Description As someone who speaks, teaches, or preaches for a living, one of the last things I would want to be called is “unoriginal”. I associate that word “unoriginal” with words like boring, lame, predictable or unimaginative. And one of my biggest fears as a communicator, especially one for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is having people use any of those words to describe me or my speaking. And yet there it is, unoriginal, even with all of it’s negative connotations, is PREC...
May 15, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 37
It has been said, from the perspective of Christian mission, that if you can “change the campus” you can “change the world.” For better or for worse it is during these years in college where people decide, maybe once and for all, exactly who they are going to become. Paths are chosen -, faith, worldview, marriage, career are DECIDED during this consequential season. It was true for me and likely true for you. I’ve had the honor of working with college students and ...
May 01, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 36
Description Here we go folks! As promised at the beginning of Season 2 I plan on interviewing more and more priests in upcoming episodes. Today we kick things off with Fr. Emmanuel Mansford for a great discussion about GOOD and BAD homilies. He shares openly and vulnerably from his own experience of both. And what we people in the pews can do to help too! Fr. Emmanuel was born in London, England, and joined the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in September of 1998. He wa...
Apr 17, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 35
Description The principal agent of evangelization is the Holy Spirit. Today I want to share two convictions that I hold about how to actually follow the Holy Spirit in talks; two ways to think about how we can best be led by the Holy Spirit before, and during the talks that we give. Because after all the Holy Spirit is the principal, primary agent of evangelization. If anyone is evangelized it is because the Holy Spirit has intervened, and helped to make it so! As I mentioned in the ...
Apr 03, 2023•26 min•Season 2Ep. 34
Description Confidence (or lack thereof) has a way of shining through the moment you open your mouth to speak. When it’s there - it puts everyone listening at ease. When it’s not the audience remains vigilant and alert, worried more that this person makes it to the end in one piece. And forget remembering anything they had to say! My guest today brings the power, joy, and freedom of confidence to every talk she gives. Katie McGrady is a wife, mom, award-w...
Mar 20, 2023•46 min•Season 2Ep. 33
Description I want to share with you a short clip from an episode of another great podcast called “This Whole Life”. This show is hosted by Pat and Kenna Millea, good friends of mine here in the Twin Cities. Pat is a Catholic speaker, leader and podcaster - also a Better Preach alum - episode 21 - and his wife Kenna is a podcaster and licensed marriage and family therapist and their show, “This Whole Life” explores the crucial overlap of mental health and the spiritual life, sanity a...
Mar 06, 2023•13 min
Description So today is Ryan’s turn in the hot seat. He invited his good friend and previous guest on this podcast, Connor Flanagan , to do the honors. They talk about the chaos of family life, how it feels to get paid to preach the Gospel, some encouragement to those wanting to do more speaking, and what launched him into ministry in the first place! Links For more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreach Better Preach is a proud member of Spoke St...
Feb 09, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Description Have you ever had to prepare a talk at the last minute? Like day of or day before? Not the fault of poor planning, but somebody gets sick or there’s car trouble. There are any number of good reasons why your number might be called - to give a talk - without a ton of notice. Well, if you have ever found yourself in that situation and are not sure how to whip up something solid in a timely way - I believe this episode can help. I’ve put together a si...
Feb 02, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Description I want to share today about the surprising way God taught me, perhaps the most important lesson I’d ever learn about the call and ministry of speaking to Catholic audiences. It wasn’t the lesson I was looking for but it was a lesson that was on the lookout for me…something i really needed even though We’ve talked about this principle in a variety of ways throughout the podcast so far and I’m excited to share the unique way God planted this truth in my heart. Let me know w...
Jan 26, 2023•20 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Description Today and for the next few weeks, we are taking a step back and trying something new. If you’ve been listening to this podcast you know that I often ask my guests to share stories from their worst talk or their first talk. It’s been a really fun question to ask. And today I want to share the three lessons I learned from one of my WORST FIRST talks - like many have shared my first big talk was one of my worst talks - so I’m combining the two! Also looking back, like ...
