Delivery

When Do Listeners Switch On?

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

You know what I mean.  People are sitting and listening, sort of, until you say a key phrase, then suddenly everyone is really listening carefully.  Let’s make the assumption that having people really listen is a positive thing.  Now let’s consider some examples of “switch on” phrases and consider the implications for our preaching:

“How does this apply to us?” – People do tend to listen more when the message is about them, their lives, their needs, etc.  We could critique that theologically and point to the self-obsession of humanity.  Or we could be thankful that all Scripture is both God-breathed and “useful” – i.e. life changing.  And then we could stop leaving application to the last three minutes of a message and look for ways to include it throughout.  Compare and contrast an introduction infused with relevance and applicational preparation for the message to follow, with the standard switch off phrase “Last week we were deep in 2Chronicles 17, please turn with me to 2Chronicles 18 . . .”

“Let me tell you a story . . .” – People of all ages love a good story.  “Once upon a time” does wonders for children of all ages.  This kind of phrase is much more of a switch on than “let’s talk about the story.”  I’ve said it before, when the passage is a narrative, tell the story!  Even when it is not, how can the message be engaging and interesting, rather than mere lecturing and information transfer?

“Here’s how I struggle with this . . .” – People are always interested in appropriate vulnerability from the preacher.  Haddon Robinson urges preacher to neither be the hero, nor the jerk, in the stories they tell by way of illustration.  He is right, but he is not saying be absent from your illustrations.  People are far more interested in you as a real person, than they are in Napoleon or Lenin.  It is good to personalize aspects of the message, as long as it doesn’t make you look too good, or too much of an idiot.  Credibility and interest can increase or crash with personal stories.  Choose wisely, but choose some.

Some things switch on listeners, but integrity demands that we don’t use them.  Over-promising and then under-delivering, offering success guarantees in a messy world, promising healing or wealth when the text doesn’t support that application.  We must have integrity so that we’re not mere pragmatists.  However, it is easy to go to the other extreme and fail to learn from the reactions of listeners.  What other phrases switch on the listener?  What might be the implications for our preaching?

Review – Preach By Ear, by Dave McClellan

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

DVD-cover-shot

Dave McClellan is a graduate of Grace College and Denver Seminary, as well as having a PhD in Rhetoric & Communication from Duquesne University. He is the pastor of The Chapel at Tinkers Creek.

What if there were a different way to prepare and to preach? What if we have learned preaching in a primarily literacy-based worldview? What if preaching were really an oral form of communication – not just in delivery, but in every respect? What if there were a genuinely oral homiletic? Preach By Ear leans heavily on Walter Ong’s work in respect to orality and literacy. Since the massive changes wrought by the printing press, we have gained so much. But Dave McClellan suggests we may have lost much as well.

He argues compellingly that preaching is intended to be genuinely from the preacher, rather than an external, arms length, process. Yet the effect of literacy is to separate thought from the person. Hence so much of today’s preaching is prepared via book study that is held at arms length, then delivered leaning on notes that keep the sermon separate from the preacher and completed before the event of delivery. McClellan suggests that while preaching has moved back and forth on the orality-literacy scale through the centuries, the 20th century saw the most extreme move to the literacy end of the scale ever.Homiletics was separated from rhetoric and the approach we are familiar with is not as balanced and effective as we may think it is.

As well as leaning Walter Ong, McClellan also looks to Quintillian for rhetorical input. The DVD’s contain a 7-part series of presentations, with each part ranging from 15-25 minutes in length (the final part – “homework” – is a bit longer).  On the one hand the full series is necessarily brief and lacking in the extra background and footnotes that a book might offer (as well as more worked examples to help the viewer see how Preaching By Ear can be genuinely expositional in practice). On the other hand, the series didn’t need to be any longer (it is up to the viewer to apply the lessons learned in a way that handles the text well).  It achieves its purpose of introducing an alternative approach to preaching and sermon preparation well. It may make you want to pursue aspects of the subject further, or simply start getting experience with this different approach.

This double DVD set is very well produced and enjoyable to watch. While it is not exactly “Hollywood” in production quality, it goes well above and beyond a video of a seminar.  The quality of production is clear in the clips available on the website – see below.  Anyay, in the 7-part series on the DVDs, Dave McClellan lays a foundation for an orality-based approach to preaching and then offers some instruction. The first three parts present the concept of orality and literacy, a theology of orality and a brief (but interesting) history of preaching. The next three parts are concerned with preparing the preacher, preparing the message and delivery. The final part offers a series of practical suggestions to help the viewer become better prepared for genuinely oral preaching.

