Getting the Word Across: Speech Communication for Pastors and Lay Leaders

by G. Robert Jacks

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 1995

Overview

This volume gives pastors and worship leaders practical lessons in disciplined, interpretive speech that will enhance the living quality of Scripture for listeners today. Jacks discusses the practical techniques of effective oral interpretation--phrasing, emphasis, imagery, and vocal gesture--and covers important matters of voice and diction--pronunciation, articulation, and vocal control. Other communication tips include ways to restructure Scripture readings, a chart listing trouble areas in voice and diction, and much more.

Key Features

• Seeks to enhance the living quality of Scripture for listeners today
• Gives pastors and worship leaders practical lessons in disciplined, interpretive speech
• Discusses the practical techniques of effective oral interpretation: phrasing, emphasis, imagery, and vocal gesture

Contents

Part I: The WORD Springs to Life

• There Is a God-And You’re Not It!
• Transparency and Technique
• Not the Law and the Gospel!-Just Some DOs and DON’Ts
• Presence
• Rubrics
• Your Face Is Showing!
• Your Face Is Showing!
• Here’s What’s New and Important: Emphasis Matters
• Putting It All Together: Phrasing Matters
• Internalizing

Part II: The INSTRUMENT Comes Alive

• What Happens When We Speak?
• What ELSE Happens When We Speak?
• Warming Up the Instrument
• Breathing The Motor for Voice
• Putting Your Best Voice Forward
• Lift Up Your Voice-Make God’s Name Resound
• The International Phonetic Alphabet
• O Lord, Open My Lips: Consonant Energy
• Praise On My Tongue: Pronunciation Matters

Appendices

• Belshazzar Revisited
• Check Yourself Out
• In a Nutshell
• What Makes the Story Tick?
• Words Frequently Mispronounced

Praise for Getting the Word Across

Beginning public speakers, gifted senior pastors, and everyone in between will find this book both challenging and immensely helpful.

—Princeton Seminary Bulletin

Anyone who reads Scripture in worship—clergy of lay—will gain enormously from this book. . . In addition to his very helpful discourse on the communication of the content of scripture in the first half of the book, he provides a clinic in the use of the body as the instrument of communication in the second. His non-technical treatment of the physiology of speech, the arts of pronunciation and articulation, the use of gestures, and his easy-to-follow instructions for exercises contributes to a very useful volume indeed.

—Reformed Litugry & Music

Product Details

• Title: Getting the Word Across: Speech Communication for Pastors and Lay Leaders
• Author: G. Robert Jacks
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Print Publication Date: 1995
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Pages: 243
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Communication › Religious aspects--Christianity; Reading in public worship; Oral communication
• Resource ID: LLS:GTTNGWRDSLYLDRS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-03-11T21:44:58Z

About G. Robert Jacks