Good Communication���Keep it Simple

If I make one mistake more often than any other as a preacher, it is assuming more than I should about my congregation. I assume people want to know what the Bible says. I assume they know I have their best interest at heart. I assume they understand the context. I assume they have a theological frame of reference. And having begun on those shaky assumptions, I begin building a great big sermon when the foundation has not been laid.  I���ve discovered it���s better to keep the message simple (but not simplistic), to take it a little slower and to establish a good, firm foundation. Then I can build my case.

I���ll never forget when I was asked to speak to an audience who didn���t have a lot of biblical knowledge. I decided to start simple. ���I will be referring to passages in the Bible according to numbers,��� I told them. ���For example: ���John 3:16.��� Now, the ���3��� stands for the chapter, and the ���16��� stands for the verse.��� And Cynthia was sitting on the front row rolling her eyes like, ���Oh, man, they���re going to think Chuck fell off a turnip truck!���

But would you believe it? I had a guy come up to me afterwards and say, ���All my life I���ve been wondering what those numbers are, and what that colon in the middle was for. Now I know! That���s a chapter! And that���s a verse!��� No kidding. Most people will never see the inside of a seminary. (That���s why they have hope!) They don���t know a lot of the things we think they know. And unless we keep it simple, we lose them . . . and they never will.

I received an e-mail not long ago from a friend whose teenage daughter had taken notes during my sermon and then had written my application points on her bathroom mirror. (My friend sent me the picture.)

I���ve said for many years that if I can communicate in a way that teenagers get it, write it down, remember it, and then apply it���I will have accomplished something very gratifying.

Keep your stuff simple. The goal is to communicate, remember���not to impress.

                          ���Chuck