Five Things Every Preacher Must Be with Cameron Cox

**Podcast Title: Five Things Every Preacher Must Be with Cameron Cox**

In this episode, host Mike welcomes Maine’s own Cameron Cox, a bi-vocational pastor and marketing/web development professional, to discuss "Five Things Every Preacher Must Be." Cameron has a rich history in ministry, having served as District Youth Secretary and President, and now as the Senior Pastor of Crossroads Church in Ellsworth, Maine. 

### Key Takeaways:

1. **Be Prayerful**  
   Cameron emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining a strong prayer life. Preachers should seek a relationship with God, not just inspiration for sermons. It's essential to pray to know God and to stay in a constant connection with Him. Prayer shouldn't be transactional but rather relational, keeping a continuous spiritual dialogue.

2. **Be Studious**  
   Preachers need to be dedicated students of the Word, going beyond mere sermon preparation. Cameron warns against relying solely on modern tools like YouTube or AI to craft messages, stressing the need for personal study and deep understanding of scripture. He also encourages reading books on ministry, theology, and leadership, as well as continuously learning from trusted sources.

3. **Be Submitted**  
   Submission is crucial in ministry. Cameron explains that true submission occurs when you obey even when you disagree. Preachers should be accountable and submitted to their pastoral leadership, ensuring they understand their role in the church without overstepping boundaries or using the pulpit to vent personal frustrations.

4. **Be Yourself**  
   Authenticity is key in ministry. Rather than trying to imitate others, preachers should embrace their unique style and personality. Cameron shares how he learned early in his ministry that he wasn’t a naturally humorous storyteller like some, but by embracing his own gifts, he became more effective.

5. **Be Faithful**  
   Faithfulness in the small things leads to greater opportunities. Whether it's setting up the baptistry, picking up congregants, or helping around the church, being dependable in these areas demonstrates a heart for service. Cameron reminds listeners that before stepping into larger ministry roles, every leader was first faithful in the less visible tasks.

### Closing Thoughts:
Mike and Cameron agree that while this list is not exhaustive, these five qualities—prayerful, studious, submitted, authentic, and faithful—are essential for every preacher. They also touch on the importance of not viewing ministry as a competition but rather as a collective effort to build God's kingdom.

**Special Mention:**  
Cameron’s marketing and web development business, Momentum Marketing, offers services locally and nationally. Check out [momentummarketing.me](https://momentummarketing.me) for more information.

**Quote of the Episode:**  
_"You have to learn to be a God-seeker, not just a sermon-seeker."_ — Cameron Cox

Stay tuned for future episodes and perhaps a guest appearance from Micah Warbington!

Transcript

 Today's episode is titled five things. Every preacher must be. And we have Maine's very own Cameron Cox. Hallelujah.  He has been all around that itty bitty state. He is officially aged out of the youth ministry, but there he did serve a term as their district youth secretary. He did four years as the district youth president. 

Right now he's currently serving as Maine's North American Mission secretary, five years as assistant pastor at a local church. Now he's going on three years as a senior pastor of Crossroads Church in Ellsworth,  Maine. He's  Just cut of the same cloth as myself. He's bi vocational through all of it with a career in marketing and web development.

We'll put out his website at the end of it and try to score up a customer or two. Hope that can work out.  He was recommended by a mutual friend. If you're wanting to know, how did a country boy from Arkansas meet up with a city slicker from Maine?  We both know Micah Warbington, who was New Jersey North, I think, district youth president. 

But anyway, Cameron, thank you for coming on the show.  

Oh, it's an honor to be here, Mike. I appreciate the invitation.  And that is definitely the first time I've ever been referred to as a city slicker from Maine. 

Ah,  I just went from Maine's a city slicker to me.  

Oh, that's too funny. Yes. Micah and I served together for.

A couple of years he was the north central Jersey youth president when I first came on and I did go through and look at some of the previous episodes and I noticed that he hasn't been a guest on the show. So I guess we'll see if he if he listens to the show, because he, I'm sure I'll hear about it if he does.

That's 

right. You were on and he was not  take that Mr. Warbington. Ha.  And actually congratulations is He's in a, is due cause he is expecting his second child this December. So I'm upset with him anyway. He just stole my second child from me proselyted my drummer. So 

no,  

there was nothing unethical going on, but Daniel and his fiance have are now attending Lone Oak and  good things are going on for Morgan and Micah.

I love my friends. Yes. Yes. Yes. They're awesome. Thank you for taking the shot at them though, cause I love it.  It's my honor. You picked the title, Five Things Every Preacher Must Be, so it must be something on your heart or something you want to say. Start us off.  

Yeah. No, I appreciate it. It was several years ago that I was asked to do a young minister session.

And and as I was preparing for that session, I just reflected back over my years of ministry and when I first started out and first started preaching and I reflected on the things that I've learned over the years that I had to learn from myself that this is what a preacher needs to be.

