10 Thoughts on Reading – II

August 29, 2014August 26, 2014 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Continuing this quick list of ten thoughts on reading . . . since many of us know we should read more and we want to read more:

6. Read selectively. Too many people are in a stalemate with book buying. They won’t buy a wonderful book recommended by people they trust for them at this exact moment in life . . . why? Because they have some half-finished books. Don’t despise the meal cooked for you now because there are leftovers in the fridge that you aren’t enjoying. It makes no sense to be held captive by false guilt over not finishing a book (if it wasn’t good enough to keep you engaged, let it go to your shelf!)

7. Buy chapters. Just to reinforce number 6, think of buying chapters rather than whole books. If you found chapters 2 and 3 were stunning, but you’ve gotten bogged down in chapters 4 and 5, don’t stress about finishing chapters 6-10. You bought 2 and 3. That’s great, they were worth it. Now move on, don’t stop reading! An unfinished book is no shame.

8. Discriminate between recommendations. When certain people tell me a book is good, I will almost certainly buy it. When other people tell me a book is good, I will smile politely and thank them, but tend not to click “buy.”

9. Read with variety. So you’ve read everything from that one author, that’s fine. But have you read anything weightier, or technical, or historical, or from a different tradition, or something by someone not in your camp? Have you read a light paperback on your primary ministry area? What about a heavier textbook on it? How about something non-Christian? And fiction? Mix it up.

10. Give books away. Don’t just celebrate a great book, buy more copies and give them to people who you know will appreciate them. Let your growing love of good books be a ministry, rather than merely a personal development strategy.

10 Thoughts on Reading

August 28, 2014August 26, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

There are a lot of people in churches who believe they should be reading more than they are. They know that there is a unique enrichment available from good literature, but struggle to take advantage. Here are 10 quick suggestions that may be helpful:

1. Small blocks of time add up. If you read for twenty minutes per day, then you will start to move through quite a few books a year, even if you are a typical slow reader. If you aim for two hours a day, then you will probably not make through the week!

2. Location! Location! Location! If you try to read at a busy desk with emails and twitter pinging, then you won’t really read. Get that twenty minutes, or whatever, in a place where you can focus.

3. Redeem the time. Be ready to grab more minutes when you are in a waiting room, standing in a line, eating your lunch alone, or wherever. Lots of time can be lost wishing you had a book with you (my kindle app on my phone is for this purpose only).

4. Beware frittered time. Cumulatively it is probably scary how much time is wasted on social media and half reading half decent stuff online. I maintain that even reading good stuff online is not as nourishing as reading the same authors in a book.

5. Read appropriately. Some books are designed to be skimmed. Others require some effort. Preview a chapter, look at the headings and conclusion. Use a highlighter in heavier books. Enjoy skimming light stuff and boring down deep into quality material (and learn to spot the difference!)

We’ll finish the list tomorrow…

88 Questions Because Delivery Makes a Difference – III

August 27, 2014August 25, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Let’s conclude the list of questions to ponder about effective delivery:

14. Are your word choices appropriate for subject and audience? Is there an appropriate combination of dignity and authenticity? Do you sound like an academic? Do you sound like a stereotypical preacher (whichever stereotype comes to mind)? Are your words understandable, condescending, flippant, crass, attention-seeking, natural, coherent?

15. Do you actually make sense when you speak? Are your sentences fully there? Do you rely too much on people to get what you mean, or can you consistently say what you mean? Do you lose volume or change pace at the end of your sentences? Do you garble words, or skip them entirely? Do you rely on awkward filler terms like, well, you know, so, umm, like those?

16. Is what you wear appropriate for your listeners or distracting? Do you fit with the culture of your church? What message does your attire give off? Are listeners thinking about your excessive formality, your unkempt appearance, your distracting clothing choices?

17. Do you have any idiosyncratic quirks that should be eliminated? It could be in your voice, vocabulary, expression, gesture or movement, but if people have heard you a couple of times, could they name something distracting about your delivery?

18. Is the combination of everything we’ve seen already coming across as genuine? Do listeners meet the same you when they talk to you afterwards? Does your spouse or child recognize the person preaching in the pulpit?

