Next level communicators do this one thing to gain clarity.
Next level communicators do this one thing to gain clarity.
Effective, transformational communication rises and falls on clarity. How can we persuade our audience if they are not sure about what we are saying? As simple as this may seem, I’m amazed at how many times I’ve listened to a speaker and left thinking, “I’m not sure what they were trying to get me to do?” And I’m also amazed at how many messages I’ve given over the years, where at the end of my talk someone comes up to me and in the nicest of ways says their version of, “I didn’t get it.” Ooof.
I love flying into southern California just after a good rain. As you know, this part of the country lives under a constant haze called smog, but when it rains, it’s like the haze is washed away, and we are left with a breathtaking view of the topography as the mountains, city and landscape come into high definition. What a good rain is to the greater Los Angeles area, a well crafted outline is to your talk. Constructed correctly, your message will gain the kind of clarity which will persuade your audience towards your desired aim.
When I sit down to put an outline for a talk together I have found the following to be helpful:
What’s your throughline? Some people might call this the big idea of the message, or the sermon in a sentence. Whatever you name it, this is the essence of the text you are teaching, the talk you are giving. It should be somewhere between 7-10 words, and flexible enough to build an outline around. We’ve chatted a lot about the felt need of the message, which is the section of your talk right after the introduction where you show how what you are about to say connects to the universal need of people. The felt need is where you will find your throughline, sermon in the sentence or big idea. For example, I’m building a talk on the subject of church hurt, and my throughline is, While we can’t choose the hurt that happens, we can choose what happens to the hurt. I need to trim this down, but that gives you a real time idea of what I’m getting at. Then what follows will be my three or so points which will connect to what needs to happen with the hurt.
Repeat the throughline. Once you’ve distilled the essence of your talk into a short, pithy statement, it needs to be repeated several times throughout the message. Don’t put all this effort into crafting your throughline, only to say it once. Say it again, and again and again. Repetition brings clarity. If it’s worth laboring over, it’s worth repeating.
Apply your outline. After you’ve figured out the central message of your talk, and you’ve framed it in a relatable way, now be sure to phrase your points so they are connected to the throughline and in a way which is understandable. When I first started preaching everything was about rhetoric and alliteration. Your points all had to begin with the same letter, because the emphasis was on being memorable. But the problem, as I soon found out, was people were not remembering the points a few days later. My outline was flashy and cute, but not really practical. In fact, there were too many times I squeezed a point into a particular word that didn’t quite fit, just because I had to have all “S’s” in my outline. Thank goodness those days are gone. If they’re still around for you, then please wave goodbye to them. The goal isn’t to be memorable, it’s to be understandable, and the way to get to that level of clarity is to word your points in ways which are highly applicational. I gave a recent talk explaining from a text who Jesus is. My first point was, Who is Jesus? He is drawn to the suffering. My second point was, Who is Jesus? He is not a religion. Had this been several years ago, I would have framed my second point, He is not drawn to the saints, because it’s an “S,” but see how that doesn’t quite connect. Give your points a ton of Vitamin A- application- so people can understand what you are saying, which will help greatly with clarity.
Simplify your outline. One of our mantras should be that we want to be simple and not shallow. Simplicity is the sibling of clarity. The simpler you are as a communicator, the more likely people will be clear on what you are saying. Too much information will be like smog over the Los Angeles skyline- it will cloud your talk. Unless you have a really good reason, I wouldn’t go beyond three points in your message, which will serve you well in keeping things simple.
Grab their eyes. Introductions are one of the last things I build into the outline because I don’t know what I’m introducing until I know my points. Don’t underestimate the importance of how you begin a message, because we only have like ninety seconds to answer the audience's question, “Am I going to listen?” So I want to do something which will grab their eyes. I’m looking to tell a story, a joke, a great analogy or a provocative statement which will either connect to my throughline, or the first point.
Make the ask. If you give a talk where you do not make an appeal to the audience to do something, then you’ve wasted your time and theirs. The best time for the appeal is at the end of the message, because you want to leave them thinking about or responding to something. When I conclude a talk, I’m looking to summarize my throughline, restate my points and then make the big ask. Outlines start with the eyes (introduction), move to the heart (felt need), then run between the eyes, mind and heart in my main points, and finally to the feet (action) in the conclusion, where I am looking to make the big ask.
I’m in the process of uploading my sermon manuscripts to my website. This will be quite the process, but I hope you find them to be a helpful resource in your journey as a communicator.
What I’m reading:
Easter Sermon
Easter Sermon
Hey folks, with this being a pretty big weekend I thought I’d send you my Easter sermon. Keep in mind this is very much a work in progress, with content edits to come, but I thought it would help for you to see how I am processing at this stage. Feel free to use as much of this material as you’d like without giving me any credit.
He has risen!
Who is Jesus? How the resurrected Christ sets us free
John 5
(Image of the Scarecrow from The Wiz) Surely we all have seen, The Wiz…not the Wizard of Oz, but its more soulful interpretation, starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. In one of the early scenes, we are introduced to the Scarecrow, who is bound to his pole and longs to come down, but he just can’t. To make matters worse he is surrounded by crows who mock him and tell him he will never get down. Then they twist the knife and force him to sing a song. Look at the lyrics with me, “You can’t win, you can’t break even and you can’t get out of the game. People keep sayin things are gonna change, but they look just like they’re stayin the same. You can’t win. You’re in over your head and you only got yourself to blame. You can’t win child (You can’t win child). You can’t break even and you can’t get out of the game”.
Who is Jesus? He’s drawn to those who can’t seem to win- John 5:1-7.
Ever felt like this? Ever had moments, seasons or an area in your life where it felt like you just can’t win? Sure you have. We’ve all been there, where it felt like I can’t win in my marriage, can’t win in my singleness, can’t win on my job, can’t win in my career, can’t win with that child, can’t win with this addiction…I just can’t seem to win. As our text opens up we are going to meet an ancient version of the Scarecrow- an invalid of 38 years, immersed in a sea of hopelessness, where if you listen closely to the background music of our text, you can hear the crows singing, “You can’t win.” Oh but he will.