I would encourage you to get hold of this DVD set and ponder its content. Perhaps you’re already kind of thinking this way. Perhaps you’re at the opposite end of the scale. Wherever you are at in your preaching, I think it would be worth adding Preach By Ear to the mix.

By the way, during July the DVD’s are on sale for 50% of the normal price. To see preview clips and order the DVD set, please go to PreachByEar.Com

We Don’t Need To De-Affect The Text

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

On June 30th I wrote a post on preaching as a matter of life and death.  For that post click here.  In the good discussion that followed I made this comment – God has communicated in His Word (and calls us to preach that Word), in such a way as to move the heart/affections, as well as informing the mind, urging the will and so on. Beyond Bluestockings asked the helpful question – If the moving of hearts and affections is the work of man (the preacher) then the results will surely be temporary?

Such an important question deserves more than a quick answer . . . so hopefully this is helpful:

Thanks for the comment and my apologies for the delay in approving it.  You are right that the moving of hearts and affections is the work of the Holy Spirit.  If we make that our task we can easily fall into manipulation and the achieving of temporary results.  What I am saying is that God’s Word is not simply an information transfer from God’s mind to ours.  Rather, God’s Word is that and so much more.  It was designed and written to move the affections, to captivate the heart, to instill values, to draw people to God, etc.  Since the Bible is not mere information transfer, but carefully written communication that functions on various levels (i.e. through word choices, sentence structure, genre decisions, etc.), our task is to faithfully preach the Bible text as it stands.  That means not flattening it into mere information.  (My parenthetical statement in the previous comment “and calls us to preach that Word” should probably be moved to the end of the sentence for clarity!)

For instance, a Psalm may be highly emotive, full of moving imagery, authorial passion, etc.  If we simply dissect that information and talk about it, then I think we are failing to faithfully represent the text.  Rather we should present the Psalm in such a way that listeners feel the full force of the communication that is there – the images, the emotion, the passion, the truth, etc.  Certainly there is explanation, but also more than that, there is something of experiencing the text as well.  Thus we are to say what it says and appropriately do what it does.  This does not take on the burden of transforming listeners, for that should always remain the work of the Spirit of God.  However, since God is not an “information only” being (as some seem to suggest by denying any genuine affections in God), then there is no reason why we should “de-affect” the text and make it information only.  Did God inspire the information in the Bible, or did His inspiration go much further?  That is, did God inspire every word, every genre choice, every tone, etc.?

I believe our task in preaching is to be genuinely and deeply faithful to the preaching text, “re-presenting” it to the best of our ability (study ability, message formation ability, delivery ability), while always resting fully on God to achieve any life change in the listeners.

Filler Words

/ Peter Mead / 12 Comments

Here’s a good list of common filler words.  This list is from an article by Ellen Finkelstein, original article here. I mean, basically, overall, it is actually just really definitely worth literally eliminating these from your speaking . . .

Really: “I really want to say how important this is.”
Actually: “I was actually flabbergasted!”
Literally: “I literally sank through the floor.” (Don’t you mean “figuratively” which is the opposite?)
I mean: “I mean, I think it’s OK to say no.”
Definitely: “I’m definitely a supporter of environmental awareness.”
Basically: “Basically, I’m fine with that.”
Overall: “Overall, I don’t see how we can pay back the debt.”
Just: “I’m just so upset about the situation.”
Kind of: “I’m kind of (kinda) ambivalent about him.”
Sort of: “I’m sort of (sorta) ambivalent about him.”
Like: “I, like, don’t know how it’s going to turn out.”

Eliminate these from your speaking.

Any others you use or hear?

Verbal Variations

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We’ve looked at the important issues in voice and non-verbals over recent days.  Both of these have to reinforce and support the work being done by your words when you preach.  But before we move on, just a couple of comments on the verbal aspect of delivery . . . the words you choose to use.  I’ll keep this post brief since the others have been so long!

Your goal is not to impress people with big words. Don’t try to make people think you are clever, or have studied really hard, or are super-spiritual, or super-humble, or funny, or whatever.  Your goal is not to create a specific impression of yourself.  It is tempting to impress, decide not to fall for this.

Your goal is to communicate. So choose words that people can understand.  Explain big Bible words that people need to understand, but explain simply and clearly.  Try to use words that are vivid, not bland.  Describe things well so that you don’t just give infomation or abstraction, but you paint a living picture on the screen in their minds and hearts.  Use words that bring in all the senses.  Be engaging rather than flat.  Be lively rather than ponderous.  Be creative rather than predictable.

