Communicating for a Change

DETERMINE YOUR GOAL: What are you trying to accomplish?

a. Preachers are performers except we are expected to do more than entertain we are expected to be educational, inspirational, theological, and engaging all at the same time.

b. When we keep that mentality, our feelings about how good of a preacher we are, will be based on our performance.

c. Therefore, we look beyond our performance. NOT ignore it but look beyond.

Key question: What is your GOAL in communicating? What is the win?

This is important because our approach to communicating should be shaped by our goal in communicating.

Three major goals that drive the majority of communicators.

1. Teach the Bible to people: The idea to teach the content of the Bible so that interested parties can understand and navigate their way through the Scriptures.

a. Perfect for people that want to simply explain what the bible means.

Main concern: Did I cover the material?

2. Teach people the Bible: Communicators are looking for effective ways to impart biblical truth into the mind and heart of the hearer.

a. This is the goal behind the “three points and application” approach to preaching.

b. Outlining makes it easier for people to understand.

c. Require sensitivity to the audience and some element of creativity.

d. This approach uses a lot of illustrations.

Main concern: Did my audience understand, and will they remember the material?

Author argues that, in both approaches’ success is measured in terms of information transfer or bible content transfer. Therefore, if information transfer meant people would be spiritually mature that would be okay, but it’s not.

3. Teach people how to live a life that reflects the values and principles and truths of the Bible: This approach leads people to DO something different instead of just think about it.

a. According to scripture spiritual maturity is gauged by application not contemplation.

17 So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

James 2:17

In this approach you must ask two questions that will complete your message.

- So what?

- Now what?

Our preaching won’t make much difference is our audience don’t understand what difference it is supposed to make, and they won’t do much with what go taught unless we tell me them what to do.

What is your goal? Transfer of information or life change?

PICK A POINT: What are you trying to say?

Every journey begins and ends somewhere. The same can be said for every talk. A good journey is planned with the end in mind. The same should be said of every sermon.

The same should be said of every sermon.

The problem is that we are trained to hear and write messages built around several point.

Having multiple points presents some problems:

1. People won’t remember three points. They will more than likely remember the last one.

2. Doesn’t reflect the world we live in. We don’t live life by points, we live life by emotions.

According to Andy Stanley, point by point preaching is good but if life change is our goal then point by point is not the most effective.

We will learn to build our entire message around one single point.

The key to this approach is refusing to stand up and speak until you know the answer to two questions:

- What is one thing I want my audience to know?

- What do I want them to do about it?

The suggestions is that instead of choose two or three or four ideas (points) to leave your audience with, just pick one!

Process of developing a one-point message can be broke down as follows:

1. Dig until you find it.

When you bump into an idea that can be the driving force for a message or series ask the following questions:

o What, if anything, does the Bible say about this?

o If nothing, why?

o Who, in the Scriptures, faced a situation that force them to interface with this topic or idea?

o What did they do? What didn’t they do that I might have expected them to do?

o Did Jesus ever address this topic directly or indirectly?

Once you discover a text or narrative that addresses your great idea, let the Bible speak. Even if the text contradicts your idea or assumptions going in, let the text speak. It is in that tension that you will make some of your greatest discoveries. When our minds are made up going in, we unintentionally resist the influence of the Holy Spirit. That’s when we run the risk of misusing the text.

2. Build everything around it.

- Once you discover the one thing, the next step is to go back and orient your entire message around your point.

- Remember, we are taking people on a journey. Once you’ve identified the destination, you owe it to your audience to make the path clear and direct. That means you cut away the things that are not pertinent to the subject.

- Cutting away the peripheral is like narrowing a channel of water. You end up with a much more focused and powerful message people can follow, tracking with you as you lead them along. And all that extra stuff? Save it. Sunday comes around every week.

3. Make it stick.

- Once you have discovered your point and rebuilt your message around it, the next step is to craft a single statement or phrase that makes it stick.

- If it is short and memorable then it will be easier for you to blend it in throughout your message. If it is a well-crafted statement, it will be more obvious to your audience that this is your point.

- Your statement is your anchor. It is what holds the message together and keeps it from drifting off course. This will be what people remember.

CREATE A MAP: What’s the best route to your point?

This outlining method is built around the communicator’s relationship with the audience rather than content. After all, the way we organize material on paper is very different from how we process information in a conversation.

ME, WE, GOD, YOU, WE.

ME:

- Communicator introduces a dilemma he or she has faced or is currently facing.

- By starting with a statement or story about myself I am able to introduce myself as well as the topic to the audience. This is especially important when addressing a new audience.

- But ME isn’t really about me. ME is about finding common ground with THEM. Common ground is an essential to any relationship. Especially a communicator’s relationship with an audience.

- An audience has to buy into the messenger before they buy into the message.