Sarah Blake is a commissioned minister with the Church of God (Anderson, IN). She also composes lyrics and music and often uses her songs in her presentations. She has several years of experience singing with choral groups and worship teams and has a heart for worship as well as biblical teaching. In addition to her ministry activities, she also provides community education programs to assist various groups, including children's groups, to learn about the needs of people with disabilities.
These audio files are provided to assist you in becoming familiar with the teaching, preaching, music ministry, and community education services that Sarah Blake provides. If you would like to book Sarah, please send email to Sarah.
Please browse the sound files to get a sense of Sarah's music and the variety of speaking techniques Sarah employs depending on the needs of her audience. These are short clips only. Files are in MP3 format, and most are encoded as 128 bit mono format in order to save space. Some files have been edited in order to raise the volume. Sound quality of these live files has sometimes been lowered in this process.
Child, Arise
Sarah was a songwriter before she became a biblical scholar and teacher. This is a rough demo provided here solely to illustrate the teaching style of Sarah's music.
Who Touched Me? (08/03/08)
This illustration served as the opener for a sermon on the encounter between Jesus and the hemorrhaging woman. It was designed to draw the listeners into the topic and creat a relaxed atmosphere for study of a complex passage with a guest speaker.
I Believe
This song is an expression of compassion to people coping with ongoing difficulties such as chronic illness. It represents the heartbeat of Sarah's ministry: her hope that they will find hope despite situations in which pain does not seem to end.
Sermon on the Mount (02/26/08)
These are the final four minutes of the first sermon Sarah ever preached. It is a practice sermon preached as if before her home church. It is done without amplification, and the audio quality is poor. It has been edited in order to raise the volume and reduce background noise. It is provided here because the closure is one of the better examples available.
Pastoral Care and the Pile of Life Transitions (03/03/09)
This brief clip from a graduate-level course provides a sample of Sarah's formal teaching style for classrooms and seminars. In addition to factual information, the session also included participatory discussion. All student comments and references to students' names and life circumstances have been removed to ensure confidentiality.
senior citizen presentation (11/25/07)
This segment includes three minutes of audio taken from an hour-long presentation to a group of sixty senior citizens in a church setting. The presentation was geared toward a Thanksgiving morning gathering and was designed to be motivational and to encourage the building of intergenerational relationships in the church family.
John 9 personal testimony (04/05/09)
This two-minute segment includes audio from a 45-minute presentation for an adult Sunday school group in 2009. The presentation was highly personal in nature and was followed by a discussion session.
My Glory Will Be Revealed
This song is an expression of Sarah's theology of adversity as well as her understanding of God faithfulness in times of need.
dog guide presentation (09/22/09)
Two minutes of audio from this presentation to a third-grade class provides a demonstration of a format I often use with children which combines the use of story and engaging questions.