As our passage opens up we are told that the events to come happen during the feast of the Jews. We don’t know what particular feast it is, but it’s a time of rejoicing, and everyone is headed to the temple, but Jesus doesn’t stop at the red carpet on his way into the temple, instead, he goes to an unlikely place, he goes to the pool of Bethesda. Archaeologists have actually discovered this exact site in recent years, and this was the place where you gathered when you had some sort of sickness or disease, because it was thought the waters, when they were stirred, would bring healing. So in walks Jesus, and he encounters a man in verse 5, who John, while he doesn’t give us his name, does give us what seems to be the most random of details- he’s an invalid of 38 years. Now this is telling, because the average life expectancy in Jesus’ day was between 25-30 years, so the fact he would be an invalid of 38 years makes him the epitome of hopelessness. In this sea of hopelessness, Jesus locks in on the most well known and hopeless of all, and initiates a conversation which would result in his transformation.
Jesus begins by asking him, “Do you want to be healed”- John 5:6. On the surface this question seems to be silly if not outright insensitive. It would be like Jesus walking into someone’s hospital room at Wake Medical, pulling up a chair and saying, “Do you want to get better?” But you have to know that when Jesus asks questions it’s not for information, but to expose. We know this because the man responds with the epitome of self-pity when he says, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me”- John 5:7. Hear the hopelessness and self pity? This is the life he’s known for 38 years, and it’s a life he’s grown comfortable with. As Trevin Wax says, his illness has become his identity.
Jesus’ question, “Do you want to be healed,” is more relevant today than ever before. Trevin Wax points to this when he says, “There’s a tendency today to place our identity in our illness; to find solace in our sickness.. Sometimes the hardest thing about sickness is that it can threaten the self we have come to know. Sometimes we would rather cling to the comfort of the familiar than face the freedom of the unknown. So we live this kind of life where we always want our wounds nursed, but never healed. We just keep picking at the scab”- Trevin Wax. This plays itself out in many directions. For some your identity is in your depression and anxiety- very real things that I do not make light of- but the problem is these diagnosis have come to define you. Others of us our identity is found in the hurt someone has inflicted on us. Again, I don’t make light of this at all, and we need to grieve it and get all the help we can to overcome and grow through it, but the problem is you’ve gotten comfortable with it, and it’s defined you. Others, your identity is in your sin. You speak more of your addiction, your sexual choices, and brokenness to the point where it’s become you. And Jesus is gently moving towards us today and asking us the same question he asked this invalid, “Do you want to be healed”. Do you want to be set free? Hear that again- no matter where you are, Jesus sees you, and is moving toward you right now, with the offer of healing and freedom.
Who is Jesus? The One who frees us- John 5:8-9, 14.
Jesus doesn’t wait for another word from this man. He simply commands him to, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk,” where, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked”- John 5:8-9. Now let’s put ourselves in this man’s shoes. You’ve been an invalid for all these years, and now you’re healed…you can walk. What’s the first thing you are going to do? Me, maybe go for a long walk through the local park, or a jog on the beach, or maybe kickboxing class. Not this guy. What’s the first thing he does? “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple”- John 5:14. Wait, what? The first place he goes is to the temple? Are you for real? Why? Because the law restricted any invalid from going to the temple to worship, so for all of these years he has been separated from God, and just like that, Jesus heals his legs, so now a second and more important thing is healed- his relationship with God. Jesus uses his felt need- healed legs- to get to his real need- a restored relationship with God.
A few months ago all of our boys, who are in their 20s, were home, and I asked them a really vulnerable question, What do you most remember about your relationship with me when you were kids? They said the weekly breakfasts we did when I took them to school. So simple right? All I did was take a felt need- their need for food- to address a greater need- their connection with me. You know what a tragedy is? It would be a breakfast table packed with food, but an empty chair with no dad. And you know what a tragedy is? For this man to have healed legs, but a heart far from God. You know what a tragedy is? For Jesus to rid your body of cancer, set you free from anxiety and depression, end your journey of infertility by blessing you with a child while you have a soul that spends an eternity separated from him. Jesus wants to satisfy way more than your felt needs, he wants to get to your real need, which is a relationship with him. Our real problem isn’t an addiction to alcohol, or some felt need, but a soul far from him.
Who is Jesus? He’s not a religion- John 5:9b-18.
Things take a turn in our text, and we get a sense of this with a “little” detail John throws in at the end of verse 9, “Now that day was the Sabbath”- John 5:9b. The Jews now see this man who was healed, and instead of rejoicing over his healing, they, like referees, throw a flag and call a penalty, when they say, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed”- John 5:10. The Sabbath prohibited work, but then this brought up the question of what exactly is work? So the Jewish leaders wrote something called the Mishnah, which was around then, which one of its purposes was to explain what was work. And in the Mishnah they came up with 39 things you couldn’t do, and this was one of them. Instead of rejoicing over his healing, they call a foul. By the way, I’ve never seen a referee rejoice over some miraculous play. It’s the NCAA tournament- March Madness as they call it- and we’ve seen last second shots (I won’t say against whom), and not once has a referee rejoiced. In the same way, religious people don’t rejoice, how could they, when they have a whistle in their mouths waiting to call a penalty? And into all of this Jesus enters, and he actually makes a reference to the Mishnah, when he’s confronted about violating the Sabbath, “But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working”- John 5:17. See, the Mishnah said the only one allowed to work on the Sabbath was God. Jesus acknowledges this and then adds a wrinkle- His Father is working, and so is he. It’s his way of saying he’s innocent of the charge of breaking the Sabbath because he’s God. Jesus is not a religion, he’s a person, he’s God, who emphasizes relationship more than rules.
