
Welcome! In this video, Dr. P explains the purpose of this course, "Faithful to Speak."
(Download and print your course notebook to take notes while watching the videos.)
In this video, Dr. P lays out the agenda for this course.
In this video, Dr. P reveals the secret to overcoming both the pride and the fear of public speaking.
Choose your destination by narrowing a big topic through clustering, turning God’s vast themes, like grace and unmerited favor, into a focused, passion-driven talk grounded in personal experience.
Learn to map your talk with a story arc, using an inciting incident, obstacles, transformation, and a climactic moment to achieve a new outcome.
Bring illustrations and creativity into your talks by using hobbies as metaphors, props, and personal stories that reveal transformative moments rooted in Christ.
Explore how facial expressions and eye contact convey attitude and credibility, and how intentional gaze across the audience with face–message alignment enhances connection and guides gesture and movement.
Fill the space with purposeful, appropriately scaled gestures to boost stage presence and credibility. Move across the stage to tell your story chronologically, centering the strongest moment front and center.
Explore practical note strategies for natural delivery, including highlighting and margin cues, and tailor your message to diverse audiences using identification theory to engage emotionally without manipulation.
Practice your talk aloud, craft a story arc centered on God's story, and deliver to a real audience to strengthen faithful public speaking for Christians.
Is God calling you to speak to an audience, communicating a faith-based topic? Perhaps you're looking forward to teaching a Bible study or sermon, sharing your story of redemption or transformation, or motivating a group of people on a particular issue? In this engaging course, filmed during the live workshop, "Faithful to Speak," you'll learn Dr. Heidi Petak's secrets to designing and delivering a dynamite talk.
First, if you're anxious about public speaking, don't worry. Dr. P will teach you how to focus your mind and spirit in a productive way so that you can truly communicate your message.
Next, whether you want to speak to a live audience or record videos to influence people online, it's essential that you learn how to structure a talk for maximum influence. And Dr. P's process is so much more inspiring than the basic Intro, Body, and Conclusion you would learn in a college course. With a downloadable PDF workbook, Dr. P will walk you through filling out and customizing the pages with your own topic, coaching you each step of her design process. She'll then give you tips for the most compelling delivery. In the end, you'll then have everything you need to start rehearsing your talk and be on your way to influencing an audience for the kingdom of God.
Dr. Heidi Petak is a Christian speaker, author, university professor, communication strategist, and professional coach and consultant with a Ph.D. in communication, passionate about inspiring you to be a life-giving communicator in your personal relationships, professional endeavors, and on stage behind the mic. She currently serves as the public speaking coach for the Abortion Survivors Network, helping adults who were once babies who survived abortions to tell their stories publicly. Dr. P has coached hundreds of people in public speaking for the past two decades, and looks forward to coaching you through this inspiring course!