Words matter, they matter very much!

Visual Variations – Part 2

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In thinking about the 3 V’s of delivery, we have looked at the voice (vocal) and are in the midst of the visual (non-verbals).  Yesterday we considered the supreme issue of eye-contact (watch a video of yourself if you don’t believe me when I say you probably don’t look at your congregation as much as you think you do!)  We also got into the whole field of gestures.  A couple more non-verbal issues to consider:

Visual delivery issue – facial expression. Basically this needs to vary (rather than get stuck in a perma-grin, or perma-frown).  And it needs to be consistent with what you’re saying.  Joy should show on your face.  So should sorrow or genuine concern or fear or hope or amazement, etc.  Don’t try to become a facial performer, just work to overcome the effect of nerves so the real you can show through (nerves, or unnatural situations -like speaking to a crowd – tend to stultify our expressional freedom).

Visual delivery issue – posture. The goal here is to have a natural, comfortable and confident stance.  If you are able to move, do so confidently and naturally.  Slumped posture, or nervous jolting steps, or hesitant movement, can all undermine your words.  If you are confident in the truth of what you say, you won’t slouch when you say it.

Visual delivery issue – dress. Not a major issue, unless you make it one.  It only makes sense to be well-groomed and appropriately dressed.  Unless it is part of an overarching plan to shift and re-shape the culture of your church, don’t make how you dress an issue.  If you are an infrequent or visiting speaker, never make how you dress an issue.  Dress appropriately for the setting.  Don’t over dress.  Don’t under-dress (in either way you could take that!)  Perhaps a notch or two above the average standard present is appropriate.

Visual delivery issue – proxemics.  This is a big field in its own right, but basically it relates to the issue of space and where the speaker is in relation to the listeners.  Here are a couple of brief posts to look at on this issue –Delivery More Than Words and Proxemic Considerations.

Visual delivery issues need to work together with vocal to support and reinforce the verbal.  If they don’t, they will certainly undermine the verbal.

Visual Variations

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Yesterday we gave some thought to the vocal variations needed for effective delivery.  Today let’s remind ourselves of some aspects of visual delivery – the non-verbals that are so powerful.  The key here is for the visual (non-verbals) and the vocal to work together with the verbal (words) to make the communication consistent and impactful.  Words must reign supreme in the thoughts of the preacher, but words can be undermined by inconsistent visual presentation, or poor tone of voice.

Visual delivery issue – eye-contact. This is absolutely and definitely number one on the list.  Eye contact is so powerful.  Without it there is no trust.  With too much there is perceived intimidation or inappropriate intimacy.  We need to make sure we’re making genuine eye-contact with the people we speak to … perhaps 3-5 seconds at a time, then on to someone else.  Beware of “blind spots” (mine is the people in the center of a spread out group, yours?)   Beware of having your head in your notes all the time (and it is probably much, much more time than you think!)  Beware of looking over everyone to the clock on one side and a fascinating emergency exit sign over the door on the other side.

Visual delivery issue – gesture. To put it simply, gesture needs to be consistent with words, increased in size for larger audiences and not repetitively monotonous.  It takes practice to point to the right when you say left, or when referring to the past, because this is backwards to you the speaker.  It feels unnatural to make gestures bigger when in front of a large crowd, but it looks weird to them if you don’t.  And be careful of any repetitive habits . . . anything can be annoying or distracting once it’s repeated a few times – the finger point, the spider on a mirror, the hand in pocket, the werewolf, the T-Rex, the glass ceiling around the waist, the fig-leaf, the fig-leaf flasher, the Clinton, the face scratch, the arm twitch, the weight shifting, the rock’n’roll four-step, etc. (thanks to Bert Decker, Hershael York and others for the labels picked up over the years!)  Any of these are fine, once or twice, but repetitively can become highly distracting.  If you don’t know what you do a lot, ask someone!

I’ll finish this list tomorrow . . .

Vocal Variations

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Delivery of a message is a complex issue.  While this shouldn’t create tensions in us that distract from working hard on content (Bible study, pastoral awareness, prayer, message shaping, etc.), we do need to give some thought to how we deliver a sermon.  Delivery consists of three elements – the verbal (words used), the visual (body language) and the vocal (use of the voice).  Let’s just review some basics for three days . . . not new information, but perhaps a timely reminder to work on one or two details of delivery…

Vocal variation through pitch. We each have an upper limit and a lower limit to the range of notes we can hit with our voice.  Some of us (well, me), can’t “hit” any note in particular, but we all have a range of possibilities!  By default we will usually fall into a limited range of pitch.  It takes effort to break out of that range and add variation to the voice.  Naturally, when excited, our pitch will rise.  It takes effort to learn to sometimes drop the pitch for the sake of emphasis.  This is worth doing to avoid screeching your way through an exciting sermon like a shrill dog whistle!

