Part 9 (2/2)

There have been times when I realize I'm not going to get it right and I'll pick up the card and say something along the lines of, ”This week while I was studying I wrote this statement.” Then I'll read it. Having read it, I can usually repeat it a couple more times from memory. But I'm such a believer in the power of a well-crafted statement I would rather read it correctly than try to remember it and turn a clear point into a fuzzy one. I've learned that holding up a card and reading it has more impact than looking down at your notes and reading the same words. A single statement on a card communicates the importance of what you are reading. It is a visual way of underscoring the importance of what's being read.

But having said that, it is always best to have your main point committed to memory. As a general rule, don't use notes during those portions of a message that you want your audience to remember and internalize. This is why having your main idea committed to memory is so important. As we said earlier in this chapter, if you haven't internalized it, why should they? If you can't even remember the main thing, is it really that important?

My final memory aid comes to us from the wonderful world of technology. We have a video monitor on the front row facing the stage. Occasionally I will give the production team a short list of things to put on the monitor to jog my memory. Most of the time these are items that fall in the YOU section of the message. These are specific applications that I want to make sure I don't miss. It is much easier to glance down at a video monitor than it is to go scrambling back to my notes to find something. I have seen guys overuse this technology. They seemed as tied to their monitors as most communicators are to their notes. This electronic cheat sheet is no subst.i.tute for the hard work of memorization. But it sure makes life easier on those occasions when application #2 has slipped your mind. Sometimes I will ask our team to put my main idea on the monitor and just leave it up there during the entire message.

SAY IT OUT LOUD.

I'm often asked if I practice my sermons. Yes and no. I never preach an entire message at home out loud. But there are portions I do rehea.r.s.e out loud the night before. I always rehea.r.s.e stories. By telling a story out loud I hear what is not clear and I b.u.mp into what is difficult to explain. At times I rehea.r.s.e my stories at the dinner table and ask the fam for feedback.

The other portions I rehea.r.s.e out loud are my introductions and conclusions. Our opening statements and closing statements are so important. If we don't engage our audience in the first few minutes, it is an uphill struggle from there. If we don't finish strong, an entire message may be forgotten before people get to their cars. Occasionally I will ma.n.u.script my introduction and conclusion. In my opinion, I think it is imperative that our opening and closing be committed to memory.

SAt.u.r.dAY NIGHT.

Here's how it works for me. I stay three weeks ahead in my preparation. On a given Thursday, when I head home from the office I will have the following three sermons completely finished. The advantage of staying ahead is, I'm ahead. If something interferes with my study time, no big deal, I'm still two weeks ahead. The other advantage is that it gives our production team plenty of time to create around the message.

The disadvantage of this approach is that when I pick up my outline on Sat.u.r.day afternoon or evening I haven't looked at it in two or three weeks. So it looks like a lot of information to memorize and digest in a short amount of time.

I spend the first part of my Sat.u.r.day study time simplifying. My goal on Sat.u.r.day is to make it as memorable as possible. I'll look at a line or idea and think, I'll never remember that, and I cut it. When you are committed to internalizing the entire message you will be highly motivated to reduce it to the bare but essential minimum. And if you are only going to make a point, it is not hard to identify what to cut.

If something doesn't support, ill.u.s.trate, or clarify the point, I cut it. I've been preaching long enough to get comfortable with the fact that I can fill up the time regardless of how much I cut. Most of the guys I coach pack their messages full of extra stuff in fear that they won't have enough to say. Then, invariably, they run out of time and are forced to rush their conclusion, which pretty much cancels out the impact of the entire sermon. Having too much to say has almost the same effect as saying nothing. Adding material in order to fill up time is a terrible approach. I understand the pressure. But think about it, do you have a tendency to go too short or too long? Besides, if you end early, n.o.body will complain. Field a few questions and then send everybody to lunch early. Bottom line, less is more.

A FINAL NOTE ON NOTES.

I'm always amazed at how easy it is to retell the entire plot of a movie after having seen it once. And while I'm watching the movie I'm making no effort at all to remember anything. Stories are easy to remember and repeat. So are good sermons. Why? Because good sermons are like good movies or a good book. They engage you at the beginning by creating some kind of tension. They resolve that tension. There is a climax. And then there is a conclusion that ties up all the loose ends. Pretty simple. When you can reduce your message to a few big pieces it will read like a story. It will be memorable like a movie. People will wonder where the time went. But for that to happen you have to internalize it. It must become your story.

