I took a preaching course in Bible school. It was a great experience. The professor is still someone I admire. I got to preach my first sermon at a church about an hour from the school. It was a great memory. The people were kind to listen to someone who was green and just starting out.

The next several years I developed simply by doing — and by listening to others preach. I made strides, but still had no good plan or structure. Trial and error. Learning in the school of hard knocks. I was trying, but as I look back, I wasn't making much headway.

What kept me stuck? I was afraid of feedback. The real kind.

I youth pastored — those poor young people. I pastored — that poor congregation. I look back at the notes from those messages and they were adequate... but severely lacking. There were times I felt like I just didn't have it. I didn't have what it took. I would listen to preachers who profoundly moved congregations with their eloquence and I felt even worse — incapable, under-skilled.

I was eventually given preaching classes to teach. I tell people it was because I was the only warm body with time on my hands. Okay — I'm being a little self-deprecating. But I do recognize how much I still needed to grow.

After more than a decade of teaching preaching to undergrad students, I took the leap and pursued a Doctor of Ministry degree in preaching. Finally.

It opened my eyes. What I had felt incapable of doing was actually a learnable skill. For four, nearly five years, I was shaped by others who also wanted to grow. I took what I was learning and began applying it in my own preaching. My understanding opened. I became less and less afraid of feedback and constructive criticism. I became vulnerable with others and laid down my pride — and I didn't realize how much we preachers carry pride around when it comes to our preaching.

I realized I'm not the perfect preacher. I don't have everything figured out. But I am on a lifetime quest to become all God has called me to be — to continually improve, however I am able, to become a better preacher.

I want my final sermon to be my very best sermon.

And that is why I am building the Clear Preaching Academy — opening June 1.

It is something I wish I would have had when I was younger. And something I am going to enjoy now that I am older.

It is a community built for preachers who are serious about their craft... who are willing to admit they still have something to learn... who want to share what they've learned while also gleaning from others who have learned things they have yet to learn.

It is a community with access to training and coaching, cohorts of small groups who will spend focused time building one another, and a place where preachers can find the encouragement they need — not only in their preaching, but in their lives, their ministries, and their personal spiritual growth.

Come join us. Be part of the beginning of something great — building preachers who are called to build people through the sacred calling of preaching God's Word.