Vocal variation through pace. All of us can speak faster and slower.  Most listeners can cope with both faster and slower (as long as volume is appropriate).  However, listeners will struggle with monotonous pace.  It’s hard to listen to a 100mph preacher.  It’s hard to listen to a 1mph preacher.  Be sure to vary the pace . . . which takes effort to learn.  Just like with pitch, we have a default when excited – we go faster.  Problem is, with an exciting Bible message we can end up sprinting for half an hour and leaving everyone breathlessly in our wake.  Emphasis can be achieved by slowing the pace at the key moment, but it takes effort to learn this.

Vocal variation through power / punch. You can speak louder and softer.  We tend to fall into a certain level, it takes effort to add variation.  Again, for emphasis we naturally go louder.  But going softer can really be effective too, with some practice.  Here’s a post that addresses this specific issue –When Less is More.

Vocal variation through pause. Basic truths – speakers feel that any pause is really, really long, and they think that listeners think they’ve forgotten what they’ll say next.  In reality a pause is never perceived to be as long as it feels to the speaker.  In reality if you don’t look nervous, they won’t feel nervous.  Pauses really help.  They add emphasis.  They allow seconds for soaking in a truth.  They allow people (including you) to breathe.  So don’t undermine every possible pause with a verbal filler, you know, umm, like, just really, you know, like, that.

Non-Sermon Specific Feedback

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

It is healthy and helpful to get feedback on your preaching.  Sometimes you might pursue this by asking several people to fill out an evaluation of a sermon preached.  Perhaps you ask for specific feedback on handling of the text, or aspects of delivery that you are working on, etc.  Another approach is to form a group for feedback and have someone lead the group as they discuss the message and the preaching together.  Other times it is very effective to watch yourself on video (and see the things people don’t want to mention to you).  But here’s another approach to add to the feedback quiver.

It may be helpful to ask a handful of people for their reflections on your preaching in general.  Perhaps do this after not preaching for a week or two (if you never get a Sunday off, pray about whether that is healthy for you or the church).  Ask people to give their general impression of your preaching.  You could ask specific questions in respect to handling the text, communicating clearly, relevance of the messages, etc. Or you could simply ask for a one or two sentence description of your preaching ministry, along with your top two or three strengths and two or three areas to focus on for improvement.  It might be interesting to see what people say – especially if there is overlap between the comments made.

Sometimes we get feedback on a specific sermon and “preach out of our skin” on that Sunday.  Now and then it might prove helpful to get a more general impression from some listeners.

Excitement Is Both Taught and Caught

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There are many exciting parts of the Bible.  Last night I was leading a seminar and we thought briefly about the story of Acts.  That’s exciting.  The problem we have, though, is decades of familiarity combined with a stoic tendency in traditional church settings.  Many of us have heard the stories since childhood, and sadly, many times we’ve heard the stories recounted and dissected without any enthusiasm.  Now the goal of preaching is not to whip up excitement as if that were an end in itself.  However, to faithfully preach exciting elements of the Bible requires us to think about how the tone and import of the passage can be communicated (as well as the truth therein).

Excitement needs to be “taught” – it is not enough to simply ooze enthusiasm and keep telling people “this is really exciting!”  It doesn’t work.  They need to understand it for themselves.  They will appreciate enthusiasm from the front, it might make a refreshing change, however, without understanding it they cannot genuinely enter into it.

Excitement needs to be “felt” – simply understanding the facts about the text is not enough.  Our goal as preachers is not just to say what the text says, but to appropriately do what the text does.  This means with a narrative, for instance, listeners need to not just know the story, but they need to be helped to see, hear, smell, taste, touch . . . feel the story.

Excitement needs to be “caught” – while enthusiasm alone can be quite annoying, it is necessary.  As people are helped to both feel and understand the emotion present in a text, we as preachers need to enter into that emotion in an appropriate but contagious way.  If the passage is filled with joyful excitement, but we seem depressed and bored, something is wrong.  If the passage is filled with awe and wonder, yet we are communicating as if it is “oh so normal” – we have a problem.

It’s all about congruence really.  The accuracy of our words, the effectiveness of our description, the evidence of our emotion – these all need to work together if the excitement, or wonder, or compassion, or righteous indignation, or joy of the text is to be effectively communicated.