When Michael Jackson was a little boy, his dad picked up that he and his brothers had a lot of talent, and there was some real potential for them as a singing and dancing group. Everyday after work, Joseph Jackson, the dad, would come home, push the furniture in the living room to the side, and make his sons go over the dance routine, while he stood there with belt in hand, where if they missed a step they were met with severe consequences. Now, did it work? On one hand it did, as MJ became arguably the greatest performer ever. But on the other hand it didn’t. I don’t know if you picked up on this with MJ, but he never called his dad, “dad,” only by his first name, “Joseph”. In a 2001 Oxford University speech, MJ reflected on his dad, and in tears he said in essence, how he longed for a dad, but all he got was Joseph. He learned to perform and do the steps, but missed out on the relationship.
And that’s my fear for some of you Summit church, or others of you who attend church regularly, read your bible daily, and do all the things. Learn from the Jews- they memorized the first five books of the bible, prayed the Shema 18 times a day, and totally missed out on a relationship with Jesus. They performed well, but were far from him. Here’s the irony of this text: The invalid who was away from the temple, ends up closer to God than the religious leaders who spent a lot of time in the temple. Heed the message of this passage- religion doesn’t set you free and save you, only Jesus does.
Who is Jesus? He is God- John 5:19-47.
So here is Jesus, having just had the audacity of healing a man on the Sabbath which triggers the anger of the religious leaders, leading to a huge confrontation. When Jesus, in verse 17, equates himself with God, John tells us their response, “This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God”- John 5:17. The message of our passage, and the message of the whole gospel of John, and the message to all of the Christian life is that Jesus is God. How was he able to heal both the invalid’s legs and his relationship with God? Because Jesus is God. How could Jesus do this on the Sabbath? Because Jesus is God. And how in the world can Jesus free me from my sins and give me eternal life? Because Jesus is God. Jesus goes deeper into this when he says, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives him life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will”- John 5:20-21. When his friend Lazarus died, and his sisters were angry with him for not coming sooner to heal him, Jesus says in so many words he’s not limited by death, when he says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”- John 11:25-26. Do you not see that when Jesus says he is the resurrection and the life he is making a claim to deity? Because of our sins, we had wracked up a debt with God we could not pay. On the cross, Jesus paid that debt when he died in our place and for our sins. So his death paid the bill. But had Jesus stayed dead in his grave, death would have won. But because he resurrected the third day according to the Scriptures, death was defeated. And because Jesus defeated death, for those of us in Christ, we too will rise from our graves to eternal life, defeating death. This is exactly what Paul said when he wrote, “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?’ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”- I Corinthians 15:50-55. All of this is made possible because Jesus is not just a good man, a prophet and an articulate, compelling teacher. Jesus is God.
You know, in American history we have had many cult leaders who claimed deity; people like Jim Jones and David Koresh. Have you noticed these cult leaders claiming to be God all wore glasses? I’m sorry, you can’t be my Savior and go to Lens Crafters! Jesus is not wearing glasses when he claims to be God. Now, many of you are here and you would not call yourself a Christian, and here’s what I ask of you: Don’t do the intellectually dishonest thing and put Jesus in the category of nice guy, who was a historical figure and lived an exemplary life in some ways. No, anyone claiming to be God is either a liar, or just what he says. There’s no middle ground.
The Five Witnesses
You need some evidence, and that’s completely reasonable. I know this, because Jesus doesn’t just make the claim to be God in our text, but he ends by calling some witnesses to corroborate his claim. The Law said no one’s testimony was credible unless there were 2-3 witnesses. Jesus doesn’t just give us 2-3, he actually gives us five witnesses that all testify Jesus is God. Jesus calls God to bear witness about him, “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me”- John 5:37. Do you know God only speaks twice in the gospels, and both times he says of Jesus that he is his beloved Son in whom he is well pleased. One of the things God has to be well pleased with is Jesus’ repeated claims of being God. If God bears witness about Jesus, then to reject Jesus is to reject God. In verse 33, Jesus says John the Baptist testified about him. The Jews loved John the Baptist, flocking to him in droves to be baptized. But had they forgotten these words of John about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”- John 1:29. Jesus is like, I’m him. Then in verse 36, Jesus calls his third witness- his own works testify that he is God. Granted, many people have been healed throughout the years by God through other humans. But one of the works no human can ever do is the forgiveness of sins. Several times in the gospels we see Jesus forgiving sins, and it triggers the anger of the religious leaders, why? Because they knew only God could forgive sins, which is exactly the point. And today, some of you will say yes to Jesus, and immediately you will receive the cleansing and forgiveness of your sins from Jesus, because he is God. His fourth witness is the Scriptures, which in that time is what we would call the OT: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me”- John 5:39. The OT is filled with hundreds of prophecies about Jesus. Isaiah says that a virgin would conceive- yep that points to Jesus. Isaiah 53 talks about a suffering servant who would be wounded for our sins. Yep, that’s Jesus. The Bible loudly testifies of Jesus. And finally, Jesus says Moses, the most revered person in Jewish history, testifies to Jesus. How? Moses left the comforts of the palace, and rescued Israel who was enslaved to Egypt. And Jesus left the comforts of heaven, to rescue us who were in bondage to our sins. So there it is: 1. God; 2. John the Baptist; 3. The works of Jesus; 4. The Scriptures; 5. Moses- all testify that Jesus is not just a good person, prophet, compelling speaker or historical figure. Jesus is God.
Gospel Conclusion
And that’s how our text ends. It’s kind of awkward. No resolution; it just ends. In my imagination there’s awkward silence between Jesus and the Jews, and in the silence I can hear Jesus saying, “Now after all of that, what are you going to do with me? Will you believe or will you reject?” And he’s asking that question of us today.
Tom Holland, the British historian, wrestled with this question. It was the contemplation of history that as he was writing books on ancient cultures, he was struck by how his natural inclination to many of their practices was to be shocked, and even find them grotesque and laughable. So where did his values come from? He reached the conclusion that so many of his values could be traced back to a Judeo-Christian ethic, which he did not want to be true. This changed his life and he wrote a whole book on it called, Dominion, in which he says the values we hold dear in our culture come from this man, Jesus. When in earlier interviews he was asked if he was a believer he would respond by saying, “No, but I find the values and the life of Jesus to be captivating, because no one changed history like this man.” And then in a recent interview someone asked him, “Are you a Christian,” and he said, “Yes, I believe I am.” He got to the point where Jesus was not just a curiosity, but the king. There was too much evidence.
