Welcome Guest | Login | Register |

Location: /Books/Modern Church/Ministering the Master's Way/Look after your voice

Product Information

Overview
As a hammer is to a carpenter, a scalpel to a surgeon, a trowel to a brick mason or a needle to a tailor—so the voice is to a preacher. Man’s voice is the primary means God uses to deliver His Word to mankind, yet how often we who are called to impart the most important truths in the world are apt to neglect, if not wilfully abuse our all-vital ‘tool of the trade’.

Can there be any more pitiful sight in all nature than a God-sent preacher who is forced to be silent? We are not thinking here however of a silence brought about by pressure from ungodly sources, but that which has been enforced because of the preacher’s own negligence concerning his voice.

Mike Mellor’s goal is not to produce another speech book (of which a good number can be found, usually aimed at actors or singers) but that something of our high calling as God’s spokesmen may be re-kindled and as a consequence our desire to care for the frail vehicle God has designed to convey his Word may be increased.

The Author
Mike Mellor studied at the South Wales Bible College after which he pastored churches in South Wales and Central London and was until recently a staff evangelist with the Open Air Mission. He is married to Gwen and they have four married daughters.

Target readership
- Preachers
- Ministers
- Open air evangelists
- Lecturers and teachers

Features and Benefits
- Practical tips on how to conserve one's voice
- Exercises to do
- Illustrations showing the vocal process
- Includes Spurgeon's guidance 'On the voice'

Endorsements
…I haven’t seen anything like it for years, so it fits a good and helpful niche in the market… If, like me, you are prepared to pay the social cost of conditioning your voice by compulsive ‘humming’, you should still buy this little volume for the serious advice it contains.
—Jonathan Stephen, Principal of Wales Evangelical School of Theology and Director of Affinity

Here is a relevant book in a day when preaching is beginning to make a comeback again after several arid decades.  In much of our modern preaching, some good attention is being given to content and the integrity required for Biblical ministry, but a great deal of catching up is necessary in terms of actual effective delivery.  This book by an open air preacher will help us in our public speaking - even if our voices never have quite the resonance of a John Chrysostom, a Whitefield or a Billy Graham.  Perhaps like Moses of old - surely the greatest example ever of a ‘made’ preacher - we can put into prayerful practice the invaluable suggestions and exercises given us by Mike Mellor.  I certainly intend to do so myself.
—Rico Tice, Christianity Explored, All Souls Church, London

ISBN
9781846251252

Bind/Extent
Paperback, illustrated, 96pp

Contents
The Acknowledgements
Foreword
Chapter 1. Our ‘tool of the trade’
Chapter 2. Understanding our voice.
How it works. The difference between voice and speech. Voice qualities.
Chapter 3. Improving our voice.  
Posture. Correct breathing. Articulation. Pitching the voice. Our inbuilt amplifiers. Physical exercise
Chapter 4. Preserving our voice.
The use of amplification. Rest. Ten Tips. Prayer and Healing.
Appendix 1
Exercises, Warming up, Breathing, Physical flexibility, Articulation. 
Lulu Housman BSc. ADVS, Voice Specialist in The Speech & Language Therapy Department at West Middlesex University Hospital for Hounslow Primary Care Trust.
Appendix 2.   A physiology of the voice.
Martyn Leggett MB BS FRCS (ORL-HNS)
Associate Specialist in Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery at Poole Hospital NHS Trust, Dorset, UK
Appendix 3. C.H. Spurgeon On the Voice From 'Lectures to my Students'


Key words
Voice, larynx, Mike Mellor, Spurgeon, Preaching, Microphone, Amplification


 Read an extract (158KB)




Availability
Available in the UK now.