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I got this comment by email...

Dear Pastor Jeff,

I loved your post on fear of public speaking! I am a coach who specializes in stage fright and fear of public speaking. I have written a few posts to say that love is the answer to stage fright. You have identified the issue exactly as too much focus on whether the audience will like you rather than focusing on loving and caring for the audience.

I would have left a comment on your page but did not know how to login to your blog. If you are interested in one of my posts on the subject, you can find it at http://www.self-expression.com/speaking-freely/why-i-say-love-is-the-answer-to-stage-fright-fear-of-public-speaking/.

It is lovely to see a Biblical context for understanding the issue! I often think of Jesus as the one who was most inclusive, most open to love everyone, and now I can think of him as the world’s greatest teacher for transforming stage fright.

Someone called me on something I said in this message. I made a claim at one point that "God doesn't really care about our behavior. He cares about our heart." Ann called me on that and said it was misleading, so I'm clarifying it here. What I meant to say was that God cares more about the condition of our heart because he knows that our behaviors flow out from our heart. He cares about our behavior, but he knows that the real need is to correct the heart first. Just check out Psalm 51:16-17 and Mark 7:20-23.

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" --- Mark 7:20-23

I'm still really excited about how Easter went, and I'm becoming more convinced that I want to get back to the Long Center!