As I mentioned in an earlier post, I adopted Andy Stanley's approach to outlining your message a few years ago. One reason I really like his approach is the attention and focus it puts on the listener while not minimizing God's voice. To refresh your memory, the basic outline is: me, we, God, you, and us. Each part ties into the one main point of the message. When a message moves from me to we, I am beginning to develop how the main point relates to the listener. In my preparation, I'm asking questions such as: Why should they care? What need does this address? What problem does this resolve? What question does this answer? What hurt or hang-up will this message help with? Many preachers work really hard at understanding their text. We may dig into word studies, commentaries, and other helpful books. If our goal was simply to…
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How do you determine whether or not a person has leadership potential? It's simple ... watch what they do when they don't have to do anything. Last night at church we cancelled our children's program and adult classes due to a fierce snow storm that dropped on us. Within the span of about thirty minutes the street in front of our church building was snowed over and cars were spinning out trying to climb the hill. As I'm inside answering questions, three guys went out and began pushing cars. Even more amazing, one hadn't been at church but came when he noticed the snow storm. When I finally could, I went out and joined them. For the better part of almost 90 minutes, these three guys directed traffic, coached drivers, and crawled under cars. It was a sight to see! When we ask, "What does a leader do?" we're assuming…
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When I worked as the ecommerce manager for Blue Haven Pools and Spas Supplies Direct, our customer service manager turned our leadership team on to a book called "212°" (that's 212 degrees). Here's the basic concept of the book: “At 211°, water is hot. At 212°, water boils. And with boiling water, comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. The one extra degree makes the difference.” We often think that transformational change (or success) is a matter of making a major overhaul. Could it be that the difference between where you are now and where you want to be is simply a matter of one degree?
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I came across Meyer's Law this morning and pass it on to you: "It is a simple task to make things complex, but a complex task to make them simple." In terms of public speaking, you have probably heard that it takes longer to prepare for shorter speeches than for longer speeches. The shorter the message, the more concise and precise the words need to be. In terms of computing, what seems like a simple task (sending an email, updating your Facebook status) is in reality a series of complex tasks that are occurring behind the scenes. You don't need to know a lick of PHP to tell the Facebook world that you just bought a chocolate donut -- but someone knows how. When it comes to shopping, neuroscience has shown us that our minds are working far faster than we think they are. They are recalling memories, events, making…
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A few years ago, researchers wanted to determine how much pain a person would tolerate when they faced adversity alone as opposed to going through it with a friend. They had folks stand barefoot in a bucket of ice water. (How do they find people to volunteer for these things!). Not surprisingly, those who had someone to encourage them were able to withstand twice as much pain as those who stood alone. I read that and I thought of this passage from the end of 2 Timothy: 16At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. 17But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion's mouth. 18The Lord will rescue me from…
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