19. How goes your prayer about delivery? Do you pray out of love for self and your reputation? Do you pray with a heartfelt concern for your listeners? Do you pray for your fame, or God’s? Do you pray about delivery at all?

20. What is your strategy for developing as a public speaker? Do you seek feedback from helpful people? Do you give them permission to be honest about delivery issues with you? How often do you listen to yourself preach? When do you plan to get videotaped and see yourself? Do you have one or two things that you are consciously working on and praying about at the moment?

88 Questions Because Delivery Makes a Difference – II

August 26, 2014August 25, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Continuing our list of 88 questions, grouped into 20 . . . all to nudge us to evaluate our delivery as we preach:

6. What do your feet do while you preach? Do you pace? Do you rock forward and back? Is your natural stance, well, natural?

7. And what about your hands, do they fit with your communication? Do gestures fit naturally or look forced? Does time go from left to right or right to left? Which way do you point when you talk about creation, or Christ’s return? Do your hands do anything weird, repeatedly?

8. Does your facial expression reflect your heart? (And does your heart reflect Christ’s?) Do you look angry most of the time? Do you vary from whatever the default expression is?

9. Do you pause at appropriate moments for sufficient length? Are your pauses ruined by verbal filler? Do your pauses give people space to breathe, or do you generate nervousness by your apparent anxiety?

10. Is your pace appropriately varied and is the average about right? Do you go so fast that people can’t keep up, get breathless, or switch off? Do you slow down through transitions so that listeners can tell the message has shifted into a new phase? Do you generally go so slow people get frustrated listening and waiting for you to say something?

11. Does your volume make listening easy? Can your listeners hear you without effort on their part? Are you too quiet so that people get tired concentrating? Are you too loud so listeners feel defensive or annoyed by the power of your presentation?

12. Is the pitch of your voice easy to listen to, and do you vary it? Would anyone describe you as shrill? Does your voice sound natural and genuine? Do you sound robotically stuck, whatever the pitch?

13. Does your posture generate comfort, tension or nervousness? Do you come across as nervous and twitchy so that listeners feel the same? Is your posture stiff and awkward so they aren’t sure how to take what you say? Is your posture aggressive or over-confident so that they feel intimidated in some form? Would you be ok with a picture of your standard posture being shown around?

And tomorrow we will finish the list!

88 Questions Because Delivery Makes a Difference

August 25, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

How many good messages have been wasted by poor delivery? You’ve probably heard the old statistical misquote that content equates to only 7% of communication. There are so many flaws in applying that study to preaching, but don’t make the big mistake of thinking that content is somehow only 7% of the equation. Yes, body language and tone will overwhelm and negate content, but the visual and vocal will never fix or replace the verbal. Content matters massively. While a lack of content can’t be fixed by delivery, good content can be lost in delivery.

Here is a quick checklist for self-evaluation. There are 88 questions grouped into just 20. Remember, your self-evaluation is probably unrealistic. You probably think you are doing better than you are. You think pauses are longer than they feel, tone is more varied than it sounds, smiles are more noticeable than they are. Nonetheless, evaluation is worth it. Evaluate your own delivery and look for an area or two to prayerfully focus on and improve. Also ask a listener or two to look at this list for you – they may be polite, but any hint they give is worth following up on!

1. What does your tone and manner do for the listeners? Do they feel secure, loved, protected, safe? Do they get nervous, agitated, upset, or got at? Your tone and your manner make a big difference to the listeners, so do you think about these elements of your preaching?

2. Does your delivery flow, or does it feel like you get stuck? Why? Can you maintain momentum through the whole message in a natural way? If you get stuck, can you handle that without generating nerves in others? Do you know when you typically get stuck? Does explaining the text trip you up more, or is it thinking applicationally?

3. How is your eye contact? Are you looking at notes, over peoples’ heads, at one section of the room only? Is it fleeting, forced, intense? Can you look at people without closing your eyes or other awkward habits? Do you over-stare and create awkward intimacy for some or a sense of aggression to others? Which part of the room feel ignored as you preach?