And when I was preparing for that session with young ministers,  these are five things that just stood out to me. This is not an exhaustive list, okay? There's going to be there's better men than I that have already been on this podcast and will be on it after me that will share other things, I'm sure.

But these were just five points that really stuck out to me that are five things that every preacher must be.  So when you mentioned your podcast is directed towards young ministers, this kind of came back to my mind and I thought it'd be a great topic of discussion for us today. All 

right, Cameron, I appreciate that.

And you said it's not exhaustive and I get that, but is it ranked or did you just write it as you thought of it? These,  

I would say this is maybe ranked it's certainly not exhausted, but these were the five things that just really stood out to me. And a couple of these are they're obvious ones.

They're no brainers. I'll hit you with the first one right here as we're just talking. But the number one thing is every preacher needs to be prayerful. And this is absolutely an obvious one. This is not shocking anyone with the number one point here, but, hopefully if you're a preacher, you're a young preacher, you're listening to this podcast and wanting to grow and better yourself as a preacher.

I'm sure you already understand the necessity of prayer. There's no one with enough intellect or eloquence of speech that's exempt of the need of prayer.  But I think one of the greatest dangers for preachers, we can reach the point where we only pray to get a sermon, not to know God, 



And that's not just applicable to young ministers.

I think as you as you serve in ministry there's absolutely a thing we call ministry burnout and for a longevity in ministry. You have to learn to be a God seeker, not a sermon seeker.  

I agree with that. And what is Bible says pray without ceasing, so I interpret that as throughout the day, obviously not a 24 hour prayer, but  always be careful and mindful in prayer.

What does that look like to you? Without getting personal and intimate, give me a rough draft or a prayer for dummies, if you will. Cliff notes of what a  prayerful minister.  What do they talk about? How does that look? Because I know it's not just a genie in a bottle, just a  list. It's a conversation.

So give me an idea of that.  

Absolutely. Yeah. And that's where I think prayer has to be a relationship with God. And the way I like to think of that pray without ceasing the way I like to think of that verse is we've all had that friend that is somebody that every time you see them, every time you talk to them.

You just pick up where you left off in the last conversation. You can at any point just connect with them, and it's not awkward, it's not like you gotta start over, it's not how have things been, you still working there, how's the family, how old are your kids now, it's not something like that, where you're trying to re establish relationship, you're already connected with them.

And I believe that really what that verse is telling us is we need to be in a constant connection with God, that we're walking with Him, and we're not trying to reestablish a relationship with Him after weeks of no prayer. But we're in a spirit of prayer and a time of relationship with Him at all times.

And that for me personally,  yes, I have my faith. My time in the morning of prayer and reading the word and stuff like that. But honestly, some of the best moments of prayer that I have. Are times throughout the day where I may be in my office and have a thought come to my mind or just start talking to God or I might be driving my truck and driving down the road and just having that conversation and it's just little moments throughout my day that I'm connecting with him and to me I think that's really what praying without ceasing is it's that constant connection to God where you're just You're in a regular ongoing relationship of communication with him. 

I got you. It's just a regular conversation on a side note or kind of humorous. Do you think he gets tired of hearing his name?  Do you know some people constantly say Jesus or God?  Lord, I love you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, Jesus. You know what prayer I'm talking about. Every third word is.

Yes, sir.  

Yes, sir. I think I think that when we mature in our relationship with God and we stop with the King James version of prayer, I think that there's something to be said about that personal relationship.  Absolutely. 

I remember the first lesson I got in  normal prayer  was actually a recording of Jeff Arnold at Because of the Times. 

That may not have been the best example,  but I was very young in the ministry.  No one had ever sat me down and taught, no one had ever told me how to pray. It's just one of those things that at the time they expected you to pick up.  And his sermon prayer, he got up there to  read his scripture.

And what he said was, God, these other guys have been up there. They did their thing. Now it's my turn at bat.  Let me hit a home run. Amen.  But I felt it, I was like, that made 

sense. 

Because I felt that he meant every word of it.  He had a real, I could tell that he had a relationship with God. He's just talking to a God that he believed heard him and understood.

Yes, sir. And that meant so much. Oh, I don't have  to go in and recite certain things. I can just talk to God  and he knows. Yes, sir.  It's when I don't talk to God that I struggle to find words.  

That is absolutely the truth.  Yeah, my my grandfather, he's from Southern Illinois, and he was didn't serve in the ministry, just a man that faithfully walked with God for his whole life.

And he, in his early nineties you'd go and sit down to lunch with him. And he's the only person I've ever met that would pray over the food and you could feel the Holy Ghost when he's praying.  And it just was that. Just that connection with God and is powerful,  but, to the point of Being prayerful as a minister of the gospel, I think that we can be susceptible as preachers to  fall to the trap of just praying to get a word from God to preach.