The other thing about a good movie is that the editor leaves a lot on the cutting room floor. At least that's what they did in the old days. That is, they take out a lot of good stuff so that the best stuff can s.h.i.+ne. Not to mention, n.o.body wants to sit through a four-hour movie. To make our messages memorable for us and enjoyable for our audience we must discipline ourselves to do the same thing. It is better to be incomplete and engage your audience than to cover every little thing and be tied to your notes. If your audience isn't engaged, if they aren't tracking with you, does it really matter that you got everything in?

Memorize what must be memorized. Develop a method of referring to your notes that doesn't distract your audience from the message. Rethink the way you use the text. Look for opportunities to leave yourself reminders along the way. Internalize it.

a Before you stand to deliver a message you must own it.

a Reduce your entire message down to five or six pieces. Not points, pieces or sections of information.

a If something doesn't support, ill.u.s.trate, or clarify the point, cut it.

15.

ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE.

What's your plan to capture and keep their attention?

If communication can be compared to taking people on a journey, then it is imperative that we actually take them with us. If you have ever sat through a presentation of any kind and counted ceiling tiles or played mental games or worked on your to do list it is probably because the presenter had broken a fundamental rule of communication. They drove off and left you standing at the station. They failed to engage you and keep you engaged.

Not too long ago I was visiting a church with some friends. As I sat there trying to pay attention, I noticed that I was not alone in my struggle. There were probably three or four hundred people in the auditorium. It was evident that the pastor had gone to great lengths to prepare his message. But it was equally evident that the majority of the audience was not engaged. In spite of what seemed obvious to me, he went right on, presenting his material. In fact, he seemed to be so engrossed in his presentation that I'm not sure it really mattered to him that the majority of his audience had checked out. Not only did he leave the station without anybody on board, he didn't seem to notice or care.

When the service concluded we went to lunch. There were about twelve of us. After lunch we hung out until late in the afternoon. Not once did anybody mention the sermon. It was as if it never happened. Now, I'm sure n.o.body noticed this but me. But it bothered me so much that I still think about it. This pastor spent hours preparing a sermon, presented it, and it made such little impact that a group of Christians walked out and never made a single comment about what they just experienced. Granted, I didn't bring it up either. Primarily because I couldn't think of anything good to say. How tragic. But how common.

So how do we make sure our audience is with us? How do we engage an audience and keep them engaged throughout our presentation? Before we dive into some specifics, I want to review a basic principle. A principle that every world-cla.s.s ad agency and filmmaker has embraced but one that doesn't always sit well in the religious community. Here it is: Presentation trumps information when it comes to engaging the audience. Another way to state the same principle is: Attention and retention is determined by presentation, not information. Presentation matters. A lot.

P/I.

How you say what you say is as important as what you say. Presentation determines your audience's attention span. There's a lot of talk these days about people's attention span. The theory is that it is getting shorter and shorter because of technology and options. But I don't buy it. Lord of the Rings was how long? Not only did my kids and I sit through each of those flicks twice at the theater, we bought 'em all and watched again at home. They ended the same way every time but we watched again anyway. King Kong lasted all day. My thirteen-year old and I saw that twice. Every kid I know can sit in front of an Xbox or PS2 (soon to be 3) for hours without being distracted. Most adults can lose themselves in a good book. The point is, when we are engaged, time flies. When we are not engaged time stands still. The issue is not the span of people's attention. The issue is our ability to capture and hold people's attention.

Somewhere we bought into the notion that good content was all that is required to engage an audience. That is rarely the case. I say rarely because there are occasions in which information alone can capture and keep people's attention. These rare occasions actually underscore the point of this chapter. And we will get to that in a page or two. But in most cases, presentation is what captures and keeps people's attention.

Think about your favorite restaurant for a moment. My guess is that they serve beef, chicken, and fish. So does mine! That's amazing. We are thinking about the same restaurant!

The thing that makes your favorite restaurant your favorite is not the animals they serve or the plants they suggest you eat with the animals they serve. What makes it your favorite is the way they prepare and present those animals and plants. Their presentation and preparation is what keeps you coming back for more. The same can be said for communication. It's our preparation and presentation that will keep people engaged.

I saw a great ill.u.s.tration of this when one of our staff presented a familiar Old Testament Bible story three times in a row to the same group of kids within a fifteen minute time frame. She had everything working against her. To begin with, the audience was a mix of first through fifth graders. Most of the kids already knew the story. And these kids had just come from their small groups where they had been in a learning environment for over an hour. At the end of her third time through the story the kids gave her a standing ovation. They were engaged from start to finish. How did she do it?

