A Voice to Speak

A Guide to Effective Sermon Delivery by Jerry Vines, Moody, $9.95

Reviewed by Scott Wenig, singles pastor, Bear Valley Baptist Church, Denver, Colorado

"The words hit me like a laser beam. 'You will have to be completely silent for the next two weeks. You have a nodule on the anterior third of your right vocal cord. Surgery is the only way to remove it. I'm not sure when you will be back in the pulpit. Perhaps ninety days or longer.' "

With these few sentences, Jerry Vines introduces the reader to a personal crisis, which, ironically, became one of the greatest blessings of his life.

The threat of throat surgery forced Vines, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, into a program of speech rehabilitation. Through this process he learned new patterns of speaking that cured the problem, thereby saving him from the surgeon's knife During the course of his recovery, Vines became an intense student of speech in general and preaching in particular. Ultimately, ...