And I think that's one of the great dangers for preachers. And so when I speak on being prayerful  as a minister,  we have to make sure that our prayer life does not consist of just simply praying to get a word from God to preach on Sunday. Amen. But I've found in walking with God that when I pray just to know God, when I pray just to have a relationship with God, that the more I seek him, the more I find him, the more I can hear his voice.

And then I'm not having to desperately look for a word that I can preach. But when I just seek God, then it's easier to hear a word from him.  

Absolutely.  Now,  when you say pray for pray to know him, not just prepare a sermon that's obviously well understood, stated. And what I'm about to say is for another lesson, but because you brought up not praying for just a sermon, I feel like yes, sir.

Obligated to say it.  Let's not dwell on it. I just I have to say that  when you're young listener  or any preacher for that matter  When you're praying for a sermon that better not be the only time you pray over your sermon.  Oh, yes I heard someone say one time do not expect Knees at an altar if you haven't put knees on the floor for your message. 

Yes, sir 

Don't just pray for inspiration but pray over it throughout the entire preparation Pray for an answer, pray for favor, pray for understanding, pray for inspiration, but keep praying over that message. So we're talking about not just praying over a message, but you better pray over that message.

Absolutely.  Absolutely. Yes, I'm a firm believer. That you should never get up behind a pulpit and preach a word that you have not prayed that God has not delivered to you and you have not prayed over and poured yourself into and readied yourself to deliver that word. But it also, that can't be the only time you're praying.

Exactly. It's absolutely, that's a two edged sword there. 

And that's the subject, but you see why I felt, okay, 

I had my hundred percent, 

That's another lesson.  All right. What's point number two, my friend.  

All right, point number two is this is another one that's not going to blow any minds here, but a preacher also needs to be studious  and you can look to 2 Timothy 2, 15.

And Paul writes to his son in the Gospel, Timothy, and says, Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  And this is a, a very fundamental basic of being a minister of the Gospel, no doubt about it. But I think it's becoming even more of a danger in the modern era of technology that we live in now that there's decades of sermons available from powerful preachers that are available on YouTube and podcasts all over.

We have new advancements in technology, like chat GPT that you can punch some prompts into and spit out some. A sermon there. There's lots of information available to us that if we're not careful, we can allow ourselves to become speech writers that are just prepping a nice motivational conversation and not really a sermon.

And so I think I think it's so essential that we must be students of the word. As a preacher your source of inspiration should not be just from YouTube and chat GPT and different technology resources to be able to gather information. Now,  just so I'm not taken out of context here.

I listened to a lot of sermons on YouTube. I use chat GPT. It's a great tool,  but it doesn't write my sermons for me is the point I'm making here.  

No, I get it. Because of today's technology, I was just telling  our young ministers group justice past Sunday night that we actually have the ability to be more advanced and more knowledgeable than the greatest prophet who ever lived.

John, we have more at our fingertips, so we have a greater potential Now, but so I understand what you're saying,  but  to study did you listen to the Jerry Jones episode? 

Yes, sir. I did. 

Man. 

Have 

you read his book? We preach.  

That is one of the greatest books. And if you're a preacher on the list in this podcast, you have not read that book, you need to order it right now and you need to read it about five times 

At least.

And man I put it off for the longest because I do audio books and it took word of flame for ever to finally put it on audio.  But the 1st, couple chapters, he's talking about the importance of a preacher and more that'll inspire you, but I love when he started talking about the obligation to study and he gave an analogy of a surgeon.

He's he said the preacher is supposed to know more about that word than the average congregant, and obviously, there's gonna be people in the congregation,  but the average, and he gave the analogy of A surgeon, he said, would you dare let a surgeon operate on you if they did not know more about the body in surgery than go find a better, he knew more. 

That's the truth. Why would, why are we expecting people to trust their souls with someone who has not invested their time to know more about that word?  

That's good. 

Man, that was a great analogy because we're doing spiritual heart surgery. We're letting God. 

Yes, sir. 

He's using us as the doctors, but  man, I tell you what, that was really good. 

So good. And, and I think that scripture that Paul wrote in second Timothy he said, study to show thyself approved unto God.  He didn't say study to show yourself approved unto men. He didn't say study to show yourself intelligent so you can gain attention. He didn't say study to show your great revelation or to be able to preach a message that secures a trending reel on Instagram. 

But he said study to show thyself approved unto God. And we should never ask preachers. Be looking for a word that is going to wow people, we should be seeking a word from God that's going to accomplish his will and what he desires. And so we shouldn't take a pulpit when we've not studied and prayed and sought God and prepared and poured ourselves into delivering that word that God has given us for his people.

It's a weighty responsibility. 

