Jim Heidebrecht Bible Teacher
Garden City, Missouri 64747
417-309-0810

• Experience: Pastor of Hopewell Baptist in Quincy MO from August 2006 - Jan 2008. Also pastored Osage Ridge Baptist in Deepwater MO for about 6 months in 2008. I have preached in more than 20 local churches in my role as pulpit supply preacher.
• Comment to those looking at my sermons: You will notice a big change in my sermon notes starting in August of 2007. At that time, I stopped using full manuscripts to preach from. I felt that I relied too heavily on my notes while preaching. My notes were like a security blanket. I was well prepared for my sermons, but I still would read the manuscript too often. I began experimenting with more shortened, visual notes with keywords, phrases, and a lot of drawings and color to separate the thoughts. The drawings help a great deal in memory recall. Whatever simple drawing came to mind to symobolize a thought regarding a particular point in the sermon, seeing that drawing immediately brings to mind the thought. It is a great memory tool. Then I remembered using "mind maps" for studying bible verses, and I began to experiment with mind maps as sermon notes. Now, instead of a 8-10 page manuscript, I use a one page mind map with key words and phrases, and often some simple drawings. This has given me much more freedom while preaching, and I have never gotten "stuck". It was the best move I have made in sermon prep and delivery. I plan to put some examples of my mind map notes on our website. If you want more info on using mind maps, a good place to start is the wikpedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_Mapping. At the bottom of that page is a link to a mind mapping software page. I use freemind, a free java based program. There is also free web-based mindmapping software. I have used mindomo, at http://www.mindomo.com. Currently, I create my mindmaps using freemind, then import it into mindomo, because I can then export the map as a text outline, which is what I then upload to sermon central.
• Family: I’ve been married for over 17 years to my wife Sally. We have 2 awesome children: Alex and Kate.
• Best advice given to me about preaching: Always challenge people to do and become something great. Anything less than truly great is cheating the listener. By great of course I mean Christ-like. Always Always include Jesus’ saving work on the cross in every message.
• What I want on my tombstone: "Well done my faithful servant"

• Hopewell Baptist Church
• Southern Baptist Convention