LOOK AFTER YOUR VOICE
Taking care of the preacher’s greatest asset
By Mike Mellor. Day One. 89 pages. £5.00
ISBN 978-1-84625-125-2
When, some years ago, I had surgery on my larynx and had to stop preaching for a number of weeks, I found just one Christian book, published in the USA, written for preachers on how to use and not abuse their voices.
Taking its advice as well as that of my speech therapist and ENT specialist who told me that opera singers and evangelists were his speciality, I have never had recurring problems.
I wish Mike Mellor’s superb little book had been available years ago. If it had, I may never have needed the surgery and been temporarily silenced as I was. Look after your voice is written by an excellent preacher who has a real gift at reaching people in the open air. It is packed with helpful, manageable advice about how to use the voice effectively to deliver God’s Word. Mike writes about the voice, believing that ‘our high calling as God’s spokesmen may be re-kindled and as a consequence our desire to care for the frail vehicle God has designed to convey his Word may be increased’.
So with advice from his experience, and that of notable preachers from the past, Mike gives us exercises to do, medical illustrations and renewed incentives to look after our voices.
It’s a marvellous manual, suitable for all preachers, teachers and those who put their voices under strain in doing youth or children’s work. It is helpful whether speaking indoors or outside in pedestrian precincts, parks and on beaches.
I will be passing on my copy of the book to my ENT specialist when I see him again soon. His speciality may now be only opera singers!
