Overview: Communicating for a Change (Andy Stanley)

People aren’t usually impacted by a paragraph because they can’t remember it.  People are impacted by statements.  So take the time to reduce your one point to a sticky statement.  This statement is your glue and your anchor – it’s what holds the message together and what keeps it from drifting off course.

The one point is not just information or a sticky phrase.  It must be a burden in the heart of the speaker.  It is the one message or truth that must be delivered at all cost.  You can tell when a communicator is carrying a burden versus dispensing information.

You aren’t prepared if you cannot articulate the one thing the people have to know as a result of hearing your message.

1.  ME

ME isn’t the really about me, it’s about finding common ground with THEM.  An audience has to buy into the messenger before they buy into the message.  This is why people don’t believe the Bible (they haven’t bought into God) and it’s why they don’t believe the speaker.

It’s difficult to receive challenging information from someone who seems to have no clue as to what it’s like to be you.  When this part is handled correctly, the audience finds themselves shaking their heads in agreement and thinking, “me too.”

Look for opportunities to insert your personal struggles with the topic of the day at the front end of the message.  Make it clear that you are wrestling with a particular tension in your own life.

2.  WE

Broaden the tension so as to include everyone listening.  Spend time applying the tension to as many areas as you can to spark an emotion in as many people as possible.  “I struggle with it.  You struggle with it too.”

Do not move ahead until you have created a tension that your audience is dying for you to resolve.  Focus on the question you are about to answer until you are confident the audience wants it answered.  Otherwise you’ll spend 20 minutes answering a question nobody is asking.

3.  GOD

The goal here is to resolve the tension, or at least some of it, by pointing people to God’s thoughts on the subject at hand.  Don’t just read it.  Don’t explain it to death.  Engage the audience with the text.  Make it so fascinating that they are actually tempted to go home and read it on their own.

4.  YOU

This is where we tell people what to do with what they have heard.  Answer the questions “so what?” and “now what?”  Find one point of application that everybody can embrace.

Rarely ask people to make a life-altering commitment to anything because it isn’t realistic; but challenge them to try something for a day or a week.

Helpful thoughts for discovering applications:

How does this apply to me?  My family relationships?  My relationships with Christians?  My relationships with non-Christians?

5.  WE

Rejoin your audience as you did in the beginning of the message.  WE is really about vision-casting.  It’s a moment of inspiration.  Paint a verbal picture of what could be and should be.

“Imagine a church…a community…a school…a family…a friendship where…”  Remind them that the Scriptures weren’t given solely to make our individual lives better; but so that we, together, could shine brightly for Christ in the world.  Dream for them out loud.

“Imagine what WE could do together.”

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Information that doesn’t address a felt need is perceived as irrelevant.  It may be incredibly relevant, but if our audience doesn’t see or feel the need for it, it is perceived as irrelevant (and their perception is their reality).

Your introduction should give them a reason to journey with you throughout the rest of the message. The last thing you want to do is rush through your ending.  A hard landing leaves passengers feeling a bit uneasy, the same is same is true of a rushed conclusion to a message.

These 3 pairs of questions should help you develop an Introduction:
• What is the question I’m answering?  What can I do to get my audience to want to know the answer to that question?
• What is the tension this message will resolve?  What can I do to make my audience feel that tension?
• What mystery does this message solve?  What can I do to make my audience want a solution?

Five suggestions to keep your audience engaged:

1.  CHECK YOUR SPEED

The pace of our words communicates the importance of our words.  If you talk too slow, you’ll bore people.  If you talk too fast, you’ll lose them.  Record yourself and make sure you stay at, or a little fast than, conversation speed.

2.  SLOW DOWN IN THE CURVES (see pages 157-158)

Let everyone know you are making a transition.  Transitions give people a chance to catch back up with you or re-engage if they have gotten lost.

3.  NAVIGATE THROUGH THE TEXT (see pages 159-162)

Here are some ways:

• Highlight odd words or phrases (think of yourself as a tour guide, point things out, but keep moving)

• Help them anticipate the main point of the text (“okay, get ready, here it is…”)

• Deliberately read the text wrong, inserting a word that means the opposite, and then pause to let it sink in before correcting it

• Have them read certain words out loud for emphasis

• Summarize the text with a well-crafted statement

• Use visuals every chance you get

• Resist the urge to share everything you learned in research

4.  ADD SOMETHING UNEXPECTED TO THE TRIP

When something unusual happens, everybody is interested; so plan something unusual.  Get a group together before your next series to brainstorm how to create these unexpected happenings.

5.  TAKE THE MOST DIRECT ROUTE

Let your audience know where you are going early in the journey.  It’s better to tell them what you are going to talk about before you begin talking about it.  Otherwise they have no frame of reference for the information you are giving them.