Jan 19, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Description This week we are doing something a little bit different! When I interviewed Br. Sam Gunn, from the Brotherhood of Hope, last week, we got into a great conversation about his answer to my question: “Why be a Brother and Not a Priest?” And in classic Brother Sam fashion he turned it right back around on me. I think what we discuss in these 10-12 min are a really important part of the full beautiful picture of what Catholicism presents to the world. So, if you have ever wondered “why wo...
Jan 12, 2023•15 min
Description Do you have ‘canned’ talks? Like talks that you give over and over to different audiences? I know I do. In fact, that talk that I mentioned just a minute ago “Everyday Apostles” is probably the single talk I’ve given the most. In my conversation with Brother Sam Gunn of the Brotherhood of Hope, he challenged me and all of us to not just pull the same concepts out of “back pocket.” but to approach each new time you give that talk for what it is: new day, new event and mos...
Jan 05, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Description What motivates you to speak to Catholic audiences? Is it part of a job? A calling or gifting? Would you do it for free? Do it for fun? In today’s episode my guest, Connor Flanagan, asks me straight up: Do I write talks for fun? And after stammering a bit, and being caught off guard I realized he was onto something. Do I love the craft, the art and science of sharing about Jesus, do I love the people I am speaking to - Is SPEAKING to CATHOLIC ...
Dec 29, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Description Where does my authority as a speaker come from? Experience? Education? Certainly those influence my ability to speak confidently and accurately about my subject matter. But is there something deeper - something embedded into the very fabric of who I am as a son or daughter of God and my unique sphere of influence? Well, in my conversation today with Jason Simon, zero punches were pulled. And he goes right for the jugular, to use one of his phrases from the podcast, ...
Dec 22, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 26
Description When I set out to do this podcast, one of the questions I was really eager to answer was: How do the strongest communicators PRACTICE their talks? And honestly except for a few different ideas here and there - it seems like people mostly don’t practice talks from start to finish. And there are a lot of reasons for that - they often give the same talk over and over, they practice particular bits of their talks, they practice the opener and closer, but improvise a bit more based ...
Dec 15, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Description Christianity could’ve been about making a trip to outer space to search out, grope in the dark, and hope to find a God who loves us - far away from our actual lives, but in reality - the truth is - God came right to us - right into the actual mess of our lives. And this is where we pick up today with the inimitable Chris Padgett. We talk about all sorts of things, but a theme emerges throughout. In the speaker and in the audience - BE WHO YOU ARE - drop our fa...
Dec 08, 2022•1 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Description It says in John 4:32 that Jesus’ food and drink is to “do the will of the one who sent me.” The one who sent him was God the Father. In my lifetime in Catholic speaking and teaching, there’s always been less of an emphasis on the first person of the trinity, God the Father. Jesus has had the spotlight, and occasionally you hear people preach and teach on the HS, especially if you are in charismatic circles, like I am. But have you noticed, though, in the last handful of years that’s ...
Dec 01, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Description What does preaching look like in it’s simplest form? I’d say if you boil it all down, it’s just two things - a person with a bible, but not just a person reading from the scriptures, but someone with the bible open having dug deep into the words, coming up for air, and sharing what they’ve discovered, uncovering it’s meaning, inspiration, and the application of the divine words to our lives. This beautiful gift has to flow from a living relationship with God - the o...
Nov 24, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Description I’ve given hundreds of talks to college students and by and large I feel like I know what makes them tick. I’m confident, I’m able to be myself and I have a lot to share with them as so much happened and changed in my life during those years. But if you just dial back the clock four years on those audiences - from 18-22 yrs/old to 14-18 years old - it’s a whole different story. It’s a really difficult challenge - especially week in and week out - speaking to teenage...
Nov 17, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Description One of the most repeated phrases we’ve heard on this podcast is “Know Your Audience” and while that admonition is really important to keep in mind, is it possible to not just “Know Your Audience”, but to “Know Every Audience?” My guest today, Chris Hurtubise, thinks so and I think he might be right! I won’t give it away, because I want you to check out the episode, but I’ll give you a hint - there’s this acronym that’s been floating around in Catholic circles over the last couple of ...
