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Please note, this post has been re-posted from an earlier blog that was maintained by the Faithful Preaching Project before it became part of the Sharing Faith Initiative. These posts have been re-shared to maintain the full story of the grant initiative.
Our preaching workshop facilitator, Rev. Dr. Jaclyn P. Williams is having a great time planning the first Faithful Preaching Project Workshop! This November 2 workshop is FREE and open to all interested preachers. Have you signed up yet?
Workshop Title: "Preacher and Artist: Using Actor Training Methodology for Embodied Preaching"
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2024
Time: 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. (Lunch break from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.)
Note: This workshop is FREE and will be held in person on campus and streamed to Zoom for an interactive online experience. The sign-up options are listed below as well as on the FPP website. We hope you can join us!
Click here to register for IN-PERSON Workshop
Click here to register for ONLINE Workshop
About the workshop
Wrapped in humbled flesh, preachers are bodied vessels who miraculously proclaim, “Thus saith the Lord.” How can embodied practices expand the holistic spiritual practice of preaching preparation and proclamation? How can these practices form the preacher? This session will introduce activities based on actor training methodology that put theology and theories of embodied preaching on their feet. Participants are invited to explore enhancing their biblical, theological, and practical preaching practices with holistic embodiment techniques.
About the Workshop Facilitator
Rev. Dr. Jaclyn P. Williams is a professor of the practice of preaching and chaplaincy in the School of Mission and Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in California. With degrees in both theology and theater, Dr. Williams has also worked as a professional actor and performing artist. Her research interests include incarnational and embodied preaching, performing artist training as spiritual practice, and resiliency resources in pastoral and spiritual care practice. Dr. Williams is a chaplain and an ordained American Baptist minister.
Ways to attend
Saturday, November 2, 2024 from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Lunch from noon - 1 p.m.
1) In-Person on the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Campus
Dr. Williams will be on campus at Austin Seminary to lead the workshop. The in-person component will be held in Wright Hall of the Mary B. and Robert J. Wright Learning and Information Center. Attendance is free and lunch will be provided.
Our in-person capacity is limited to 100 people, register now before it fills up! If you are unsure if you can make it in person, please register online so space is available for someone attending in-person.
Click here to register for IN-PERSON Workshop
2) Online through Zoom
The workshop will be available for interactive online attendance through Zoom. Online participants will receive digital worksheets by email and be invited to participate in break-out discussion groups over Zoom. Online attendance is free.
In addition to Jaclyn’s preparations and our excitement for her workshop, the Faithful Preaching Project is excited to announce the date and facilitator for the second Preaching Workshop: Rev. Dr. Lisa Cressman on Saturday, April 26, 2025, on the Austin Seminary campus and online!
Details about Dr. Cressman’s workshop are to follow, but for now, mark your calendar and save the date for another unique, free learning opportunity!
Additional Resources
The Faithful Preaching Project leadership team attended a 4-week webinar on storytelling. The Storytelling webinar was led by the Compelling Preaching Coordination Program at the Calvin Institute and Scott Heagle of Think Theory. Participants were challenged to think about their different audiences and effective ways to communicate stories.
One exercise in particular stuck out as truly helpful. We filled out empathy maps for the audiences that we wish to reach through our project. In an empathy map, each unique audience is considered in many ways and messages are thoughtfully crafted that appeal to and connect with that audience. Filling these out for our project presented us a fresh way to think about what makes for faith-full preaching!
Empathy Mapping
How does empathy help us preach better sermons?
What are my listeners thinking and feeling?
What are they hearing?
What are they seeing? Hearing?
What are my listeners greatest pains?
What are the greatest gains my listeners may receive through the proclamation of a faith-inspiring sermon this Sunday?
Perhaps thinking through your preaching audience with an empathy map will help you think about them in a fresh way, too. Here’s a link to a helpful Empathy Map where you can plug in members of your congregation as you envision how your sermons might better connect with where your listeners are in their faith.
Additional Events
Another upcoming local and online learning opportunity for you is the ‘Nevertheless, She Preached’ (NSP) conference. NSP is a movement born in Waco, Texas, to combat the lack of female and queer representation in ministry. This year’s conference is in downtown Austin and one of the keynote speakers is Austin Seminary Professor Rev. Crystal Silva-McCormick!
‘Nevertheless, She Preached’ unites annually to challenge societal norms and promote wisdom from the fringes. This year’s gathering will be September 22-24, 2024 to focus on imagining an anti-colonial faith. Tickets are available for full attendance, one-day attendees, online participants, and even just-concertgoers. Plus, there is a seminarian discount, too!