I have long contended that there should be no communicator that is more skilled at the craft of communication than the one proclaiming the eternal truth of God's salvation through Jesus Christ. Too many times, Christian communicators (including pastors and teachers) lose their edge of effectiveness.
Today, I watched a brief video that reminded me of the power of the story we tell. It also reminded me of why I have long advocated churches use the testimonies of their congregation's transformed lives to illustrate how life with Jesus can change a life.
Take just a minute and watch this brief video by Fastcompany's contributor, Dan Heath, and be reminded of the importance of "the story" as a communication tool.
Our stories are so much more important to tell than the one in the video. Join me in a renewed commitment to find and tell compelling stories of faith. It will help the message to stick, like never before in the lives of your hearers.
News about Urban Meyer, the Florida gators football coach, has sent shock waves of every kind through the sports world over the last few days. How could a guy resign in the midst of a highly successful career? How could he renege on the same resignation within 24 hours? Regardless of your opinion on the whole deal, I think ALL PASTORS could learn something from all of this.
In fact, I think if Urban Meyer had a chance to speak to pastors right now, I think this is what he’d say to Pastors.
Are you tired of religion? Hear this testimony of a boy who "escaped religion" as a child but found a relationship with Jesus Christ as an older teenager. David Nasser shares his story of escaping religion to surrendering his life to God's grace.
Any church can afford to support a church plant. Most churches can afford to be the sole sponsor of a church plant if they will engage their member’s hearts into church planting and use a strategy that is proven to work. Of course, there will be members who will see sponsorship as an impossible venture because “the church is barely meeting budget, and there is the debt to pay off, plus we already give so much.” However, a pastor-leader who is a true visionary with a heart for planting churches can have major success through a stewardship emphasis we call 5/52.
Recently, I was priviledged to present the 5/52 Church Start Funding Plan to partners of one of our church plants. Watch the video of the training HERE. If you have some good ideas to improve our plan, please let me know. I'd love to see more ways to make this idea effective.
As I travel, I usually have MP3 player earbuds in and some kind of teaching, training or preaching running through the wires to stimulate my brain. What do I listen to? It varies. But when I find a good place where I can snag multiple recordings, I grab them immediately. One such location is Union University's archive of their “Future of Denominationalism” conference. You can listen to this challenging conference HERE. All 14 recordings are worth your time, but if you must choose a few, here are the presenters to choose from:
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Nathan Finn
David S. Dockery
Jerry Tidwell
Michael Lindsay
Daniel Akin
Mark DeVine
Robert Smith
Ray Van Neste
Duane Litfin
Timothy George
Harry L. Poe
Jim Patterson
Ed Stetzer
Again, CLICK HERE to put your earbuds in and stimulate your brain. And, by the way, if you spot me sometime in the airport, I'm really not ignoring you, I'm just making mental notes. ;-)
Welcome to the Acts 5:29 BLOG. Feel free to comment on any POST by clicking on the word "comment" at the bottom of each post. In part, the goal of this weblog is to challenge readers to choose to follow God in obedience rather than be influenced by this world's values and pressures.
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