Nov 10, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Description You know the verses about love in 1 Corinthians Ch. 13? It’s the reading that you always hear at weddings. St. Paul starts by saying, “...if I don’t have love I am a resounding gong and a clanging cymbal.” 1 Cor 13:1b People speaking to Catholic audiences have a similar bar to hit - do we have love in our heart for the people God allows us to speak to? And if we don't, how can we gain that love for them? In my conversation with Julianne Stanz, a wor...
Nov 03, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 19
Description When it comes to giving Catholic talks, where does “humor” fit in? Is it just a matter of telling jokes you found on the internet or do you have to be a naturally funny person to do it right? Well, it turns out - it’s not about jokes and you don’t have to be a budding stand up comic to make humor work. In my incredible conversation with Michael Hoffman, a 30 year + professional speaker, trainer, and leader we jumped right away into this topic - about humor - ...
Oct 27, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Description Does the name of Jesus roll easily off your tongue? My guess is - if you are a Christian you might say ‘sure’, but take notice over the next week how many times you say the Name of Jesus. There’s power in that name and I don’t think we use it enough. More often when we might say Jesus, we substitute it w “god” , “faith”, or “Church”. I bring this up because Beth Davis who I speak with today on the podcast brought up the name of Jesus 35 times. I counted. I think th...
Oct 20, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Description If you are a parent and you are trying to raise your kids Catholic you have undoubtedly heard one of them say: “Mass is boring.” “Church is boring.” “The Catholic stuff is lame.” Have you ever heard that? I’m sure you have! I know I have. And a lot of times we blame the kids for this take - like they just need to mature and “see the light”, but is it really all their fault? Or have we the teachers, preachers, and catechists failed to find creative and engaging ways ...
Oct 13, 2022•56 min•Season 1Ep. 16
Description How do you approach getting and receiving feedback for the talks you give? Is it something you build into your routine? Or something you avoid like the plague? And when you get feedback - do you know what to do with it? In my conversation with Joel Stepanek we jumped deep into this topic and many other topics related to the spiritual life of speakers, what kind of microphone he prefers (oh he’s got some big feelings about that one), and who his biggest influences are as a...
Oct 06, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Description We say thousands of words each day. Many of our words aren’t world changing, they just help make it from morning to night, accomplish our work and family goals, and get us from point A to point B. Most of which we (or anyone else) will ever remember. And that’s probably a good thing. Speaking to Catholic audiences uses that same format - a string of words put together as strings of sentences - but it’s different. There’s a different intent, a different power, and a different weight. ...
Sep 29, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Description : Is a regular structure and framework for each of your talks, constricting or freeing? Does it prevent or enable you to speak more confidently and clearly to an audience? In my conversation with Kris Frank he shares two really helpful ‘structures’ for his talks. First the structure of three key questions he asks himself as he writing a talk AND another structure he uses as a map in both preparing and delivering his talks. Rather than being a rigid const...
Sep 22, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Description : What’s a great way to really improve as a communicator? Is there a silver bullet? Is there something I can do today or is this gonna take years? Well, yes and yes. In my conversation with Tim Glemkowski, Executive Director the National Eucharistic Congress, he shares a really simple but powerful answer to this question and many others. Previous to his current role with the National Eucharistic Congress, Tim served in the Archbishop’s ...
Sep 15, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 12
Description : It has famously been said that if one is a “jack of all trades” they are a “master of none”. How does such an idea apply to Catholic Speakers? Well today in my conversation with Ali Hoffman, speaker, doodler, and digital creative we jump into this very question and so much more. Ali has a passion for Jesus, the Catholic Church, her family, donuts, and Pilot G-2 .38 pens, in that order. She served with NET Ministries and after graduating from the University of Saint Thomas in St. Pa...
Sep 08, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Description : How do the best communicators break free from their notes? It so often appears unscripted and effortless. How do they do it? Today, in my conversation with Paul George we tackle this big question and many other of his convictions and strategies for effective communication. Paul has spent over a quarter century helping people discover the “art of living” through self-knowledge, a relationship with Jesus Christ, and finding true happiness. Th...
Sep 01, 2022•41 min•Season 1Ep. 10
