Communicating to Change Lives (Pt.2)

Jesus was a master communicator and therefore he is our model for preaching to change lives. Jesus was the greatest speaker, teacher and communicator who ever existed. He spoke to large audiences in places like the synagogues, the mountainside, the seaside, and in the streets. He addressed small groups such as the Pharisees who liked to debate him, the disciples who wanted to learn from him, and his friends such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus who conversed with him about their daily needs. He also spent time one-on-one with people like the Samaritan woman and the rich young ruler.

Jesus was always prepared and he spoke with authority and confidence. So much so that the people were often amazed at his teaching (Matthew 7:28-29). He used simple language (not shallow, but easy to understand) yet the awed the educated. He used a variety of techniques (parables, object lessons - coin, analogies, humour, role models, questioning, and lectures). No wonder the Gospel writers tell us that the common people heard him gladly – they listened to him with delight (Mark 12:37).

In John 12:49, Jesus tells us that the Father told him what to say (the content of his message) and how to say it (the delivery style of his message). Both of these are important. Through learning from Jesus, the disciples gained confidence in speaking even though lacking in formal education (Acts 4:13).

The objective of our communication is not oratory or brilliant speech but to make the message clear so that people can respond (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). The great commission commands us all to be teachers of the gospel and of God's ways of living. There must be a balance between our preparation (skill) and our dependence on the Holy Spirit (anointing).

Tomorrow we’ll begin looking at five questions I ask myself every time I prepare to speak.

Communicating to change lives

Hi everyone!

Mark Conner, senior pastor of CityLife Church in Melbourne, Australia - a church with around 5000 people attending each weekend in a number of locations, has done an excellent series on communicating to change lives

Mark's Blog is one of my personal favorites. Its great to have people like Mark, who is a bit further along the leadership journey than I am, to learn from and gleam off

It has 5 parts to it , so I will post 1 part per day
Enjoy!

Communicating to Change Lives (Pt.1)

TEAM EFFORT

TEAM EFFORT THE PRINCIPLES

Team effort doesn’t happen by accident. It takes focused effort from the leader to make it a reality. Here are some lessons in team building, from John Maxwell

1. Express the God-given vision for growth and excellence regularly.

2. Clearly communicate and regularly update specific goals.

3. Share consistent information about progress toward the goals.

4. Make every effort to help team members identify and utilize their spiritual gifts.

5. Provide ample opportunities to improve the skills necessary to complete the goals.

6. Keep individual spiritual vitality a priority, and find ways to encourage it.

7. Express gratitude publicly and privately for faithful and effective service.

8. If a team member is not performing adequately, confront the problem with love, andprovide an opportunity for additional training or resources to improve performance.

9. Saturate the atmosphere with openness, understanding, and affirmation.

10. Demonstrate to the team your commitment to excellence, personal integrity, and spiritual vitality.

11. Devote top-quality time to building a strong administrative team who will move thewhole team toward the vision.

12. Recruit additional positive team members, and make it an ongoing priority.

What ones jump of the page and speak to you?

My suggestion is pick two that you want to focus on and action this week. Remember buliding a strong team culture doesn't happen in a day, it happens daily.

Let me know how you get on

Happy Mothers day

Simply Amazing!

Peanuts or Continents?

Do you know why I often ask Christians, 'What's the biggest thing you've asked God for this week?' I remind them that they are going to God, the Father, and the Maker of the universe. The One who holds the world in His hands. What did you ask God for? Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents?

I want to tell you… it's tragic!

The little itsy-bitsy things we ask of our Almighty God. Sure, nothing is too small--but also nothing is too big. Let's learn to ask from our big God some of those big things He talks about."

Dawson Trotman, Founder, The Navigators

Crash

Crash

In his book, The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus writes about different animal groups. If you’ve studied ornithology or entomology or herpetology, you know that different groups of creatures have different names.

A group of fish is called a school. Ants are called colonies and bees are called a swarm. Cattle are herds, birds are flocks, and a tribe of lions is a pride. For what it’s worth, a group of buzzards is called a committee!

But here’s my personal favorite: a group of rhinos is called a crash.
That name seems so fitting! Believe it or not, a rhino can run about thirty miles per hour which is pretty amazing considering how much weight they are carrying! They are actually faster than squirrels which can run about twenty-six miles per hour. There’s a mental image!

Here’s the funny thing. Rhinos have terrible eyesight. They can only see about thirty feet in front of themselves. So they are running thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet! You would think they’d be timid creatures because they can’t see very far in front of themselves. But God, in his amazingly creative foresight, gave rhinos a big horn on the front of their head.

Erwin McManus piggy-backs off the crash analogy: “The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There’s a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full of force because of what we do know.”

Great quote

I love the way Erwin McManus says it in his book Unstoppable Force:

“The center of God’s will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world.”

Then he makes a great distinction:

“To live outside of God’s will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.”