In my first post sharing the content of the workshop I led at the Rooted Conference, I focused on competence. From there I shared on Clarity and Connection. This post finishes the main points I had at the Rooted workshop on Growing as a Speaker.
Credibility – There are ethical issues involved with credibility.
Do we pass stories off as real that are false? I heard about a youth conference some years ago where a nationally known youth speaker took the stage and fabricated a story that he claimed had just happened. When the conference leaders spoke to him afterwards, he admitted that had had made up the story to make a point. The trouble was that the story painted a picture of a student in need of immediate pastoral care. That simply student did not exist. I recall the YS guys doing the national resources seminar sharing stories pretending they happened to them. To give you an idea, one of the stories was about a son getting into a cupboard and when I heard several different people tell the same story I realized it was fiction, or at least a shared story that people attributed to themselves. I am convinced that honesty is essential. I very intentionally do not deceive students by pretending fiction is fact because I want them to have confidence that Jesus was real. In the same way, I never told my children that Santa was real because I wanted them to believe in the Jesus they could not see.
Do we have to earn the right to be heard? I was trained by Young Life and this was part of the mantra, but I came to see that there is nothing biblical in it. The mantra is that we have to earn the right to be heard. However I see nothing biblical in it. Paul spoke and proclaimed the gospel to people who he had not built relationships with. Many in the course of history have effectively proclaimed the gospel to people that they did not have relationships with. Yes, relationships open doors. However, they are not a necessary precursor to sharing the gospel.
Is it true that students don’t care what you know until they know that you care? There is a breakthrough point with those whom we work with regularly that has to do with our showing real concern for their lives. Our investment in their lives pays dividends but does not limit the impact of the gospel. We can proclaim the gospel to students we don’t know and have confidence that God will use it. One of the guys in my youth group in England came to faith because of a speaker we invited who had no relationship with the young man who approached him afterwards and wanted to know of the Jesus he believed in. Something about the reality of the gospel impacting lives supersedes the relationships we work to build.
The power of vulnerability is real and must be used carefully. When I share my personal story of having been suicidal as a teen, it is very real to kids who can relate. If I talk to my current students about the struggles I face today as a believer, it might not be helpful but instead hinder their growth a Christians. I can talk about grieving the loss of my younger brother, but if I venture into other struggles, I will only discourage them from following Jesus.
The manipulation of minds and the power of suggestion – I once heard a speaker who effectively used the power of suggestion to make a rather emotional experience happen following the message. I could tell you that you will leave here believing that this was the most helpful workshop of Rooted 2016. If I repeated that enough, you might actually believe it. We shall see if the feedback after Rooted reflects this power of suggestion.
Content comes from studying scripture and letting it be our authority
A well-known author spoke at a YS convention in the 80’s with a message on David & Goliath. She spoke of the 5 smooth stones of ministry. I was stunned at how she missed the point of the story and made it into something it was not. I can think of many more examples like this.
I was at one time guilty of using scripture like a drunk uses a street light, more for support than for illumination.
We have to let God’s word do God’s work! The message of our talk (or sermon) must be the message of the passage. We are merely ambassadors who relay God’s message to his people.
If God has not spoken to me through a passage, I have probably not studied it enough to teach on it. (the Logos guy’s quote from John Owen was brilliant “If the word does not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us”)
Exposition is not a running commentary. It is getting at the meaning of a passage and figuring out how to communicate that to our audience. Too often we think that expository teaching or preaching is a commentary on the text but it is not. Expository done right is a careful study of scripture that leads us to conclusions worth sharing with others. If it has not spoken to me, it won’t speak to others.
Critique
I heard the most amazing story about feedback from a Willow Creek staffer. He shared that each week that he taught, his boss reviewed the message via a video recording and paused the video each time he wanted to comment. Why did you say that? What are you communicating with your body language?
Ultimately we need to find out what our students are hearing from our teaching.
I had the joy of having interns each summer during which we had regular feedback sessions. Each week we would provide feedback on the talks or teaching given. What did we focus on?
- • Body Language – eye contact, pacing, use of limbs, gestures, etc. Our body communicates more than our words do.
- • Fillers – Um, Ah, and, so, like. These can be distractions.
- • Illustrations – did they connect to content and audience. Were they engaging? Did we paint pictures with words?
- • Did we seem well prepared? How was the start and finish?
- • Clarity of main ideas – well organized? Memorable?
- • Application – could students leave with a clear understanding of what to do in light of what they heard?
The challenge is finding others who will give you feedback on your teaching. Figure out the parameters of that feedback and meet with them regularly. It may be painful at first but will be worth the effort.
I had the privilege of speaking in 2008 at the Keswick Convention to the 14-16’s. I was given a ten minute slot to communicate the truth of a passage assigned to me. What I did not know was that the norm for speakers is to provide immediate feedback. So, when I finished, the director approached me to review my teaching. He told me I nailed the main idea and was within the ten minutes allowed. I was thrilled to have passed the test. Yet the immediate feedback was vital to the organizations continued success.
Credibility, content and critique are three valuable aspects of developing as a speaker. They naturally follow clarity, connection, and competence. If you want to hear the workshop, it will probably go online at rootedministry.com in the future.
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