I agree.  And personally, I believe in using the resources that God has given you. So that being, yes,  is this black and white in the Bible? No. So it's just something I'm just going to put out there as Mikey ism.  If the Bible is the only thing you read, I don't think you're reading enough  because he has given us enough resources, enough help from other elders. 

Bishops people who have studied  to neglect that would be to waste the years of giftings that God has given us.  

Oh, absolutely  Yeah  

I've actually taught this at my church I can connect enough dots in that Bible to show you that willful ignorance if you're ignorant Paul said brethren I would not have you be ignorant.

He said that enough time sir that if you're ignorant because you're lazy  I can show you where that's a sin.  

Yes, sir.  Yes, sir. Go ahead. I 100 percent agree. I think and I've got a few subpoints here for being studious and reading as one of them. We should constantly, I believe that if you're a preacher, if you're a leader, you should constantly be reading something. 

One of those books should obviously be the Bible, but aside from that, we should we should be reading other books read things that are going to promote spiritual growth read books that are going to better yourself as a preacher read books like We Preach by Jerry Jones and learn how to craft your skill as a preacher so you can be the best version of yourself, so you can be the best version of yourself that God has called you to be.

And I challenge, the cultural norm that we see right now where everybody wants to everybody wants to listen to the podcast on how to be a great leader and wants to read the book on how to be a great leader. But there's not a lot of podcasts and that's why I loved this when you when you invited me to come on the show and I checked out the podcast, see what it was about and stuff.

There's not a lot of podcasts out there that are on bettering yourself as a preacher or on learning to be a servant or learning to serve in the kingdom of God. So find things that are going to. Help improve you as an individual, as a minister of the gospel, that'll help grow you spiritually, practically read books on prayer fasting, sacrifice, spiritual maturity.

Talk to somebody that's an elder, a mentor in your life, get some recommendations from them for books to read. But there's a lot that goes into being studious and studying to show yourself approved unto God.  

I don't mean to keep adding to your.  Please do. But studious is one of my passions.

Obviously training is and learning is, but studious. Two things. If you need help with book, I'm talking to my listener. If you need help finding book recommendations in your own Facebook,  there is an apostolic book group called 26 books,  two, six, the numbers, two, six books. The idea was to read one book every two weeks. 

So 52 weeks divided by two is 26. It's apostolic. It's not just UPC, but it's apostolic. Yeah.  You're not going to every book that gets recommended, I promise you. Sure. But you're going to be able to trust the intention of the person recommending it.  And that's almost, Where I get my books exclusively now.

Occasionally, I'll get one from another pastor, but usually, and they read them so fast that I'm never without a book. It's not like I'm waiting on the next one because, they're a lot faster than me because I'm slow. But just one, 26 books is a great, Chris reading is in charge of that.

He does a wonderful job. It has greatly  advanced my life.  And I'm in the middle of a book now that has really changed my thought on, not the book itself, but I, somebody recommended a book on Paul,  okay, but I  started it a year ago because I wanted to learn about Paul. I thought it was interesting. That book bored me to tears.

I didn't even finish the first or second chapter, the, off the narrator's got this British accent and. I don't know.  I deleted it off my phone, but I did not refund it. I just deleted it off my phone.  Something inspired me within the last few days  that I wanted to teach a Sunday school lesson, a character study on Paul.

And I was writing my own stuff and I remembered, hey, I wonder if I still have access to that book. I'll endure it, I'll tough it out,  man, it's the best thing I've ever listened to. And now all of a sudden, and I don't know why  

it's too funny. 

Yeah. I wanted to listen to it then it wasn't like I want to do a character study then, and it bored me.

Now, a year later, it's the same author. It's the same content. So what I'm trying to say is. Maybe different seasons of your life. If you pick up a book and you don't like it, sure,  set it down, but don't throw it away. You never know. Try it again later. Maybe you may appreciate it differently. 

Absolutely. That's good advice.  All right. You get more 

points or you want to move on to number three.  

Man, we can keep moving on. I've got plenty of other sub points, but, learn to be a, learn to be a note taker. And that's a big one. 

Oh, listen 

to your pastor when he's preaching take notes while you're studying keep from practice.

All right. I'll throw in some practical advice here too. If you're a preacher,  Learn to just be aware in everyday life and have a note on your phone or if you're, old school, a little black book or something and just be jotting down thoughts because I've had things that have popped in my mind that I'll say are small God moments and then there's other things that it's just an article that I saw or a headline or something that caught my attention that just triggered a thought and I jot that down and there's been times I've You know, a year later had a message that was, that God was dealing with me on and pulled something from that, that I jotted down in the past.

And so  just always be thinking and taking notes and recording ideas. 

How many times have you told yourself you'll remember it later?  Exactly.  Yes, sir. I'll give you something. Don't take it for granted. Write it down. I don't care how powerful it seems. Oh, ain't no way I'm going to forget that.  

