Eat this, Speak that

In the lineup of scriptures about preaching, Ezekiel 3 is a barn burner! God sends Ezekiel to people who don't want to hear from him, with a message that isn't at all good news. Then in chapters 4 and 5, He goes several steps further by making Ezekiel himself the sermon illustration. When I read it this morning, I found myself hoping Ezekiel was having an excellent Sunday, enjoying his heavenly reward which surely must be HUGE because: laying on one's side for 390 days while shaking your fist and preaching deserves a whole lotta somethin', you know?

While uncomfortable to read, Ezekiel's story has truckloads of truth for present-day preachers. This was my take-home today:

1. We are blessed that we live in an era when the message we have been called to preach is by definition "good news". What joy! I don't want to forget to be thankful that I am not preaching death and destruction and I need to be unapologetic that the good news comes packaged up with some hard truth.
   
2. Some people will still not like hearing the good news - but we preach anyway. Ezekiel 3:11
   
3. It's harder to speak to those who are familiar to us. Ezekiel 3:3
4. Sometimes the battle for confidence in speaking comes down to: who do am I going to fear the most? Ezekiel 3:9
5. In order to be effective communicators of the Word of life, we have to have swallowed what we're selling. Ezekiel 3:1-2

One small, obscure chapter. So much rich instruction for those who want to preach His Word, His way.

Happy Sunday, Ezekiel!

Bo

'Splainin to do

Here's a simple fact that many (many, MANY!) speakers in church settings forget: most people are not really very familiar with the Bible. And that's okay. In fact, that's great - it means they're right where they should be. HOWEVER, I once heard a speaker allude to six different Bible stories in 40 minutes without explaining a word of what she meant. She said things like...

"You know, like David at Ziklag..."

"I felt just like Mary , bringing my oil to Jesus' feet..." (seriously, how weird does that sound if you don't know that story - especially considering that most people unfamiliar with the WHOLE Bible associate Mary as the mother-of-Jesus and don't realize there are at least four other Mary's mentioned.)

"I want to pass my mantle on to you...the Elisha's in my world."

Really...truly...people are not very Bible literate. Even in churches that do that cool Bible chant before every single message, not everyone is going to immediately remember every story. And even if they do remember the story, they may not understand exactly what you're saying when you tell them you responded like David at Ziklag, you know? Finally, it can make people who are new to Christianity or just new to an obscure Bible verse feel unintelligent or alienated from the discussion...and that's bad.

The Word is powerfully sharp. Therefore, quickly mentioning Bible events, verses or illustrations without explaining the point of application can be like hacking away at a sliver in someone's hand with a chainsaw. In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul tells young Timothy how important it is to divide and portion out the Word of God in the right way. That remains true for us today.

Know the Bible. Use it well. But make sure and explain yourself.

Still learning,

Bo

Irony is...

I'm speaking this weekend and it makes it so much harder for me to blog about speaking. That seems ironic to me, but maybe I'm misinterpreting the word. I think that the problem is not just the time schedule, but the focus re-shifting that throws me off.

Which leads me to this thought: I don't know how pastors who speak every week do it. It's so much prep and prayer time, so much development and research, just so...much. Perhaps when you are responsible for a message that often, you have to let go of some of the perfectionist tendencies and trust God more with the content. Perhaps. Or maybe pastors just have to get really good at raising up teams of people who can carry the load and feed the sheep well. I'm thankful that our pastor leads that way and I've tried to be that same kind of leader. More important to me than being a good speaker is being a good speaker-raiser-upper (is too a word). I want to give lots of people the chance to discover the gifts that God has placed inside of them. And I'd like to help them in ways that I would have liked to have been helped back in the day.

This weekend I'm speaking on a new topic for me and it's one I'm a little nervous about because it doesn't immediately sound very happy, but I think it's really important: endurance. In terms of raising a family it's a character trait that will be required by 100% of all married people and all parents. No relationships in life will last without endurance. And as I've studied, I'm amazed at how much the Bible has to say about how essential it is to our lives.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Oh, also: if you're someone who speaks every week, tell us how you do it!

