Coming up in April...

I am gearing up for a much needed family vacation. That being the case, I will not be posting again until the first week of April. In case you are curious as to some of the topics we will cover during the month of April:

-Registration opens for the Youth Communicator's Cohort (Fall '13) on April 2

-A Youth Speaker's Guide to Exegesis

-Book Review: Resonate, by Nancy Duarte

-Don't Quit Your Day Job:  How to Make it as a Youth Pastor in the Youth Speaking Industry

-And much, much, more...

4 Unique Ways to Open a Message

During a recent Youth Communicator's Cohort, we were discussing the importance of the introduction and why it is so vital that as youth pastors or youth speakers that we open strong.

As we were sharpening one another, I was reminded of a practical tip that I learned from Youth Speaker University's Josh Shipp and his youth speaker training series, Rock the Stage. It is the youth pastor's secret weapon of opening a message called the pattern interrupt.

According to Josh, a pattern interrupt occurs each time we open a talk with a unique or different method than the students are used to. This helps grab their attention and listen intently for what we are saying. As a youth leader, being the communicator that your students hear on a consistent basis, this could not be a more important tool to implement.

With that in mind, while there are countless unique ways that you could choose to open your message, here are four:

1.  The Dramatic Personal Story

I am sure the students in your ministry have heard MANY of your stories. This would be one of those personal illustrations that you jump right into that is full of mystery and intrigue in which you are not the hero, but learn a valuable lesson. Don't begin your message with pleasantries or humor, but instead, start your story immediately with something like, "There I was stranded on the side of the road..."

2.  The Shocking Statistic.

Start your talk off right of the bat with a series of numbers (statistics or percentages that reflect the students in the room). Move from there to showing them the impact of the statistics on their lives. If the statistic deals with "50 percent of students today...", have half of the students in the room stand up to represent the percentage. It will drive the numbers home, and draw them in to listen to what you have to say.

3.  The Scripture

The next time you are scheduled to speak, try opening your message by reading a passage right out of the Bible (if you don't normally begin your messages this way). Read with emotion. Practice your pauses. Vary your pace or volume for emphasis. Allow the Word of God to be living and active in the moment. Don't distract by trying to set up the passage or pre-explaining it. Just begin by standing quietly until you have the students attention, then read.

4.  The Video Clip

If you do not usually utilize video when you speak, opening with a scene from a movie or television show can do wonders to grab students' attention and cause them to sit up and listen to the message you have prepared. Be sure that the clip you choose is relevant to the main theme of your talk.

What are some different methods that you use to open your message?

FREE Illustration of the Month (Bonus Edition)

The Bonus Edition of "free illustration of the month" comes from Alfred Hitchcock. I remember watching this episode of Alfred Hitchcock presents back when I was a kid.

It freaked me out.

I first heard this illustration used in a message a few years back by youth pastor, Josh Mayo.

I have used this illustration on a couple of occasions to talk about the importance of positive and negative influence in friendships or relationships. I have actually begun "telling" this illustration thought acting it out as if I were the main character in the story. It makes for a much more effective method of delivery (at least for me) and makes it much more memorable for the students.

FINAL ESCAPE

There’s an old episode of the Alfred Hitchcock show about a pretty woman serving a life sentence in prison. Angry and resentful about her situation, she had decided that she would rather die than to live another year in prison.

 

Over the years she had become good friends with one of the prison caretakers. His job, among others, was to bury those prisoners who died in a graveyard just outside the prison walls. When a prisoner died, the caretaker rang a bell, which was heard by everyone. The caretaker then got the body and put it in a casket. Next, he entered his office to fill out the death certificate before returning to the casket to nail the lid shut. Finally he put the casket on a wagon to take it to the graveyard to bury it. Knowing this routine, the woman devised an escape plan and shared it with the caretaker. He was a friend she thought…a very good close friend. The next time the bell rang, the woman would leave her cell and sneak into the dark room where the coffins where kept. She would slip into the coffin with the dead body while the caretaker was filling out the death certificate. When the caretaker returned, he would nail the lid shut and take the coffin outside the prison with the woman in the coffin along with the dead body. He would then bury the coffin. The woman knew that there would be enough air for her to breathe until later in the evening when the caretaker would return to the graveyard under the cover of darkness, dig up the coffin, open it and set her free.

The caretaker was reluctant to go along with this plan, but since he and the woman had become such good friends over the years, he agreed to do it.

The woman waited several weeks before someone in the prison died. She was asleep in her cell when she heard the death bell ring. She got up, picked the lock of her cell, and slowly walked down the hallway. She was nearly caught a couple of times. Her heart was beating fast. She opened the door to the darkened room where the coffins were kept. Quietly in the dark she found the coffin that contained the dead body, carefully climbed into the coffin and took a rope she had brought to tie herself to the body so that it would not sound as if there were two bodies in the coffin. She pulled the lid shut to wait for the caretaker to come and nail the lid closed.

Soon she heard footsteps and the pounding of the hammer and nails. Even though she was very uncomfortable in the coffin tied to the body, she knew that with each nail she was one step closer to freedom. The coffin was lifted onto the wagon and taken outside to the graveyard. She could feel the coffin being lowered into the ground. She didn’t make a sound as the coffin hit the bottom of the grave with a thud. Finally she heard the dirt dropping onto the top of the wooden coffin and she knew that it was only a matter of time until she would be free at last. The body of the corpse she had tied herself to felt cold and frightening but after several more minutes of absolute silence, she began to laugh. She was free! She was free!

Feeling curious she decided to light a match to find out the identity of the dead prisoner beside her. To her horror, she discovered that she was lying next to the dead caretaker. The final scene of show faded to black as you heard the woman screaming.

When you choose the wrong friends…you are choosing to tie yourself to a spiritually dead body that will eventually kill your Christian walk.