Once Upon a Time: the Story of Introductions

One of my favorite parts of message-development is working on the introduction. It used to be the first thing I tackled but now I've learned to save it for later...it's sometimes even the last thing I write. I just find it much more interesting to introduce a message that I've gotten to know than a message I haven't really met yet.

To me, the introduction is the Once Upon a Time...it doesn't tell the whole story, but it invites us to know more. It leads us to a beautiful (or funny or scary or ugly) door and then turns the handle, urging us to step through and find out what's waiting on the other side. At its best, the introduction poses a question or a problem that we can all understand and relate to. It sets each of us off on our own search for the answer or the solution.

I once taught about unforgiveness and how it keeps us in emotional prison. As I wrote the message, I kept hearing in the back of my head, "Take the keys and lock her up..." That's a line everyone knows and it's frankly a little creepy which is exactly what I wanted. Because hey - if in the first five minutes of a my message people are thinking:

unforgiveness = creepy prison cell

...big WIN! They've already done most of the speaking work for me! My intro, therefore, was a quick review on the crazy and sometimes violent rhymes that we teach to our adorable and unsuspecting children...and the last one I mentioned was London Bridges which transitioned perfectly into the main theme of the message. The line "take the keys and lock her up" also became a mini-mantra that made an appearance a couple of times during the message as well as at the very end.

I think that speakers often give too much set up in the beginning. Let's look again:

"Today, we're going to talk about forgiveness and how it sets you free from emotional prison and we're going to look at how Joseph was able to get out of prison and forgive his brothers and then I'm going to invite you to forgive people who have hurt you as well."

It's truth. And it's definitely what the message will be about, but it doesn't intrigue or invite me into the story. It gives all the answers before convincing me that there's a question.

A good introduction is worth its 4 minutes of weight in gold...and the real gold of public speaking is "eyes up front" (i.e. attentiveness). Every speaker has to earn credibility (that's another post) and the attention of her audience (that's this post, in case you stopped paying attention.) The introduction is a powerful chance to launch a lovely lasso and draw your listener into the heart of what God wants to say.

What do you think? Do you like intros? Loathe them? Struggle with them? Think they're a necessary evil? Do tell!