Amy Carroll » Ministry Development » Always a Learner

Always a Learner

As speakers, we stand in a strange place.  I remember the first event I did outside of my own church.  It was a retreat, and I met the group at a hotel to check in and begin the weekend.  Women milled around with suitcases, chatting with each other as they waited.  The room was charged with energy and excitement.

The leader and organizer of the event stayed with me and introduced me to women as they moved our way, and I had my first experience with unearned honor.  When I was introduced as the speaker, there was a sudden shift in the casual conversation.  I was aware of being treated as special and respected, someone set apart.  It was a very uncomfortable feeling for me.  I was still just Amy.  Nothing had changed in me, but I was treated differently because of my title.

You probably know exactly what I’m talking about.  In our culture of celebrity, I’m not “a name”, but about mid-way through She Speaks every year, I have this thought.  “I just need to go home and wash boys’ underwear.”  It’s a reminder to myself that I’m really a wife and mom–nobody any more special than all the other women in the room!

Maintaining humility and a right perspective of ourselves is key to powerful ministry.  One way to keep on track is to always consider ourselves learners.  Although we stand to teach, we still need to see ourselves primarily as needing to be taught.  Above all, we need to be taught from God’s Word, but we can also maintain humility by focusing on improving our speaking.

I don’t ever want to decided that “tada!”, I’m now a professional speaker.  I always want to work to communicate Jesus more effectively.

One of my Next Step clients was my teacher last week.  She sent me a link to a website that was new to me, and I want to share it with you.  Truthfully, I hesitated, because it’s a service similar to Next Step.  In the end, though, it is too rich a resource not to share, and I decided God is big enough to send the clients that he has for us!

Click here to visit The Eloquent Woman.  I watched this speech by Viola Davis of  The Help, subscribed to the blog, and I can’t wait to delve into the Index of Famous Women’s Speeches.  Always a learner.  That’s me!

Amy

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3 Comments

  1. Your willingness to humbly share resources outside of yourself- especially ones that might be viewed as “competition” by some- is one of the reasons you are such a great coach. Thank you for the way you pour yourself into our ministries, Amy. xo

  2. Wow Amy!!!! This is a GREAT POST!!!!! You are so right about that humility factor and remembering to be just an ordinary woman. In addition, it shows great humility to show-off someone else’s work – especially when it competes with your own.

    But SheSpeaks and NextStep Speaker Services is all about helping women….. And you went out of your way to lead us in God’s direction today. Thank you! When we always put others first, rather than think about what it may mean to us, the Lord’s blessing comes upon our life and our own ministry. Thank you for graciously sharing this info, and I pray the Lord’s great blessing on Next Step Speaker Services for their faithfulness!!!
    Always a learner too, Barb!