4. Speaking of notes, do they really work for you? Do you know how much you look at them? When you look at them, do you lose momentum? Do they enable you to preach unnecessarily complex messages? Does your preaching feel canned rather than authentic?

5. Does your preaching furniture create unnecessary distance and function as a barrier between you and your listeners? Could you come out from behind that thing? Could you communicate better by being on the same level as the listeners?

We will continue the list tomorrow . . .

Sunday Feedback – III

August 24, 2014August 19, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Here is the end of the list of ten reasons not to get too excited about the feedback you receive right after preaching. Remember what we saw in part 1. The most valuable affirmation will combine elements of time, thoughtfulness and transformation. When you get those, treasure them. Make a note. Keep a file.

When you get Sunday affirmation, be thankful, but don’t get carried away. One of these ten reasons could be the main reason for it:

8. The “trigger words” mechanism. People like to hear what they value. Let’s say you preach a very poor message – biblically weak, unclear in organisation, unengaging in presentation, irrelevant to those present – but you use an illustration that mentions someone’s pet issue, what will they say? “Preacher, that was a poor sermon, but I loved that your illustration mentioned my pet issue?” Typically not. Once those lights flash in their evaluation grid, you have become a hero! The feedback will be skewed.

9. The “Satanic test” reality. You’ve probably heard the oft-quoted statement from Spurgeon (I think), who was affirmed very favourably after preaching and responded with, “Madam, the enemy has already told me that!” Nice anecdote, but it could be true in our situation too. The enemy is not a fan of being obvious because it doesn’t tend to work so well. Better to build up a preacher so their focus shifts from dependence on Christ . . . so we need to beware on a spiritual level what post-sermon feedback does to our hearts.

10. The “exit gauntlet” logistics issue. If you are at a church where the preacher stands at the back and shakes everyone’s hand, then you have a couple of issues to face, actually, three. One, most people will feel obligated to mutter some pleasantry to get past you. Two, some people who actually want to talk to you won’t be able to because others are lining up to leave. Three, because people don’t want to hold you up, they may feel obligated to step out into a rainy car park and thus end the time of valuable fellowship in the church. Standing at the door may not be the best idea!

And there are probably some more . . . what would you add?

Sunday Feedback – II

August 22, 2014August 19, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Continuing the list of ten reasons not to get too excited about the feedback you get right after preaching . . .

4. The “church culture” mechanism. Different churches have different cultures. Some will automatically affirm and honour the preacher in a laudatory manner. Other churches will engage the preacher about life and family with barely a mention of the message. Try to discern a local church pattern before getting excited or devastated by what you hear.

5. The “surrogate leader” reality. Sometimes a person will gravitate toward a preacher because they yearn for the spiritual leadership and sensitivity they perceive in that preacher. Perhaps their own husband is very weak, or perhaps their Dad is absent . . . it could be a middle-aged wife or a teenage boy, but sometimes the praise and feedback is more about what they don’t have in their life than about what you brought in your sermon.

6. The “single preacher” reality. I’ve been married for fifteen years, so I feel out of touch on this one, but . . . if people respond to perceived spirituality when they know you are married, and if there is a lack of spiritual, godly, single men in the church (which there is), then I suspect preaching as a single man will get some feedback from the odd one or two that is more fishing than genuine feedback. Just saying.

7. The “life appreciation” reality. This is more likely in your own church than in one you visit. It is where a church member really values who you are as a person – you love their family, show interest in their teenage son, buried their grandmother, or whatever. They appreciate you. Your preaching may be dire, but they want to love you and so affirm your sermon because that is easier than explaining what your presence and love means to them.

We’ll finish the list next time.

Sunday Feedback

August 21, 2014August 19, 2014 / Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Feedback is not created equal. Wise preachers learn to tell the difference. I suspect more than a few ministries are launched and sustained on the empty energy of post-sermon politeness. On the other hand, genuine and helpful feedback can strengthen your ministry for years.

Typically my approach is to say thank you for any feedback, then prayerfully evaluate what I am supposed to make of it. Usually I find that meaningful feedback and compliments will come with a combination of factors – (A) Time – a week or a year later usually means more than five minutes later, (B) Thought – when people are really thinking about what was said, it will typically show, (C) Transformation – the best encouragements are not mere words, but supported by reality. If all three are missing, then we may be dealing with empty feedback that has the nourishment value of a boiled sweet.