THEO OF GOLDEN/BIOGRAPHY/TEXT BOOK (I would like all three books on a table in this order from top to bottom, and this is the place for the vamp). Call to salvation.
Next level communicators are more excited about what they are talking about than talking.
Next level communicators are more excited about what they are talking about than talking.
I just got back from a preaching conference, where the presenter right before me is a legend in the church world. Almost fifty years ago he started a church, and experienced great success as thousands eventually joined. A major part of what God used to grow the church was his ability as a next level communicator. Given all this, you can imagine my surprise when he spent his whole session with us talking about how we make too big of a deal out of public speaking, and how he has never cared for his role as a communicator. Did I mention this was a preaching conference? If you’ve heard him speak you would definitely say he overstated his point about not being that great of a public speaker, but on the other hand I wouldn’t use words like, “dynamic,” to describe him. So why did thousands of people jam into his church on weekends to hear him? What makes him a next level, transformational communicator is you always got the sense that he cared far more about what he was talking about than the fact he was talking. Boy, did I need this reminder.
As communicators we are delivering a message in the hopes of persuading our audience. We want to move people in a certain direction, and the art of communication is how we do that. But when we become more obsessed with communicating, than what we are communicating about, we will dilute the power of our message. For example, if you are a Christian and you are looking to point people to Christ in your message, the best way to do that is for people to see you really love Jesus. If you are in tech, making a presentation about the usefulness of artificial intelligence, the best way to persuade people is for them to feel you are all in on AI. If you are in sales, and want your audience to invest in your product, then the crowd must sense from you how this product has transformed your life. Never forget, moved people move people.
Love the art of communicating, just love it less than what you are talking about.
So how do we keep what we are talking about above talking? I have found these things to be helpful:
Engage your message by way of life. If Jesus is the core of what you are talking about, then he must be the core of how we live. Lose that and you lose transformational effectiveness as a communicator. The same is true across the board. If your message is justice oriented, then you need to be all in on justice not just on the stage, but off the stage. If your message is about the power of forgiveness, then this must be a theme of your life. Sure, you can fake it for a while, but our audience is far more perceptive than we think. As the saying goes, “real recognizes real”.
Say, “no”. Sometimes the best thing we can do as communicators is to turn down speaking engagements because what we are being asked to speak on is just not in our hearts.
Write fresh messages. I do a bit of conference speaking, and sometimes a message resonates so much with an audience, I will repeat it over and over again. If I’m not careful I can drift into autopilot as I’m speaking and come across as very mechanical. So to keep my own soul from getting stale, I need to go through the exercise of writing fresh messages around the same theme. When I do this, it’s amazing how much more engaged my heart is with the talk, and I guarantee you the audience feels that.
Be honest. Authenticity is some of our best currency as communicators. Being honest about failures, real about where you missed it, will establish a connection with an audience and better position you to move them, than feigning expertise. When Korie and I speak together on marriage, we are always quick to point out where we missed it, and afterwards we hear more about how those moments resonated with our audience than when we got it right. When we are honest about our own misses it keeps the focus on the message, and not on how good we are.
Next level communicators are courageous.
Next level communicators are courageous.
Sometimes you get to the point where enough is enough. Vernon Johns, pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (And the predecessor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), and one of the most effective communicators of his time, reached that point when he read of a black man who was nearly beaten to death by a police officer who pulled him over for speeding. Filled with righteous indignation, Pastor Johns posted the title to that Sunday’s sermon on the marquee of the church, “It’s Safe to Murder Negroes in Montgomery”. His message title was so clear, so courageous, it got him summoned into court. When Reverend Johns was asked by the judge why he would preach on such an inflammatory topic, he responded, “Because everywhere I go in the South the Negro is forced to choose between his hide and his soul…Mostly, he chooses his hide. I’m going to tell him that this hide is not worth it” (From, Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around, Justin Giboney).
I would have paid to plop down on one of Dexter Avenue’s wooden pews that Sunday.
Courage is doing what you have to do even when you don’t feel like doing it. Courage is the necessary currency every effective communicator must spend from time to time because we are in the persuasion industry. And to persuade someone is to not only offer a better path, but it also involves challenging their current choices which takes, you got it, courage. One of the things I try to always do when I give a message is to begin by showing the topic or passage I have chosen connects with the felt need of the audience. If you are a preacher, what makes “all Scripture…profitable” (2 Timothy 3:16), is each passage taps into a universal felt need we have, like freedom, significance, meaning, hope and so on. At the end of my message I want to transition from the felt need to the real need which is the gospel. But to get there I have to exercise courage by showing the people how they are going about trying to address the felt need is wrong (normally through idolatry), and how the gospel offers a better way. If you are not a preacher but you are trying to persuade your audience towards something, you will have to show them their current way is not the best, and this takes courage. Next level communicators are courageous.
Over the years, as I have sought to become more courageous, I have found the following to be helpful:
Go to war with people pleasing. This is not a box to be checked, but a tension to be managed. My desire to be liked as a communicator is greater than I’m comfortable admitting. As a pastor, what I say can have a direct impact on attendance and giving, so courage can be costly. What helps me with courage is to have an audience greater than the people in the seats, and for me that is God. When I work for and rest in His approval, this frees me from the approval of others. Another way to go to war with people pleasing is to be convinced in what you are offering to the people. When we as communicators truly believe what we are persuading people to is the better path, then this will heighten courage.
Thou Shall Not Be A Jerk. Ever had someone challenge or correct you, and it was said so well you felt loved? Or better yet, you didn’t even realize you were being corrected until long after the meeting, because of the grace in which they approached you? What the person did was still courageous, they just chose to sprinkle some sugar on their words. What you experienced was the Greek word for gentleness which means strength wrapped in velvet. You don’t have to come off like a jerk to make your point. In fact, if you do, you will probably unnecessarily fail in your mission to persuade people.