Man there's times I've been driving down the road and had a thought and I just hit the memo button record button on my phone and just speak into it and let it record, yes, sir. 

But we'll I'll move on here cause we'll, I don't even know how long we've been going here, but I want to mindfully your time.  

I'm enjoying the conversation. This is my bread and butter. 

Yes, sir. I enjoy this too. Let's see. Number three here. I'd be submitted.  And I would say there's probably nothing more dangerous in the kingdom of God than an unsubmitted preacher. 

And when you preach the word you're influencing and impacting those that are under the sound of your voice. And I cannot emphasize enough what a weighty responsibility that is, and it's not one that should be taken lightly.  And if you can't be submitted, you really can't be trusted to be used by God in that capacity. 

That's true.  Oh, absolutely. I've got nothing. That's just so obvious there. We have to be submitted. And answer, young minister, if you are hanging out with somebody who thinks otherwise or is obviously not submitted,  distance yourself, love them from a distance  because it's contagious and they're dangerous. 

Yes, sir. And I would just, you don't know. I'm sorry. Go ahead. That's okay. I said, you don't love them enough to go down with them. I promise you, but go ahead.  

That's good.  Yeah, that's good. I just had this thought come to my mind. We talk a lot about submission, but I think sometimes we don't really understand what submission is because I've heard people say I'm submitted, because I'm on board with that.

I'm submitted, but I would challenge you because submission is not when you agree and obey. Submission is when you disagree and obey.  Submission is when it's not what you want to do, but you're submitted anyways. Your talent, your intelligence, your charisma, your anointing, it will never supersede your submission. 

Absolutely. I, and I think from a practical standpoint, um, if we're talking, if there's young ministers that are listening here to this podcast I think a practical application here is be aware of the role in ministry that you're serving in. And, when I've done similar ministry training sessions, such in our church we've got a preacher's only group, we call it, that's a small group in my church, and I've caught taught this concept in that group before, that I personally believe that if you're not the pastor, You should not pastor, and there's, I know a guy that used to say it's it's not your job to shear the sheep.

And so if you're not, if you're not the pastor and you're given the opportunity to preach, you're really operating in the role of an evangelist there. You're not the pastor. And that doesn't mean you can't preach about hard topics or preach against sin. That's not what I'm saying. But that's, that is not that's not an unfettered opportunity for you to do whatever you want behind that pole, but you need to be submitted to your pastor and the man of God over that church.

There's a big difference between conviction and condemnation. And one of the things I've.  Witness too many times is a young preacher that's very fervently preaching conviction, but does it in a way that causes condemnation, not conviction. 

Sure.  

We can preach hard topics and encourage people to be better or discourage them and tear them down.

Absolutely. And the pulpit is not your therapy couch.  

That's good.  

It's not your time to get stuff off your chest.  

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. And it's I've seen I've seen times before where we've all been in a service where, it just people are not responding the way we think they should respond.

And there's not the deep move of God that, that we expect and we. Can be irritated that people are not not responding. And I've heard people make sarcastic comments while they're preaching and or speak in a condemning manner for the people's lack of worship and that sort of thing.

But I've tried to take the approach of if I'm in a service and there's a powerful move of God and and people aren't really responding, aren't really worshiping, Instead of instead of tearing them down for not responding, try reminding them of why we're there and the God that we serve, because you can encourage the response that you're looking for, not discourage what you don't like. 

I'm, I know a story. I'm not going to say where it happened or who it was, but the evangelist was disappointed in the lack of response from the crowd.  And this was not during the worship, but during the preaching. They were not amenin and supportin him, and he kept  beatin them about it, you know how some preachers do, I can't get an amen, boy, y'all are quiet, and he just kept on about it.

Yes, sir. Kept on, and  when he got done, and he gave the microphone back to the host pastor turned and looked at him and said, these are good people.  And they respond to good preaching. 

Oh, that's funny.  

That is too funny.  Yes, sir. 

If you're preaching for a response, you're in for the wrong business. Yes, that's 

good.  That's so good, though.  But I just, we could talk on this forever. And the Bible says obedience is better than sacrifice. 

And 

so there's a lot that we can unpack here and talking about submission.

But I would just say, if we're specifically talking to young ministers here and, uh, it's so essential. You be submitted to your pastor. And. Don't take advantage of those opportunities you do have to preach the gospel and step outside of that submission. I  

will say, now this is another two edged sword, okay, it goes back up to number one being prayerful. 

Yes, sir. It's okay to tell your pastor no  on the right times.  Sure in the right spirit in the right situation So we're not telling you that you have to have blind obedience. Whatever your pastor says whatever you pass correct you  that's not what we're saying  We're talking about a bad spirit and being disobedient for the sake of disobedience So it  just we just I have to clarify that because there are  People that will abuse their authority and there are people who absolutely and on the flip side they're not abusing it But there's people that are intimidated  and don't know how to respond So they say yes, and they get burnt out  and the church for running over them, but realistically they never said no  

Very good.