Here are ten reasons why I think it wise not to get too excited by feedback right after you preach.

1. The “competition” reality. Sometimes people will heap on the praise because they have no real point of comparison. Don’t assume they are thinking about your favourite preachers when someone tells you that haven’t heard any better. It may simply be the case that they have a very limited experience of other preachers (sadly true in some churches you might visit), or perhaps…

2. The “memory” reality. Perhaps positive feedback is skewed by a very limited memory. What they just heard is the only sermon in their short-term memory, and so it stands out. Don’t test a “best I’ve heard in months” comment with a “can you tell me the main idea and take home gems from last week’s message?” Chances are, your message may be equally misty come next Sunday!

3. The “polite override” mechanism. Some people in churches have a politeness override mechanism that makes them say things to be polite that they don’t really mean. It happens at dinner tables when a dish has been obliterated, but to be polite, they will maintain it is “really good!” Call it dishonest, or call it polite, but remember it may happen after you preach.

We’ll continue the list next time!

Overcoming Preacher’s Block – III

August 20, 2014August 18, 2014 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

We are coming to the end of a list of suggestions for overcoming preacher’s block . . . how about:

7. Sleep. Sometimes when you are stuck, you can be tempted to work late and miss sleep. Don’t. Get good sleep and then work productively tomorrow. We are designed to need sleep. It can be a real step of faith to leave an issue like this with God and curl up in His arms for the night. Sadly, too many preachers seem to think God is impressed by sugar and caffeine fueled fatigue that results in a vicious cycle of tiredness and inability to concentrate. We don’t get medals for staying up late and preaching poorly as a result. Don’t turn the chance to preach into an opportunity to play a mini-martyr.

8. Confess. Sometimes preacher’s block is really the fruit of indiscipline, inappropriate distraction, laziness, or some other sin. I don’t want to come up with a pseudo-solution to avoid facing that. If you have sinned and become aware of it, then deal with it. Confess it to God, come back to the cross, repent and lean into His care for you again. This isn’t some sort of mystical purging ritual. It is healthy relationship. You need to walk through the preparation and preaching with God close, so if you don’t feel close due to sin, then get it sorted. Any short-cut or detour that tries to hide distance in this sense will be an unwise path to take.

What would you add to the list? What do you do when you get stuck?

Overcoming Preacher’s Block – II

August 19, 2014August 18, 2014 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Continuing our list of suggestions for breaking out of preacher’s block. Yesterday we thought about Pray, Break and Talk. Here are some more ideas:

4. Read. Sometimes it is time for a fresh perspective. Maybe another commentary on a key section. Perhaps check some biblical studies books to see if the text appears in the scripture index. Maybe try a lighter commentary for how they handle this section. But beware, sometimes the last thing you need is more information in. This is an option, but it may be the wrong option. If your block is from a massive input of data and no clarity on how to let the right stuff out, then maybe steer clear of the books at this stage.

5. Write. Sometimes I get stuck on an outline, or a certain part of a message. Switching to writing may be helpful. Perhaps you are struggling with the big picture of the message and need to switch to working out wording. This may free you up to keep making progress on the message rather than staying stuck on an aspect of the message.

6. Preach. We are a bit obsessed with “writing” our messages. Whether it is outlines or manuscripts, we can easily lose sight of the orality of preaching. The goal is not to write a sermon, but to preach one. So sometimes the best thing to do is to step away from the keyboard or pen and start talking out loud. If you were up now, what would you say? Things that seem so clear on paper sometimes can’t come out of your mouth. Paper is only one step better than in your head (who hasn’t had clarity in their minds that simply won’t get onto the page? Well, spoken communication is a step beyond that. You can feel clear on paper, but still not be able to express what you intend. Once you hear yourself getting stuck, you know you have issues on paper. And once you are trying to say it, sometimes you can find a quick detour that makes for an effective message! (Then go write it down.)

We’ll finish the list tomorrow.