executive coordinator for the project and is the source for my connection. Dignitaries will be present for the occasion, including Mayor Ron Justice and Governor Manchin. The event will most likely get solid newspaper and TV coverage, because The Augusta is the first phase of the largest urban redevelopment project in the history of West Virginia.
Now for the confessional...I'm scared to death of any form of public speaking at this level. I am not kidding. Now I love preaching and communicating and I'm comfortable with that, but I've never done anything like this before. I know it shouldn't be any different, and I am only praying publicly, but I found myself instantly shaking in my boots, cottonmouthed, and a possessor of cold hands when asked to do this. My flesh wanted to run like a cat on fire, but I agreed to do it anyway. I can't help but thinking that this is a God assignment, and this is no accident.
God has really been stretching me and putting me in new situations that are way out of my comfort zone over the past few months, and this is definately no exception. Looks like I'm in for a growth ride this week! My prayer is that God would be made famous and given glory through this brief portion of the groundbreaking this coming Friday.
4 comments:
Go get em brother. I will be praying for you. Dear Lord, Please give Russ your words that you would be glorified.
thanks for the prayer and the encouragement, John! I'll pray for God to send some snow to Whitetail in time for your retreat!
What a great opportunity. Praying for you Russ. When I have a "big time" speaking engagement, I write out word for word everything I want to say. "The Holy Spirit moves just as easily on Monday as He does on Sunday Morning." There are several great benefits I have found for writing out a word for word manuscript for something like this: a) I can delete anything stupid I don't really want to say, b) I have a "safety net" to walk up to the podium with, and c) by thinking through it and writing it out, when I step up to the podium, I already have a good feel for what I want to say. I am not at all tied to my script.
Thanks for the prayers and encouragement, Noah. I am planning on implementing your approach tomorrow and identifying 5-6 key elements I want to be included in the prayer, then revising and memorizing until Friday morning.
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