HOW NOW BROWN COW

Article created: 2020/08/14

I hate to admit this, but in the early days of my ministry I was envious of those preachers who had deep, baratone voices. As a teenage preacher boy, I was called “the preacher with the squeaky voice“.

I decided to go to a voice teacher & take lessons hoping he could help me develop that “preacher voice“. He gave me some exercises to practice at home. One of the exercises was to stand up real straight & speak distinctly “HOW NOW BROWN COW“. I probably nearly drove Judy & the kids crazy as I was constantly speaking in this kind of false deep bass voice “HOW NOW BROWN COW“ over & over.

The next Sunday I was trying to preach ( notice I said trying), when all I could think about was “HOW NOW BROWN COW“. The service was dead ( twice dead & plucked up by the roots ), I felt miserable. I ask the Lord to forgive me. No more would I depend on my voice or anything else, but I would depend on the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

It was a good lesson for me to learn. I’m not saying we should not try to improve our skills, but we must never think we can do God’s work in our own strength.