Since it had been almost five years since my last sermon, since my last real public speaking engagement with a live audience (staff meetings and podcasts don’t count) I definitely did my best to compare my performance.

1. I’ve definitely lost some polish. I caught myself say “um” at least once, almost botched the close and had to backtrack a little, and was too reliant on notes (by my junior year I was able to preach note free or pretty damn close).
2. Secular audiences are much easier to talk to than churches. First off, atheists are a lot less judgmental than Adventists, but it goes deeper than that. I’m different. When I preached and I actually believed I was concerned with whether or not I would give the congregation something that could make their walk with God stronger, when I didn’t really believe I was often far more concerned with whether or not people would see me for the hypocrite I was. Not having the pressure is nice.
3. Not opening with a prayer didn’t through me off as much as I thought it might, but not holding on to a Bible did. Pastors and future pastors don’t preach with a Bible in their had to read from (although they might do that at times), the reason is to hold their notes against. Smaller Bibles are the perfect size for a half piece of paper, honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if the publishers had sermon notes in mind when they figured out that size. Assuming I’m fortunate enough to have more opportunities come my way, I’ll probably try to format my notes for my phone. That would not only give me something more substantial to hold on to, but also give me constant access to the time if I’m in another room without a clock. I saw that strategy used by Clifford Goldstein, a name that current and former Adventists will recognize. I didn’t quite like it when I saw it, but done right I think it could be good.
4. Going to a bar afterwords for some drinks is a much better way to finish things than a potluck.

I’m happy to say that the evening was recorded  and I’ll post the video here once it’s edited and on YouTube.  Next time it’s the Northwest Freethought Convention with about 320 people in attendance, although the topic will be a lot less personal and a lot more structured (report on the Reason Rally).