Very good. Yes, I would. One of the things that I would bring up, if we have a board meeting or a ministry meeting or something like that, I always tell whoever's involved in that. Listen, I'm not looking for you to agree with me on everything. I want to hear your opinion. I want to know what you think.

I'm not looking for. Yes, man. I want you to tell me what you really honestly think here and what you're feeling. And then when we leave this room, we need to be in unity.  And if we if we discuss something, a change we're going to make in the church or whatever conversations may happen in that room,  I welcome those disagreements.

I don't want people just to agree with me because of my title or anything of the sort. I want to have those opportunities for conversation, but then when we arrive at a decision, we walk away in unity.  

Absolutely.  Good stuff, brother.  It's good. Number 

four. All right. Number four, BU. This is probably my favorite.

All right. BU. That's 

number five. You skipped number four.  

All right. Maybe I got them out of order here, but we'll go with BU anyways here. Number four. 

Yeah,  

I'm jumping around. Maybe I don't know. But I think it's so important that you don't try to be something that you're not. Okay.

You have to know who you are. If you're a preacher, know what your style is know what your your personality type is, and lean into that, not trying to be something that you're not, I had to learn early on in my ministry that even though I loved the the preaching of Brother Scott Graham Brother Scott Graham is, he's a hilarious person.

A great storyteller. He's one of those that when he starts preaching,  he's got you laughing and engaged and you're just zoned in on what he's communicating to you and you don't even realize he's already preaching and then suddenly bam, he's hit you with something and it's just powerful.

It's good. He makes you laugh. He makes you cry. And it's just tremendous. I had to recognize pretty early on that I'm not that funny, that I wasn't Scott Graham. I'm not a funny guy. I'm not I'm not that great storyteller like he is I hear these preachers that they have the most hilarious things that happen to them in everyday life that weave their way into every message.

And I'm like, how can that many hilarious things happen to one individual and then be able to communicate it in that way?  That's not me.  And so I'd recognize, you know what? I just have to be who I am. I've got to lean into what personality I have and what God has made me to be. And I've just got to be me  now.

I think that yes, please. No, go ahead. 

No, I thought you were finished that point. Please finish your point. I'll make my comment at the end.  

No, I was just going to say that's not an excuse to say this is just the way I am and I can't be any better. I don't want us to, I don't want us to at all think that.

I'm not saying we should try to improve. I'm not saying we should try to, further our skill and become a better preacher.  That's where that book we preach by Brother Jerry Jones. You just you have to read that book, 

but we 

just have to recognize who we are and lean into that and then better the areas that were weekend  

Cameron.

Can I be me? Are you telling me that I can that Mikey can be Mike?  Yes. Be Mike. All right. Listeners, if you have my wife's phone number, you heard him. I need you to stop what you're doing right now and text her.  Say, Cameron Cox just told your husband that he can be himself. Okay? Let him know. You can just refer to me 

As Micah Warbington's friend. 

I have permission to be me.  Someone just told her the other day that it's not her job to monitor my behavior and she did not receive it.

What I do tell my young ministers I say mine, the ones that I do teach them to be themselves, but I have to warn them there is a cost  and we have to be aware of that there is a cost because not everybody's going to like the real you.  Oh, that's true. And yes, sir. The most, one of the most powerful things I've read recently within the last 12 months was you don't get to dictate the narration of someone else's story. 

You don't get to, you don't get to decide what people think about you.  You give them the best effort, your best product, but ultimately what they think of you is their decision.  

That's so good.  

Myself, I am oh, I forgot the word now, extrovert.  I am very sarcastic, dark humored, dry humored I like to pick on you  and  not everybody likes it.

I  like to pick on strangers, not everybody likes that. 

You are an extrovert. 

Yes, I was not always that way, believe it or not. I used to be so shy in public. It was.  And I had to make myself become extroverted. But anyway so yeah my wife is convinced the reason why most of the district won't preach me to Dave's because of my humor, she's convinced that I have isolated myself and that's okay. 

I'm okay with that because when I first started, I'd go to the minister's meeting at camp Brown and I would try my best to be polite and shake their hands. And  then I felt so fake just didn't feel right. I wasn't doing anything sinful. I wasn't lying as far as saying I was Bob when I'm really Mike, but I wasn't the real Mike  and it didn't feel right.

And now that. I am me.  Those who love me  support me  and I'm good. I'm happy with that.  That's 

so good. 

Yeah. It's not as many people as she would like, but  

If you asked a handful of preachers who their favorite creature was, you might have some common names that come through there, but you're probably going to have.

