Last week our family went over to Pine City Jr/Sr High to watch the junior high speech meet and cheer on a couple of our
Journey North Students. (Both did a great job, by the way. Way to go Aaron and Julia!) While there we also sat through several other students' speeches. One in particular will live on, indelibly etched in my memory for all the wrong reasons.
First, let me say that I blame the coach. I don't know which school this young lady was from, but she was obviously woefully unprepared and should never have been put into this situation. Her 'storytelling' speech was supposed to have been memorized but was instead read...verbatim.
Slowly.
Haltingly.
Painfully.
She stumbled over words and read in an expressionless monotone that would have done some of my seminary professors proud. She had apparently never seen this text before and if she had any idea about the content whatsoever it was completely camouflaged by the deadpan droning of her delivery. The judge should have put her (and us) out of her misery much earlier, but admittedly was a first-time judge. Finally after 12 minutes that seemed like a lifetime she called a halt to the excruciating experience.
Now you may think I am exaggerating for dramatic effect. Not so. (Okay, maybe just a
tiny bit.) It was truly a test of our endurance as an audience.
Again, I do not fault the young lady. Hopefully this was a learning experience which will either result in her being better prepared in the future or standing up to her speech coach and saying, "I'm not ready." I give kudos to the audience members who sat trying to look attentive (not that the speaker would have known - her eyes never once left the paper). I, myself, struggled to follow the narrative before finally settling into my faux attentive look while mentally being far, far away.
Reflecting later on this experience, I thought about how often we experience similarly poor communication in life, albeit perhaps not to this degree. How many speeches, sermons, or other talks have you endured while inwardly coaxing the clock to move just a bit faster? There are graduation ceremonies that feel as long at the matriculation period of the graduate! There are sermons that make you wish you could hasten the rapture just to be spared the purgatory of the message! (Okay,
that was exaggeration for effect, but you get the idea.) I image that we could all recall a far greater number of really poor talks than great ones. (I have heard dozens of graduation speeches, but the last truly great graduation speech I recall was delivered by my good friend Gus Broman at the
Bethel College commencement of 1992!)
It was only last fall that I spent some time listening to a 'youth speaker' who was woefully ineffective in his communication. Oh, he had several great points and sub points, and even some alliteration - all of which meant absolutely nothing to the students at the retreat. The students were polite (I
love our youth group kids!) but the impact and life change one would expect seemed to have been missed.
I know I have high standards for speakers, having been exposed to so many fabulous communicators over the years. I still remember talks and stories that
Greg Speck shared with us at high school retreats. Youth speaker John Priestley made the crucifixion come alive in my imagination long before Mel Gibson ever considered committing his vision to film. In later years I was exposed to other great speakers like (some of my favorites) John Ortberg, Nancy Ortberg, Bill Hybels, John Maxwell, Rob Bell, Ken Davis, Andy Stanley and Donald Miller.
These speakers represent a broad spectrum of styles. Some are more academic while others tend to focus on application. There are a couple of common threads among these communicators. One is that they speak with passion and conviction. Second, they are all consummate storytellers. To this day I can repeat some of the great stories that Greg Speck shared, and more importantly, the principles for application to my life! Rob Bell makes Biblical times come alive, Bill Hybels is a solid Bible teacher with great application, Ken Davis will have you rolling on the floor laughing, and so on.
I remembered my own homiletics (preaching) classes in seminary where we were taught to create inductive and deductive sermons. Major points, applications, transitional statements, introductions and conclusions. Some of it was helpful, but most seemed archaic even in the late 80s/early 90s when I was in seminary. And it showed - I remember struggling through some extremely boring sermons in class - both those I listened to and some I gave. Now a class on storytelling or some drama coaching would have been tons more helpful. I think of my favorite speakers and
none of them use the techniques that were being taught back then! (Hopefully that has changed in the decades since I attended.)
I would highly, highly,
highly recommend Andy Stanley and Lane Jone's book,
Communicating for a Change. This should be required reading in all homiletics classes and for every preacher, teacher, and speaker! It's great for anyone wishing to motivate an audience to
change something rather than just
learn something.
The book has a great "leadership parable" format where there is a story in the first half that is mirrored by the learning/application of the second half. It's an 'easy' read, but for a preacher/teacher it will forever change the way you communicate. Stanley and Jones suggest one particular structure which I have found helpful in some of my presentations. Even when not using their format, though, the principles are just as powerful.
Had the youth speaker at the retreat last fall read this book it would have radically changed the way he spoke and would have been much more enjoyable and impactful for those listening! I know that it has changed the way I craft messages. If you speak to youth, adults, or any other living being I encourage you to give it a shot!
After our students selected the name for our youth ministry at Journey North last September I have been trying to work on a logo that we could use for our group. Nothing seemed to work and my graphic design software skills are quite limited. But I think I finally came up with something that will really work. It has the color sense of a fire, taking off of the word 'ignite', and the fun, edgy sensibility of a youth ministry.
