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.

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