Happy Wednesday,

Bo

How to Build a Great Thesis

So, when I develop a thesis for a message, I ask myself a few simple questions - not necessarily in this order:

1. Is there a pre-assigned series or message theme? I used to worry about trying to tailor a message around a specific theme - it sounded very confining. But now my feeling is: the more details that are determined ahead of time, the easier it is to hone in on a thesis that will lead to an effective message.
   
2. Who is my audience? What are their primary needs right now? Answering these two questions is SO important. It will not only help form your thesis, but also your illustrations and general tone. These are the questions that change your goal from "speak a great message" to "partner with the Holy Spirit to help change lives." Knowing your audience is a big stinkin' deal and will be covered in another post.
   
3. Within the borders of this topic, what has made the most impact in my life ? It's hard to preach what you haven't lived yet. For me, in our Great Escapes series, I wanted to hone in on the great stuff that I have experienced - and everyone can - when I decided to pursue and embrace the presence of God.
4. If this audience only remembers one transforming truth from this talk, what would I want it to be? What would Jesus want it to be? This is really the money question and you should be able to answer it in one or two sentences. In my experience, the more I pray about it, the simpler and clearer the thesis becomes. Weird, huh?
   

Once you have a clear, concise thesis you can start to build the rest of the message. It's amazing to me how a workable thesis opens the door to all kinds of creative thinking and Holy Spirit inspiration. When you have a clear destination marked on the map, you can make great travel plans - but when you don't know where you're headed, it's hard to figure out how you're going to get there.

I know there's more involved in developing a thesis, but I want to keep it simple and automatic. If I've missed something, feel free to add it in the comments!

Developing a Thesis (it really does matter!)

If you can't write your message in a sentence, you can't say it in an hour.

--Dianna Booher

It took me years to discover the powerful tool that is...dun dun DUN: The Thesis. A thesis by my definition (which may be entirely wrong, but it's what we're going with because I'm the one eating cookies and writing this blog) is a one or two sentence description of what your message will say. When all the stories and scriptures and word pictures are boiled down into one spoonful of soup, what will the audience take home? My senior pastor, Ken Johnson, has helped me understand this so much and he generally insists that we present some sort of thesis well in advance of our messages. I've been in sermon-planning meetings where he will ask for a description of where someone is headed with their message and if they go too long he'll kindly say, "You're going to have to narrow your thesis." And he's right.

Think of a thesis as a sharpening tool. It helps the speaker focus everything she's developing on the main purpose of her message. It's so easy to let stray illustrations or examples find their way into a talk because we really like them and want to use them - but if they don't add anything to the power and focus of the thesis, then they actually can dilute the whole thing. People who don't get opportunities to speak often really need this kind of focus and discipline because it's tempting to try to say everything you might not get a chance to say again soon. On the flipside, those who speak every week also need a thesis because it's easy to fall into the trap of letting messages string together in one long train of thought rather than planning each one as a mini military-strike. I've been in both camps and I can tell you that I wouldn't want to share even a five-minute testimony at this point in my life without first developing a thesis.

So, I hope I've convinced you of the "why". Next: the "how".

Focusing on focus,

Bo

Guest Post; Ah, Talking to Teenagers

This is a guest post by my friend,

<------Cassie D. There she is!

She has been speaking to the youth at our church for several years and has learned a lot in the process. I wanted her to share the biggest challenges she has run into on this adventure...and next week I will share mine.

“Can I get more house lights?”

This is a common opening phrase of many a speaker, the idea of speaking to the dark has never appealed to me much either. When the magical house light button is pushed and you suddenly realize you are speaking to a room full of teenagers panic may grip your heart and your very trusty notes all of a sudden seem obsolete.

Speaking to teenagers is definitely not for everyone and certainly not for the faint-of-heart. They sit (or should I say slouch?) in that chair staring at you. Waiting. Distracted. Half asleep. A blessed few are perched on the edge of their seats with notebook and pen in hand ready to scribble down notes of an anticipated life-changing message.

I have been speaking to teenagers for 5 years now and have a lot to learn and room for growth, but if I know anything I know that it is challenging.

