I read something Charles Metcalf wrote that I thought was brilliant. He said, "You will never preach better than the person you are. Preaching is not an isolated skill; it is the public overflow of your private life. As your character deepens, your preaching gains weight, texture, depth, beauty, and authority, but if your life is shallow and small, your preaching will be thin no matter how polished or impressive your delivery is. People don’t just hear your words—they feel your life, and they are trained to sense authenticity even if they can’t articulate it. If you’re disconnected, performative, or simply re-preaching something you heard this week, people know, even if they don’t know how they know. If your world is small, your preaching will be small; limited exposure to people, pain, culture, life, love, faith, and risk produces narrow preaching. You cannot want big preaching and live a small life. Your soul is all you’ve got, and in an age where people can access Scripture instantly and study it deeply on their own, your value is not just information—it’s conviction. Your authority doesn’t come from saying something new, but from living something real. Pray you are well. 🖤"- C In my coaching, we talked about people knowing if what you're preaching is real to you. Tim Keller calls it, "non-deliberate transparency". People know you ate the bread you're serving as a preacher. I told our group: we preach with confidence when we preach with conviction... and we preach from conviction when we have been personally convinced. Here are 10 things the craft of preaching cannot replace. 1. Your secret place with God. 2. Spending time with people not just preparing for them. 3. Having spiritual authority that you're submitted to. 4. Your growing relationship with God. 5. Pain & Suffering. 6. Biblical observations that have first impacted you. 7. The books you read/listen to. 8. A long obedience in the same direction. 9. The art you consume. 10. Steps of faith.