Monday, September 24, 2007

How's my speaking...

My buddy Brad told me that it was a great book, so I went with his advice. And you know what? Brad's a pretty smart guy. I have absolutely soaked up this book that was written by Andy Stanley.

I wasn't too keen on the first half of the book which takes place in story mode (which so many leadership books tend to be doing lately), but I do know that some people can resonate better with seeing something fleshed out in that form. So, if you just want the goods, skip right to page 91.

As I've been reading this book and jotting notes in my journal I've also been able to see the effect on my own message preparation. It has me asking more questions about what I'm saying, what I'm not saying, and how I say it or, in some cases, not saying it. It has me rethinking how I prepare outlines and how I engage my students. It's pushing me to me more specific with what I'm trying to communicate.

The whole point? I'm not communicating just for the sake of getting information from 'Point A' to 'Point B'. I'm not communicating to show how smart I am. I'm communicating to see life change in each and every one of my students.

My advice: this book is $25ish that is well spent.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mike, I too have realy benefited from this book. I read it once in the early spring, and I've gone through it a second time now just this September.
I've found that there's so much I quickly forget in the book, so I actually wrote much of it into my sermon template on the computer (Just the me,we,God,you,we and some of the other "if you get stuck" questions).

Anonymous said...

I think Brad is a genius ... and you're not too far behind. Brad is probably much better looking that you are and probably taller ... most genius's tend to be. It's about time you mention guys like Brad in your blog :-)

Unknown said...

All hail Brad...my words cannot do justice to such a man...

Hey Jon, I stuck some of those same things on the wall beside my computer. And they are constantly being scribbled through my journal as I prepare my messages now.