First she had a group of actors act out the story. Then she had the same actors present it again as a silent film. Then she asked them to do the story as if it were an opera. It was amazing. My eleven-year old said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. When I asked him to tell me the point of the story he shot back, ”It was about resourcefulness. Resourcefulness is using what you have to get a job done.”

Often we think we need new content to keep people engaged. Not true. We need fresh presentations. Let's face it, it's always Moses who comes down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments. David kills Goliath every time. Daniel never gets eaten by the lions. John the Baptist never escapes from Herod's dungeon. Jesus is born in a stable. The stories don't change. The variable is our presentation. Two communicators can tell the same story with two completely different results. It is all in the presentation.

PUSH BACK.

”But wait,” you say, ”doesn't G.o.d's Word stand on its own? Does presentation really matter when it comes to the Scriptures? I would answer no to the first question and yes to the second. And here's why. Drive over to your local Korean church and ask them for a copy of the Bible in Korean. Spend an hour or so reading through and meditating on the Korean Scriptures. Now, if you can read Korean, that might be a very profitable exercise. If you can't, it won't. Why? Because a Korean presentation of G.o.d's Word to a person who can't read Korean is neither engaging nor helpful. Presentation matters.

Not convinced? Think about it this way.

The apostle John writes, ”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with G.o.d a ”9 As long as the Word was with G.o.d it didn't really do us much good did it? We know that to be the case because of what follows.

”The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”10 Why? Wasn't it enough that there was a Word? Did it (or He) really need to show up among us? Absolutely. When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, that's when the impact was felt.

He continues.

”We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”11 The world was presented when Jesus, the Word, showed up clothed in humanity.

”No one has ever seen G.o.d, but G.o.d the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”12 Jesus presented the Father to the world. Creation presented the glory of G.o.d. Jesus presented a side of G.o.d that n.o.body had seen until the Son made it known. This became most evident in a conversation between Jesus and Phillip. Phillip, in what was probably a moment of frustration, asked Jesus to show him the Father. Like many of us, he wanted to see, or at least catch a glimpse of G.o.d. Remember Jesus' answer?

”Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, *Show us the Father'?”13 His point? Phillip, seeing Me is as close as you will ever get in this lifetime to seeing the Father.

My point? Jesus was a necessary expression and presentation of the Father. G.o.d wasn't satisfied with the fact of His existence. He wanted to be presented in a way that allowed His prize creation to understand and embrace Him. Some did. Some did not. But the presentation was there for all to see. G.o.d went to great lengths to make Himself known to this world. Seems to me we should be willing to do the same thing. Jesus was the living Word. Shouldn't we do all we can to make the written Word come alive for our audience? I think so.

I'm sure grateful for men and women who brought it to life for me when I was a disinterested teenager. I owned a Bible. But it didn't own me. G.o.d's Word was living. But for all practical purposes, it wasn't living in me. Then one summer a guy named Dan Dehaan showed up at camp and captured my attention through his presentation of the Scriptures. I was so impacted that I began reading the Bible on my own for the first time. I've been reading it ever since. Dan is one of the reasons I'm in ministry. I spent fifteen years teaching the Bible to teenagers. Thanks to Dan, I never once a.s.sumed that it was enough to just preach the Word. My responsibility was to present the word in a way that engaged my audience.

In the first century people loved or hated Jesus. But n.o.body fell asleep. He was engaging and enraging. He pulled out all the stops when it came to communicating the truth and nature of the Father. He didn't simply speak. He spoke with authority. There was a marked difference between Him and the other teachers of His day. He was creative, direct, compa.s.sionate, and offensive. He was the master communicator. People who were nothing like Him, liked Him. Sinners and tax gatherers flocked to hear Him. On several occasions, thousands gathered to listen. He had a limited amount of time to communicate the most important message that would ever be delivered to this world. And He communicated it in such a fas.h.i.+on that His word pictures and parables have laced the literature of every generation since. Read the gospels. Jesus wasn't content with being right. He was committed to being heard. So how can those of us who feel called to leverage His words to impact our generation be content with anything less?

In this next section I am going to address a facet of communication that may appear to be in conflict with what I have said thus far in this chapter. But these two ideas actually work together as we will discover a little later.

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