Had a great December conference call with our communicator's COHORT yesterday on the topic of Exegesis for Youth Pastors.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE CALL.
Be sure to join us on Thursday, January 16, 2014 when Saddleback's High School Pastor, Josh Griffin, shares his communication wisdom in the upcoming Master Class.
CLICK HERE to register for the COHORT for FREE and don't miss out on the call with Josh Griffin on Thursday, January 16.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Move with Purpose
The following is an excerpt from the book, How to Become a Youth Speaking Ninja.
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MOVE WITH PURPOSE
Too often, youth pastors don't practice their movements or blocking for a message. This leads to haphazard pacing, rocking, or statue-like posture that ultimately distracts from the content. It is worth an extra twenty minutes of preparation time to walk-through your message at least one time.
At a minimum, take at least the time necessary to time to determine where you will stand and how you will move as you share your stories and illustrations. Always move with purpose. Too often, youth communicators think that pacing back and forth adds energy to their talk. All it does is distract the students from hearing the content that is being shared. Their brains are trying to sort out all of the movement that they're seeing on stage and it distracts them from actually listening and processing what is being said.
REHEARSE YOUR GESTURES
Simply put, a gesture is a movement of the body, head or hand that adds emphasis or color to the spoken word. You use gestures all of the time during informal communication and so do your students. Take the time during your message rehearsal to work through specific gestures that you will use to add emphasis while speaking to the students from the platform.
Too often, youth speakers are unsure as to what to do with their hands and they awkwardly put them in their pants-pockets for the duration of the message. On other occasions, they may find themselves over-gesturing by waving their arms wildly trying to dissipate all of the nervous energy. If you find yourself in either of these scenarios, relax and rehearse your gestures.
Gestures are probably the most expressive form of nonverbal communication a youth speaker can use. No other kind of physical action can enhance your message in as many ways as gestures do. When you employ intentional gestures in your message they:
1. Clarify and support your words. Gestures strengthen the students' understanding of your verbal message.
2. Dramatize your ideas. Together with what you say, gestures help paint vivid pictures in your listeners' minds.
3. Lend emphasis and vitality to the spoken word. Gestures convey your feelings and attitudes more clearly than what you say.
4. Help dissipate nervous tension. Purposeful gestures are a good outlet for the nervous energy inherent when speaking to youth.
5. Function as visual aids. Gestures enhance students' attentiveness and retention.
6. Stimulate audience participation. Gestures help you indicate the response you seek from the students.
7. Are highly visible. Gestures provide visual support when you you're addressing a large number of students at one time and the entire group may not be able to see your eyes.
CLICK HERE to check out How to Become a Youth Speaking Ninja for Kindle.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
10 Essentials: #5 - Pray Away Your Pride
As you spend intentional time in prayer, God is able to both shape your heart and character as well as open and close the right doors for your next season of ministry.
Take a look at this story from the life of the apostle Paul (Acts 16:6-10):
6 And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul[c] had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
I have seen God do this over and over again as I have transitioned from one ministry to another. There have been doors that seemed to be wide open, then after a long season of prayer, those doors miraculously got slammed in my face. Then, just a miraculously, a new door of opportunity would open up in it's place.
Don't be discouraged if you find yourself in a season of waiting and prayer. It is better to wait on the Lord for His next opportunity for you, than to step through the wrong door. Look at how Jesus is described in Revelation 3:7-8:
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."
Remain faithful in your current season of seeking Him, and He will open the right door at the right time.
Check out the previous posts of the 10 Essentials of Getting Hired as a Youth Pastor:
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
FREE Illustration of the Month (Christmas Edition) [VIDEO]
What Christmas is all about... courtesy of Charlie Brown Christmas.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling
These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coats, Pixar’s Story Artist.
1.You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
2. You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
3. Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
4. Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
6. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
7. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
8. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
9. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
10. Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
12. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
13. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
14. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
15. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
16. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
17. No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
18. You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
20. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
21. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
22. What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
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