Don’t just call out, call up. Okay, really important here. Courage is not just giving people bad news, it must also show a better way. When we point out the wrong, but never give hope, we might as well have given our audience a terminal cancer diagnosis. Never leave the people hopeless. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, and one of the great communicators in world history, said his aim every time he spoke was to overwhelm people with law, and rescue them with grace. Wesley didn’t just want to call people out, he also wanted to call people up.
What I’m Reading:
If you’ve found this helpful, please share with others and encourage them to subscribe.
Next level communicators listen way more than they talk.
Next level communicators listen way more than they talk.
As a fifty-three year old, I feel as if I am in my best season as a communicator, and I’ve thought a lot about why. Sure, I’ve had a lot of opportunities to get my reps in since I preached my first sermon almost thirty-six years ago. And yes, I’ve learned from some of the best, but as I have sat with the question in recent years as to why I am so much better today than I have ever been in my life (still with lots of room for improvement), I’m convinced the answer is found in my commitment to listen to the right voices. Next level communicators have learned to listen to two major voices, but before we get to those, let’s chat about a voice we listen to which will stunt our growth, and that is ourselves.
By default, we communicators will center ourselves when it comes to preparing and delivering a message. We each have a specific vantage point of life, formed by our gender, ethnicity, class, culture, experiences, lack of experiences and a host of other things. And when we are the only ones we listen to, our ability to connect to those different from us in the audience will be hindered. The sooner you come to terms with your limitations and biases, the better positioned you will be to see past them. No, don’t hear me to say we should not listen to ourselves, but we should not be the only ones we listen to.
Next level communicators have learned to listen to these two additional voices:
Listen to life. We have an advantage as presenters athletes don’t have- right when athletes are falling off the proverbial cliff, we are getting better. Athletes age like milk; communicators age like wine. Sorry athletes. Just the other day I heard one of the most powerful messages on legacy, and it was given by a seventy-six year old man. There was a wisdom, an ethos about him which held the room, and all of this came about because he had listened to life. He spoke to us from his successes and failures. Marriage and parenting should teach you something, and so should your journey as a single adult. Your growth in compassion, the cancer diagnosis you navigated, the funerals you sat in, along with a host of other things should be forming you into a speaker who can connect in one message with people standing on mountains and walking through valleys. Life tenderizes and helps to buff the rough edges off, allowing us to communicate from the heart. But…just because you’ve lived and listened to life, does not mean you will be a great communicator; it’s all about how you respond. As we age we will trend towards sweet or salty, compassionate or cynical. So don’t just listen to life, but lean in and truly glean from her lessons in a way which betters you.
Listen to people. The blessing and curse of our profession is we talk way more than we should. We must learn to listen to people outside of ourselves. The wealthy have something to teach me, and so do older, younger and women. I also need to listen and engage with people who live lifestyles I don’t agree with. How can I truly challenge people who live and think different from me, if I never listen and learn how they see and process things? It’s been said the problem with the church is they are asking questions no one is asking any more. Sad but true. By far, the most talked about series of messages I have ever given was a series called, Our Gay Neighbor. Before I began the series, I asked, “Hey, if you are living in the gay lifestyle and are comfortable sharing your story with me, I’d love to meet you.” This was the early two-thousands in Memphis, Tennessee, so I was shocked when a dozen or so people jammed into my office. Now almost twenty years later, that series is still talked about not because I listened to myself or the text alone, but because I listened to people actually engaged in that life. Writing those messages forced me to see faces, and I saw those faces because I heard their voices. No, listening to other people doesn’t change my biblical convictions, but it does allow me to connect and grow as a communicator.
What I’m Reading:
Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter, by Tim Keller.
Next level communicators are themselves and forget themselves.
Next level communicators are themselves and forget themselves.
One of the great challenges we all face as communicators when we first start out is we tend to focus so much on content we forget our personalities, making us really hard (unbearable even), to listen to. The reason this issue confronts us all is because of the uniqueness of what we do. Think about it, at no other time during the week are you asked to stand and talk non stop for at least a half hour…uninterrupted. Public speaking is a natural headwind to our unique makeup as humans. Then there’s the rookie mistake most of us make in our preparation where we become so obsessed with remembering our content, we forget to also deliver our natural selves. It’s kind of crazy, but to be a next level communicator we need to practice both the message and our personalities.
In 1946, James Stewart wrote a book on preaching, and what he has to say about the importance of personality is not just for proclaimers of God’s Word, but would be wise for all communicators to heed, “God has given to each man his own individuality, and standardisation is emphatically no part of the divine intention for your ministry. How intolerably dull it would be if every preacher had to be cut to the same pattern!… Do not think that personal idiosyncrasies are merely to be suppressed and levelled out. Be yourself.” Solid wisdom. Thanks James. If you are extroverted at home, be so on stage. If your humor tends to be dry, bring that to the event. If your emotions tend to be easily stirred, why would you shut that off completely? Listen, I get it. We have to pick our moments. We can’t tell jokes all or most of the time, and if you fall more to the sullen side of things, for all of our sakes, put a little pep in your step. We understand speaking will require moments which are unnatural to ourselves, but on the whole, may our audience leave having experienced us.
Why is my personality so pivotal to my effectiveness as a speaker? Because more than people connecting to content, people connect to people.
When thinking about unleashing “you” I have found the following to be helpful:
Add more training wheels. New speakers should listen to next level communicators…a lot. This period in your development is like putting training wheels on a bicycle, as someone else’s voice, approach and even mannerisms will help you find your way. But be careful, because you will absorb more than their content, you will also take on their personality. See the tension? We all need to grow in our gift, and one of the best ways to do that is by watching others, but too much of that will cause us to lose our unique personality and prolong the process of finding our voice, so what are we to do? Diversify who you watch. Instead of just one great communicator, add three to five.
Get to levels 4-5. There’s a wonderful tool called the communication pyramid. In essence it gives us the five levels of communication going from the most superficial to the most intimate: 1. Cliche; 2. Facts; 3. Opinion; 4. Emotive; 5. Transparency. For now, I want you to think of these five levels of communication as the journey from ineffective to next level speakers. When we start out we tend to hover at levels 2-3, which is all about content. People who give the news are taught to just give the facts, with no emotion. But as we grow as communicators we should get to levels four and five, where our true selves are unmasked, and effective, persuasive communication happens.