Being relevant. I would like to think that because I am only a few years out of HS I can relate to students and grasp the culture they are living in. Recently I have realized I have a lot to learn. I read the covers of the tabloids at the grocery store to try and find out who is “hot” and who is “not.” I attempt to listen to the “cool” music and I try to know the names of a few well-known sports starts. However, in my speaking to teenagers all my “cool” and “hip” knowledge of these things doesn’t seem to get me too far. I still get blank stares and a few thumbs down if I mention the wrong celebrity or persona. I can’t throw in a few rad new words and expect them to jump on the train I am trying to get them on. They want more than that. Some of those things might impress some of them, but in the long run it is my belief that they want to be known. They want to see that you understand where they are. They don’t care so much if you or I know all the words to a Lady Gaga song, as long as you can some how reach into their life from the stage.

Being relational. I realize that my last couple sentences bleed right into being relational, but I guess that’s how it works. Teenagers want to be know, they also don’t want to feel like they are at school again. They see 4-6 teachers a day, they don’t need or want to come to church and feel like the person on the platform is speaking down to them. I remember a time I saw a girl sitting off to the right side of the stage, all alone. She was wearing all black, her hair had gone through a lot to become the shade of blue-ish-black it was. She had piercing I had to tilt my head at to try and figure out. She was not someone I would have been friends with in HS and there I was standing on a stage trying to relate to her! Teenagers LOVE being known by name. If I have an illustration I am using to convey a point, I try really hard to say “Jake, you are the guy in this story….” Or “Sarah you know what I am talking about….” I never want to expose a students life from up front, but if I can somehow get them into my story or on the train of thought I want them on, they know I can relate with them. My favorite simple thing to be relational; get off the stage.

Being riveting. Three “Rs”. Riveting. Captivating. Attention-grabbing. If I launched into a message and sound like a history teacher who is reading from a text book, the 6 students hiding in the back row will check out before I am done speaking the first 10 words. BEWARE; teenagers know if you are trying to hard. They can pick up on “attention getters” and they know where you are going with the “two cliffs and a cross” analogy. No matter what the students day, year or month has looked like somewhere inside of that crazy t-shirt and too much makeup face is a knowledge that coming to youth group or church is supposed to be “good” for them. If we as speakers and preachers cannot hold their attention for more than 5 minutes when we step onto stage, we should just play dodge-ball for two hours and fulfill the “be relational” part of things. Think outside the box. So much is not captivating to the average person, especially youth because of the mass media and over visual stimulating world we live in. This is probably one of the biggest challenges I have. To keep a teenagers attention for 20 minutes is a work of art that must be practiced.

Next time the lights come up and you realize you are speaking to a group of crazy-haired teenagers, don’t panic! Take a deep breath and realize they are more like you than you know. They desire to be known. Deep behind the half-asleep eyes staring at you is a heart that has a desire to hear a life-changing, world-rocking message, your message. Breathe in and out and realize that for some reason you are standing on that stage with a (half) captivated audience and the God who has not failed you yet will not leave you to change their lives alone. So, turn up the house lights and get going.

The Gift of Empathy

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. -- Carl W. Buechner

When people ask me what it takes to be a good speaker, I have one immediate response: empathy. I love when a speaker makes an audience feel that even though they maybe haven't experienced the same joys and heartaches, that they can still understand. For too many people, a mic in hand makes them want to demonstrate expertise rather than empathy and it alienates listeners. I'm not talking about mushy, silly, support-group sympathy...but rather an awareness that life is sometimes really hard and terribly unfair and an acknowledgment that I don't have it all figured out but I know that God is good even in the questions.

This kind of gift isn't necessarily expressed with words. It's what happens when the 75-year-old widow in the audience feels not just "taught" but seen and known and loved. That doesn't come from using a well-placed illustration about visiting a nursing home...it's a supernatural thing. Beth Moore has it. You watch her and you feel almost immediately that she would understand you and that if you had coffee together she would maybe speak some hard truth, but she would do it in a way that brought life.

I think youth pastors blow it in this one a lot. In an effort to communicate truth, they lose their grip on love and it's the rare teenager that can swallow one without the other. Empathy. It's brilliant and I have asked the Holy Spirit to let me carry it inside every word.

And speaking of speaking to youth: stick around this week for a guest post from a young woman who is an up-and-coming speaker and is going to share honestly the toughest parts about standing in front of the adolescent set and hoping to goodness they're willing to listen.

Happy Monday!

Bo