A different list with each person you talk to, and it's going to be the type of preaching and personality that appeals to that individual.  And and that's such a great point that you made there that not everybody is going to prefer your style and your approach. But the only thing they're going to they're going to dislike more than that is if you're fake. 

Yep. 

And people can sniff out fake very easily. And it's much, much better to just be the genuine real version of yourself and be the best version of yourself that you can be.  

And young listener, that is, that goes even for you, even if.  Your pastor or your daddy or your granddaddy is a legacy name. 

Yes, absolutely. 

You do not have to mimic them. It's okay. It's okay  to be different.  

Absolutely.  And it just, and I think one of the things we don't talk enough about is that you, you do need to lean into this and be yourself. But you also need to really take the approach of bettering yourself in every way that you can to be the best preacher that God has called you to be.

Absolutely. 

And yes, you absolutely, you need to be prayerful. You need to be studious, all those things you need to be full of anointing. You need to have got a word from God. You need to walk in the spirit, but I believe that you can have a word from God, but your method of delivery can be flawed enough that it limits what God can do through that message.

I agree. 

There's a human element to preaching. God can clearly speak a word to you, but your delivery of that word is what's going to determine how people are, what people can get from that word.  And, we've probably all experienced it. You've heard somebody preach and preach a great word, but perhaps they had a really annoying tick that they had that just was one of those things that just stuck out and drove you nuts.

That becomes the object of your obsession. Or perhaps they were rude when they were preaching. They they made negative comments. They left you, a bad taste in your mouth or whatever. But there's something that even if God gave them that word when they preached it it didn't reach its fullest potential because of something that the human side impacted.

So I'd encourage you to do everything you can to better yourself as a preacher. When I first started preaching, I listened to every message I preached. I went back and listened to it. It was humbling.  It was difficult.  I would I'd go to my pastor, the assistant pastor in our church.  And I would ask them for advice.

Is there any critique that you have for me? Is there something that I can do better? Do I have any annoying little habits that I, or phrases that I overuse while I'm preaching and those sort of things and just become the best version of myself.  

That's right. Coaches do it to athletes all the time.

I heard a pastor this is Sunday and they and it makes better athletes, but  you let him you let a pastor tell a minister that, hey, you're doing this wrong and it may hurt their feelings.  

That's where that be submitted comes back into if your pastor does have that conversation with you.  It may be hard to hear.

Yeah, we do critiquing with my group.  And I believe in it. I believe in feedback. Absolutely.  All right, but be you  

and last one here, 

last one, which I have is number four, go ahead with your number five. I must 

have flipped them around there. 

You weren't last one. I've got very faithful with your list.

No, that's right.  Last one is be faithful.  And if you want to be used of God, and if you're listening to this podcast, I assume that that the answer to that is yes. I assume that you're a preacher or an aspiring preacher. But if you want to be used of God, you have to learn to be faithful in the small things. 

You've got to be trustable. You have to be trustable and dependable in the small things that have already been asked of you. And you can never be effective or as effective in the things that God desires call you to until you learn to be faithful in the small things. 

Absolutely. 

And, I think oftentimes people look to a prominent preacher or a successful pastor with a large church or someone in a district leadership position, and they think, I wish I had the opportunity that they have. 

I guarantee you. And almost every one of those scenarios before, preceding that position that you see,  there were years of faithfulness leading up to that moment, before I ever served in public ministry in any way, before I ever held a title in a local church or district or anything of the sort I had to have that personal commitment to God.

That I would be faithful, and I just served however I could in the kingdom of God, and not serve for attention, not for recognition, not for a title. I think we truly have to get that inside of us where we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  And if you're just seeking after a position, seeking after a pulpit, seeking after a big stage to preach on, then I would question your call to preach. 

Absolutely. And I think a lot of people try to get around that. They will admit that. Yeah, I'm not seeking it,  but are you expecting it?  That's a good question.  That's been my observation. No, they won't come out and say.  I want X, Y, Z title,  but because I've been showing up every service, because I've done this and that,  shouldn't I have a title by now, squatter motives,  that's a 

great question.

I wanted to add, I pastored for five years. I'm no longer pastoring at the moment.  The things that blessed me the most in my time  were people in terms of faithfulness,  obviously, when you think of faithful, you think of attendance. Yes, that is. Without a doubt. I need to be able to count and show up  doing things without being asked  You know, we had a people that lived in a residential facility that I picked up  man It would have meant the world to me and  when someone there was someone that finally I shouldn't say fine They did  problem was I got there before them Okay but there were other people that could have picked him up for me  and they would if I had asked him to  but You It would have been great if they'd done it if I'd asked, without asking. 

How about driving to the sanctuary to turn the air on or off, or heat on, whatever. Yes, sir. Little things like that, that they'll do when they're asked,  but man, how easier church would be for the pastor  if he doesn't have to think of everything because you're faithful to those things,  taking the trash to the road.

