Wilfredo De Jesús, also known to many as Pastor Choco, is the general treasurer for the Assemblies of God and the first Latino to serve on the Executive Leadership Team. He previously was the senior pastor of New Life Covenant Ministries, one of the fastest-growing churches in Chicago as well as one of the largest Assemblies of God congregations in the nation.
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Other Episodes in the Great Communicator Series
Rick Warren on the Kind of Preaching That Changes Lives
Charlie Dates: Why Your Church Needs To Identify and Raise Up Young Preachers
J.D. Greear: How Your Sermons Will Benefit From a ‘Multitude of Counselors’
Beth Moore on the ‘Most Important Part of the Process’ of Teaching God’s Word
Ralph Douglas West on the Benefits of Being Shaped by Black and White Preaching Traditions
Andy Stanley: Are You Missing This Key Part of Your Sermon Prep?
Max Lucado: ‘The One Thing That Has Helped Me More Than Anything Else’ as a Preacher
Sam Chan: How the Topical Preacher Can Avoid Getting on a Hobby Horse
Priscilla Shirer: ‘Message Preparation Is the Hardest Thing I Do in Ministry’
Key Questions for Wilfredo De Jesús
-What do some of the best preachers and teachers have in common? What makes preaching resonate?
-How do you arrange your sermons and then go about rehearsing them?
-How do you organize narrative in a sermon when, for most people, they think of organization as being propositions?
-How does being Pentecostal, as well as Latino, impact your preaching?
Key Quotes From Wilfredo De Jesús
“Knowing the audience really sets the stage for what your message is going to look like. So that for me is crucial.”
“One of the disciplines I started learning was, who’s in my audience? I mean, you had lawyers, you had ex-prostitutes, you had gangbangers, you had different levels of education.”
“As a pastor, you’ve got to try to understand that your church is full of different folks…And I think that makes you a better preacher, a better pastor.”
“What separates a lot of the preachers or pastors is caring for the sheep.”
“Part of my preparation is that I had folks read [my sermon]…I had people who were great in writing, people who are good in speech help me out as well.”
“By the time it came to Sunday, I had that sermon in my belly for the most part. But even today as a general treasurer for the Assemblies of God, I still write my sermon verbatim and then I start rehearsing it…and let the Holy Spirit help me with it.”
