Communicating

Do you remember the main point of a sermon you heard last month? How about last week? If you are like most people, probably not. RC Sproul once commented that you only remember about five sermons in your lifetime. For the preacher, that can be very discouraging.

I believe that the Bible changes lives. I also believe that preaching is one of the means God has ordained to transform the lives of His people. I also believe there is something special, something high and holy, almost mystical about the preaching that is different from Bible studies. Yet, if nobody is listening to what I say, or if nobody remembers on Monday what I said on Sunday, then I am not sure how the Holy Spirit is using it.

Because of this, I want to become a better preaching. To help me towards that goal, I have been reading two very different books. One is a book that anyone who tries to communicate anything will enjoy. The other is specifically aimed at preachers.

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Made to Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Random House, 2007) explains why some ideas survive and others die. The Heath brothers take the idea of stickyness, a word coined by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point, and argue that ideas that stick meet the SUCCESs criteria--Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional, Stories.

There are two reasons why I would recommend this book. The first is, it is full of interesting stories. While they do not write as well as Gladwell, it is still a fun read. The second reason I would recommend it is that the information is helpful to anyone. The authors do not tell you anything that you do not know. We all know that ideas need to be simple. We all know that stories help. However, while we know those things, we (or, I should say, I) fail to incorporate these things into many of my messages. The authors give the reader an idea of how to use the SUCCESs criteria to communicate more effectively.

The second book I am reading is Preaching with Freshness by Bruce Mawhinney. If you are not a preacher, this book probably won't interest you. If you are a preacher, I think you will enjoy it. It is Jay Adam's Preaching with Freshness put in narrative form. Those who preach in more "contemporary" settings may have to translate some of Mawhinney's ideas to their own subculture, but much of the stuff here is transferrable. If you haven't thought much about the art of preaching since your last homeletics class in seminary, then this is a good refresher.

Reading these books is the easy part. The challenge is putting their ideas into practice.