Bringing the trash cans back from the road taking 

I'll give you a great example of this. When I was still serving as the assistant pastor. And there was a young man in our church that he was not a preacher great young man and just wanting to do whatever he could. And so he went to the pastor and said, is there anything that I can do to help out, make your job easier, help around the church?

I just want you to know that I'm available for whatever you have for me.  And so at that point, our pastor told him, he said there is one thing that I always make sure I come early on Sunday mornings to get the baptistry ready, just in case we need to, need to use it that day in case we have somebody to be baptized.

I make sure that it's clean and that the heater is running and that circulator's on and everything. And so it's all good to go and ready for service. And he said, if you would take that off my plate, that would be a great blessing.  And you fast forward now several years  and that young man stepped into that role and nobody ever had to check on him again. 

He faithfully every single Sunday did that job. And if he was going to be out of town, he arranged for somebody else to take care of it. Nobody on the pastoral team ever had to think one more time about whether or not the baptistry was ready. And so today that young man. He is an amazing preacher in our church.

He leads our hyphen ministry and serves in a great capacity in our local church. He's a licensed minister in our district,  but before he ever had a pulpit, before he ever had a UPCI fellowship card or anything of the sort, he just went to his pastor and said, Pastor, is there anything I can do? And he faithfully served for years.

And that's what I'm talking about.  You'd be faithful in the small things.  And when you're faithful in the small things, God will open up doors of opportunity for you. 

Absolutely.  I remember attending another church and  That church we had fellowship dinners relatively frequently if not every month, every other month.

It was a thing there.  And I remember someone that attended that church for a couple of years.  He had his full of those meals.  I asked him to go get the vacuum cleaner for me.  He thought about it for a second. He looked at me.  Where's that? 

I had to think about it for a second. You've been here how long?  And you don't know where the vacuum cleaners kept it?  And Cameron, it's not like we're a large church, okay? I'm not talking about a mega church.  We were a congregation of maybe 40 people.  Yes, sir. So I ask you listeners now, how many times have you enjoyed a meal and not  Done dishes or put up tables or clean up or swept.

Who does that every service? Is it the same group of people every service? Yeah,  chances are it's probably someone listening to this podcast. That's why you're listening. But if it's not you,  get involved. Be faithful. Yes, sir.  Be faithful. Yes, sir.  So good.  Man, you got anything else for me or is that going to wrap it up  

man?

I think that  I think we've already used up more time than we should have but  Again, it's not a comprehensive list there. There are so many more things we could add to it But as I look back over, years in ministry  If you'll be prayerful, you'll be studious. You'll be submitted. You'll be yourself and you'll be faithful God can use you and help you to be the best version of yourself that he has called you to be. 

I want to close it with before we  get off the subject, when you said it's not exhaustive one last time, I did a quick,  just then mental  inventory of what I would add if I had to, and one thing came to my mind,  you're not in competition with the other ministers. That's good. I wish somebody had taught me that. 

That's so good. Yeah, but man, you need to know every preacher five things. Every preacher must be, you must go back to being yourself. You're not in competition.  

Yes.  

Just don't feel pressured to compete or worry about who gets used more, who gets called more. 

Just be you.  Absolutely. We need to all remember it's about the kingdom of God.

It's not about my kingdom. It's his kingdom. 

That's right. 

And so we're all on the same team.  Yes, sir.  

Good stuff, Cameron. I appreciate you coming on now. You do some marketing in web development.  Yes, sir.  Hit the website. Everybody is momentum marketing. me. Now, of course that's a secure site. So HTTPS  colon slash WWW.

Dot momentum marketing dot me. He does mostly local, but he does have some national customers throughout. So if you need some help with your web development or want to get some boost in marketing, give them a shot.  

Appreciate that, Mike. 

Yeah.  Anything else I need to push or promote? You got any special projects coming up? 

No, sir.  No, sir. And I appreciate the opportunity. It's been an honor to be on the show with you here. And this is probably the only podcast that I won't listen to on your entire show. 

You never know. I may add stuff to it then.  

Oh goodness.  

AI does amazing things.  

That's true. 

I may filter your voice.

You may sound a little like Mike Tyson, who knows? 

All right, so maybe I'll tune in for a moment.  , 

Thank you again. For those that don't know, this was a work in progress. I had to cancel on them. It was a man, it's a rough time. I'm going back to school. It's just rough time for me. Rough time. Rough time.

All good. We got it done. 

We got it done. Thank you for your patience, and I look forward to getting it published. It'll be a little bit. Yeah,  I think it'll be a little bit. I'm trying to think where I'm at. I've done lost track. It'll be a couple of weeks where it comes out,  but I won't have Micah scheduled by then, so you're still winning. 

Oh, that's too funny. All right. Thanks, Mike.