Do people think your preaching is boring?
Spend some time explaining why what you’re sharing matters to families, to parents, to kids, to neighbors, to co-workers. Explain how this biblical teaching can change their self-talk, draw them closer to Christ, reduce the conflict in their marriage.
Explaining why something matters makes people lean harder into what you’re going to tell them. So explain the why before you explain the what.
If you think that’s trivial, then ask yourself why God gave us Scripture in the first place. Clearly, He thought it mattered. There is a why behind God’s what, too.
Find it, and everyone will be more interested in your message. Including you.
Explaining why something matters makes people lean harder into what you’re going to tell them.
3. You’re answering questions no one is asking.
I’ve seen far too many preachers try to answer questions no one is asking.
Few people care about the Holy Day rituals in ancient Israel.
One way to see if you’ve found an obscure topic only you care about is to fill in the blanks in this sentence before preaching: Many of you are struggling with _______________.
If your answer is “the rhythm and frequency of Holy Days in ancient Israel” you know you’ve got a yawner on your hands, unless you’re speaking to Old Testament PhD students working on Levitical laws. (In which case you still likely have a yawner on your hands.)
You actually could create a fascinating message around the Holy Day rhythm though, if you jump back to point 2 and figure out why it matters.
In fact, exhausted CEOs and parents would probably love to hear a message about rhythm and rest. So would people who never take a day off, or those who struggle with anxiety and stress.
Still not convinced? Ask yourself why God would want us to spend 1/7 of our life resting and then add a bunch of celebrations in on top of that. An anxious world that’s forgotten God needs to hear that message and wants to hear that message.
The principle here? Deliver what people need to hear in a way they want to hear it.
Often rephrasing the question and uncovering the felt need underneath that will help you get to where you need to go on an issue.
Deliver what people need to hear in way they want to hear it.
4. You haven’t understood or empathized with your audience.
There is no such thing as a ‘generic’ audience. You really can’t connect with your audience if you don’t understand them.
You really can’t connect with your audience if you don’t understand them.
Recently I spent some time with a friend talking about a conference we’re both speaking at.
Because I knew the audience better than he did, he spent 40 minutes asking me exactly who would be in the audience, what their hopes and fears are, what they struggle with and how he should approach them.
I was amazed by this for a few reasons.
First, my friend is a multiple New York Times bestselling author and speaks to large, influential audiences all the time. If anyone could just waltz in and speak, he could.
Second, even though he has far more offers to speak than he can possibly accept, he is infinitely interested in the audiences he speaks to.
The fact that he’s so in demand, so good at what he does and that he cares deeply about his audience is likely all connected.
The more deeply you care about your audience, the more deeply they’ll care about what you say.
The more deeply you care about your audience, the more deeply they’ll care about what you say.
5. You haven’t described a gripping problem people want to solve.
The problem with a lot of communication is that it doesn’t start with a problem.
Too often, communicators or writers just…start.
Your audience is asking one question: Why should I listen? Why should I read further? I have problems to solve and you’re not helping me.
Counter that explicitly.