Get pre-talk feedback. By now you should know I’m big on this. What will immediately take your presentations from okay to good, and good to great, is to solicit input before you give the message, and one of the things you should ask people is, “Did you experience me when I practiced my talk?”
Forget yourself. I know, it sounds like I’ve just contradicted everything I’ve said, but I’m willing to bet you are most yourself when you are not thinking about yourself. And you are most yourself when you are not straining to remember what you want to say. Be yourself and forget yourself. I’ll close with what one of the greatest communicators in world history said, “What is the rule then? It is: be natural; forget yourself; be so absorbed in what you are doing and in the realisation of the presence of God … that you forget yourself completely. That is the right condition. That is the only place of safety. That is the only way in which you can honour God. Self is the greatest enemy of the preacher, more so than in the case of any other man in society. And the only way to deal with self is to be so taken up with, and so enraptured by the glory of what you are doing, that you forget yourself altogether” (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, page 264).
What I’m Reading:
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fizgerald, by John U. Bacon.
Next level communicators use windows.
Next level communicators use windows.
I once heard a talk about integrity, and the need to be people of truth. To make his point the speaker shared a story where Mark Twain had stolen a watermelon, sat down and took a bite. It was at this moment where Twain said he felt a weird sensation come over him, so he got up, went back to the cart where he had taken the melon…and exchanged it for a ripe one! The audience roared in laughter. Why? Well, because we assumed the “weird sensation,” Twain felt was a sense of guilt for his theft. But we had the rug pulled from under us, as Twain returned the sour piece of fruit for a sweet one. What a masterful illustration, right? It has the element of surprise, along with humor, and sets the table to move right into application. In fact, if I were telling the story (Who am I kidding. I should say, “When I tell this story.”) I would wait for the laughter to die down and then I would say something along the lines of, “You know, while it’s more than okay to laugh at Twain, a lack of integrity is never something to giggle about.” And then I’d move right into applications of how we see people “stealing melons” today, whether it’s infidelity, dishonesty with taxes, a failure to disclose the whole truth and so on. A great illustration will take our presentations to the next level.
Today I want to talk about how to illustrate well. Whenever I put a talk together, I always use the scaffold of explanation/illustration/application to shape the body of my presentation. Explanations make the point. Applications are like mirrors, as they show the people themselves in the point. And illustrations are like windows where we help our audience to clearly see the point we have just made.
Boredom is the cardinal sin of communicators, so we have to learn the skill of illustrating well. Whenever you use illustrations, ask yourself the following:
What is the point I want to make? Remember the explanation/illustration/application structure is sequential. Before you get to the illustration, you have to make your point abundantly clear. Don’t think illustration first, and then try to make your point squeeze into the story; that’s no good. Begin with the point. Get certainty on that, and then search for the right story or anecdote. Back to the Twain story, we knew the speaker's whole argument centered around the importance of integrity. Now, once he made his point, he was ready to illustrate.
Have I set up the illustration well? Good explanations use repetition to make their point, and the last time you should repeat the point is right before the illustration. Think setup then punchline, but your punchline is the illustration, and your setup is the point. Comedians do this all the time. They will make a point and then move to some story or anecdote, which in our world is the illustration. By the way, I would encourage you to stay away from statements like, “And to illustrate this well, here’s a story…” That’s too mechanical. Just flow from explanation to illustration. A really good setup is all you need.
Does this illustration clearly make my point? Key word here is “clearly”. One of the mistakes we can make as communicators is find a really cool story and force it to fit into our talk because, well, it’s a really cool story that kind of, sort of, maybe makes the point. Remember, illustrations are windows to your point, and what we can’t have are foggy windows where the audience is left guessing what you are trying to say. It has to be clear…like crystal clear. If people are still trying to make sense of your analogy after you’ve moved on, then they are not listening to what you are currently saying. Write this down: A great illustration is one where the audience gets the point before you give the point.
Is this illustration concise? Remember, your point is the steak of your talk, and the illustration is the seasoning. Too much salt will ruin the steak. Be concise. A basic principle of communication is the more words one uses, the greater the likelihood of confusion. As you think through your message, explanations should be longer than your illustrations.
Are my illustrations varied? We tend to illustrate what interests us. If you’re into sports, don’t be surprised if most of your illustrations are from the sports world. Same for genres of movies, media, reading and so on. Left to myself, all of my illustrations would be historical, because I am a lover of history. The problem is my audience is varied, and not everyone enjoys everything I like. So one of my growth points as an illustrator is to vary my illustrations, thinking of women, younger generations and people who enjoy different things. This takes a lot of work, but it’s worth it. Remember, we will attract who we speak to, and if you only speak to people who share your interests, don’t be surprised if your audience is filled with people just like you, or if you only get invitations to speak at a certain kind of event. We should all be like Ray Charles, who could give you country, gospel and R&B all on the same album!
What’s my system for capturing illustrations? Everything is an illustration. Whenever we read a book, see a movie or take a walk, stories and anecdotes abound. I left the house once to go on a five hour road trip where I had to speak at an event. About an hour into the trip I realized I left my wallet at home and it was too late to go back to get it. Talk about being frustrated. I had needs coming up. How was I going to pay for gas, food, and what was I going to do if I got a flat tire or broke down? My frustration wasn’t over a lack of resources- I had plenty in my bank account. I was frustrated because I couldn’t access them. Then it hit me. I looked at my cell phone and realized I had something called “Apple Pay” on my phone, which allowed me to access the resources in my accounts and apply them immediately to my needs. I recall thinking, this would be a great illustration for a talk I was going to give on the Holy Spirit, and how He helps us access the abundant resources God has for us. Immediately, I made a voice note in an illustration file on my phone, and it’s become one of the most effective stories I have used. All I needed to do was to think illustratively, and have a system to capture. What’s your system?
What I’m Reading:
Note: Can I just tell you how amazing, Theo of Golden is! Talk about an illustration gold mine. I’ve never said this to you before, but you have to read this book. Best book I’ve read in fifteen years.
Alive: How the Resurrection of Christ Changes Everything, by Gabriel N.E. Fluhrer.
Next level communicators should never have perspective.
Next level communicators should never have perspective.
Mark Twain once joked how some German words were so long they had perspective (Don’t you just love Twain?). While his observation may be true of certain foreign words, they should never be true of communicators. No, I’m not saying we shouldn’t use long words, instead I want to warn against long explanations. When we explain things we should never have “perspective”.
Whenever I get an idea for a book, I’ll reach out to my agent, pitch the idea, and if he thinks there’s some potential he will send me what I have come to call, “the hated document.” I call it this because there’s a section where I’m asked to explain the essence of the book in fifty words or less. I like this about as much as I like the tablespoon of cod liver oil my mother used to give me when I was a kid. There’s a lot riding on this exercise. Publishers will decide to offer me a contract based on this section. There’s financial implications tied to how clear and compelling my explanation is. And I’ve had more than a few publishers over the years say their version of, “Not for us,” because they either didn’t get it or weren't moved by my idea.
The ability to explain well is everything for us communicators. While our illustrations and applications are the seasoning or sauce of our message, the point we make is the steak and potatoes…the substance. And the worst thing our audience could say about our talk was they didn’t get it. I’d much rather be wrong and clear, than right and confusing.
When I go about the work of explanation I have found the following to be helpful:
What does my audience need to know? Remember, the Greeks said one of the marks of a compelling speaker is they had logos, which is the idea of rich content. But this is the problem isn’t it? There’s a fine line between rich content and content overload. Because of this I ask myself the question, “What does my audience have to know about the point I’m making?” This is going to take a lot of self restraint, especially if you, like me, are a bit of a nerd when it comes to information. Most of what you research for a talk should not be mentioned in the message. On the flip side, if most of what you have studied does make it into the message I’m willing to bet my wife’s dog it’s a bad talk.
Let the people know why they need to know this bit of information. The most effective communicators I know use cheat codes. One of the best is when you are about to explain something that may appear irrelevant, you should try saying, “Now hang in there with me, this may seem out there, but I’m going to tell you exactly why this is critical to your__________ (work, every day life, marriage, etc).” With this one statement you’ve just bought yourself some time to carefully explain what they need to know.
Stay within your budget. When I write my messages they are five pages long, ten point font, space and a half. Each point I allow myself one paragraph to explain (on a rare occasion two paragraphs). Like a person working within a financial budget, as a wordsmith I work within an explanation budget. This forces me into simplicity as a communicator. Remember one of the laws of effective communication is we want to be simple, not shallow. The mark of brilliance is the ability to make the complex simple. Being economical with our words helps us with clarity. If there’s not a tension you feel when you put the message together over all the really good information you are leaving out, then you are probably way over budget and headed towards boring your audience.
Use proverbs, not rants. The more you explain the less clear and compelling you become. Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not minimizing explanation. In fact, your explanation is the most critical part of the body of your talk, because this is where the truth, the substance lies. What will keep you simple, clear and compelling is to use proverbs- short, pithy statements which carry a punch. A rant would be going on about the importance of learning from others mistakes instead of your own. A proverb would be, “Experience isn’t always the best teacher, but it is the only school a fool will attend”. In less than 20 words I have made a point. You could go on a rant about going through hard times and needing to accept what has happened to you and the importance of faith. Or you could use a proverb, “Faith doesn’t deny reality, it defies reality.” If you learn to condense your explanations into short, pithy statements known as proverbs, it will keep your audience from boredom and confusion, and will have them lean in to hear your point.
Explain with the least in mind. The best compliment I ever get is when a kid comes up to me after a talk and says their version of, “I got it. I liked it.” I’ve earned a few theology degrees over the years, but if I only explain with the highly biblical literate in mind, I’m cooked, especially in this age of declining biblical literacy. Now don’t hear me say we should only swim in the kiddie pool as communicators. We should not. I’ll say it again, we want to be simple, not shallow, and one of the ways we do that is to take rich, complex truths but say it in ways which are accessible to everyone in the audience. After all, isn’t this what the most powerful communicator in human history- Jesus- did?
What I’m Reading:
Drop everything and get, Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi. This will make my top ten list of the year…I’m sure of it.
Next level communicators use a lot of Vitamin A.
Next level communicators use a lot of Vitamin A.
If you’ve been getting my weekly posts for a while, you’ve heard me talk to you about a basic structure I use for every message. My main points will always begin with explanation, then move to illustration and finally application. If I have three points, then I will do this three times. Whether you use this or not, just know we are all wired naturally towards one of these three. Explainers are content driven communicators whose presentations are rich with information- what the Greeks called logos. Illustrators think in the language of stories and have a unique ability to make the content accessible while holding the attention of the audience. And then there are the appliers; these are people who show you how this information relates on a daily basis to our lives. As my grandmother would say, appliers put “shoe leather” on the message.
By the way, if you want to know how you are innately weighted as a communicator, all I would have to do is give you a topic to present and what are your first thoughts? If it’s, “I need to find some books and start research,” you’re probably an explainer. If your initial go to is to find a story or an analogy that relates, you’re most likely an illustrator. And if you freak out wondering how this topic is going to relate to people, then, you got it, you are an applier. The best communicators hold all three (explaining, illustrating and applying) in tension.
So today, I want to talk to you about my biggest weakness as a communicator, and give you some tips I’ve been using to grow when it comes to applying the message. Or to say it another way, I want to help us (Yes, that’s me included) learn how to use a lot of Vitamin A- application- in a way that really moves people to action.
Remember, our audience is asking questions as they nod their heads, take notes and engage our talks. One of the main questions you can always count on them asking is, “Now what am I supposed to do with this information?” I don’t care how good your content is, or how well you have explained the subject. If they don’t know what to do with your research, you’ve failed. I once had a young communicator ask me to give him some feedback on his message. He’s one of the best storytellers I know, and when I watched his talk it was filled with rounds of applause after rounds of applause. When I finished, I called him and gave some encouraging feedback and then I said, “You know, I will always leave one of your sermons feeling great, but not knowing what to do with what you just said.” I went on to explain how listening to his messages felt like going from one mountain top of a killer story to another, with no real learning or applying in between. If we can’t show how the content and story relates to the college student who just arrived on campus, or the single parent grinding it out and overwhelmed by life (along with a host of others), we have failed. As communicators we have to show how our content and stories apply to their lives.
As I’m growing in the area of application, I have found the following to be of help:
Don’t forget the “setup”. I’m talking “comedianese” here. In the world of comedy, they don’t rush to punchlines, but take their time giving what’s called the “setup”. The setup not only provides the right information, but it also builds a sense of tension making the punchline all the more effective. Applications are the punchline to our talks, and each point must have both a setup and a punchline. Now if you are naturally weighted towards application, you are going to have to really restrain yourself and do the work of providing meaningful content, along with an analogy or illustration to make your point come alive, before you get to the application or punchline of the point. And if you are a preacher, please know the power of our sermons is not in our applications, but in the Word…the content of the message. Before we as preachers draw people to themselves in application, we have to first draw them to the power source which is the Word.
Ask questions. It’s not our job to apply the point specifically to each person in the audience. All we need to do is to open the door for them to get clarity on how that point applies to their life, and the best way to do that is by asking questions. Just this past Sunday I was talking about conflict, and how everyone in the audience is either a shark or a turtle when it comes to conflict, which got a few laughs because the picture (illustration) resonated. And then I asked the question, “So which one of you is a shark? Which one is a turtle?” That question got them to see themselves in the point, and helped them to process the points I was making about navigating conflict. What opened everything up was a question.
Apply widely. Some of you speak mainly to educators, others to business people and professionals. Most of us as pastors speak to all of the above and much more. If you are a communicator who is talking to a specific audience in a specific field, application will be far easier for you, as opposed to we pastors who speak to so many different kinds of people. When I am thinking through applications as a pastor, I’m thinking of our most represented groups at the church: College students, married people, single professionals, and even different ethnicities. So, going back to my conflict message, I showed how this could apply to single adults who were roommates, or college students in the dorm and married couples.
What I’m Reading:
Truly: An Inspirational Journey through the Life of a Musical Legend, Lionel Richie.
With black history month approaching, pick up my book Grace to Overcome: 31 Devotionals on God’s Work through Black History. You’ll find it to be a source of inspiration and learning.
And as always, if this post has been encouraging please pass along to others and have them subscribe.
Next level communicators answer their audience’s questions before they ask them.
Next level communicators answer their audience’s questions before they ask them.
You’ve just finished your presentation and instead of making a beeline for the green room, you decide to stand down front and be available to whoever wants to come and hang (good call). One of the first people you interact with is a pleasant person who is not out to get you in the least. They seem to have enjoyed your talk, and raise an honest question with the purest of motives, leaving you to think they were probably not the only one to wonder this. As you respond you begin to beat yourself up for not addressing so obvious of a question in your talk.
Boy have I been there.
One of the challenges we have as communicators is we can become so content focused in our preparation we forget we are talking to real people who have important questions for each of our points. The difference between an okay talk and a next level one is great communicators anticipate their audience's questions and address them before they are asked. As I write these words I am just over a week away from giving an address on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at a large evangelical institution. In recent years, allegations of King’s infidelity have become more and more widespread, with many in the evangelical community questioning the legitimacy of even honoring his legacy. With all of this swirling, it would be irresponsible of me not to address the question and just launch into the importance of his legacy.
If you are a preacher who is giving a biblical view of marriage and divorce you have to address the questions of what to do if a spouse is abused, or deserted? Or if your subject is the importance of diversity you have to know people will be triggered politically, and even personally. Anticipating their questions (and even objections), and offering an answer is not only responsible communication, but will deepen a connection by saying in so many words, “I see you.” And if you are trying to persuade people to use artificial intelligence you need to be able to answer questions like how this could affect certain industries where people can lose their jobs, or will AI contribute to a culture of thoughtlessness?
If you want to grow immediately as a communicator, anticipate your audience’s questions and answer them before they can even ask them. As easy as this sounds, it’s not. Here’s a few tips to help you:
State their question. After you make one of your points, stop and say, “Now some of you this brings up a major question which is…”. For example, if I am calling people to place their faith in Christ, I will say something like, “Now some of you are here thinking, ‘I am a good person, why do I need to trust Christ?’” I’ve just acknowledged their question by stating it, and then I will give a response.
Be brief. Don’t replace your point with a tangent. Answering key questions is important, but it will take discipline, because you never want the (needed) tangent to dilute the overall point you are making. Raise their question by saying, “Now some of you all are thinking,” and then give 2-3 sentences to address their question and get right back to your point. Sometimes I have said, “Now I know what I have just raised brings up a lot of valid questions, questions I don’t have time to answer. Here’s a resource I have found helpful in engaging these questions.” I’ve acknowledged their questions, and pointed them to answers all while being brief and staying on topic.
Be economical. What I mean by this is you can’t fill your whole talk by anticipating people’s questions. Remember the basic structure I have when I put a talk together is explanation, illustration and application. I will repeat this three times. What this means is I will at most raise people’s questions three times, because I am only making three points. Just as important is my rule in raising questions is I only want to do this with common questions people have. I don’t want to chase obscure ones. So as you prepare, ask things like, “What would be a common question the audience will have about this point?”
Raise questions by people you want in your audience. What you will discover over time is you will attract the kind of people whose questions you raise. Tim Keller was a pastor in New York City, and if you listen to his messages he is always raising questions skeptics would ask. Any wonder his church was filled with skeptics? People heard his questions and thought, “I have a friend who thinks this. I should bring her to church.”
What I’m Reading:
Celebrities for Jesus: How Persona’s, Platforms and Profits are Hurting the Church, by Katelyn Beaty.
With MLK day coming up, I edited a resource years ago you will find helpful called, Letters to a Birmingham Jail.
As always, if this weekly post has been helpful, please pass along by encouraging people to sign up here.