Preacher
What makes a good preacher?
Now lets analyze it a bit. First the preacher must have a “compelling vision”. The preacher must be able to verbalize and communicate a crystal clear vision that the listener is able to imagine in his own head. He must be able to talk about some idealistic world or some perfect place and describe it to you in such detail that you start believing that such a place does exist. Once that is done you are hooked, you will do anything to follow him into that perfect place. For example, you have to say” I can make you become thin, I can make you become happy, I can make you find comfort, I can make you feel good, I will take you to a beautiful place. You can’t just talk about happiness or comfort or whatever else it is you are selling you have to describe it in detail, what does it look like? how does it feel? what does it smell like? Once I am in that state how will I be different, will people perceive me differently? Will I look different? Will I be more successful?. You need describe that person so that I can even imagine what they will have for breakfast for the next 10 years.
Second, “communicate forcefully” the preacher must be a good communicator, he must be able to communicate not only clearly but in a forceful manner. It’s not good enough that the preacher communicate in clear language, he/she communicate is a manner that can’t be ignored. He must be entertaining, his words must be gripping, he must be charismatic, when he talks you just want to listen and can’t ignore him, very few people know how to communicate is such a seductive manner. For example, you can use one liners which are radical yet memorable so that they will stick in a person’s head for a long time. “Jesus love you”, “Islam is the solution” it doesn’t matter what that means it sounds good and once you hear it a few times it sticks in your head and the next thing you know everybody is repeating it like a mantra. Humor is a good communication tool, if you can get people to laugh then you have them, it is hard to ignore somebody once they gave you a good laugh.
Finally, he must relate to the personal circumstances of the listener. It is not enough that a preacher paints a beautiful picture of the ultimate goal. Most people will say, yes but I am flawed, perhaps some other people can reach to that idealistic place, but I can’t. A good preachers will address your own particular short comings, he will say I can see that you have sinned, I can see that you have suffered, I can see that you have been through tough time, I can see that you have failed before and that is ok. What that does is help the listener actually believe that even they can achieve the required goal. For example, you must be able to sense what the person is looking for and then promise that you will give it to them. This person wants to lose wait, another is having marriage problems and feels completely overwhelmed by it, this person is afraid of social gatherings, another is looking for lasting love. To each person you need to say I will give that which your heart desires. To each person you must deliver a customized message that speaks to their individual yearnings. You might think, but hey! isn’t that manipulative and perhaps a little dishonest. Well yes it is, and quit frankly it only works on feeble minded people, objective and self confident people are not swayed by such techniques. The good news is that majority of people are the feeble minded category and only a minority are the objective kind. Most people allow their feelings to sway them.
Most people will say that they hate being preached to, I believe that what they mean is that they hate being preached to by bad preachers who don’t follow the basic rules of conduct of preaching and give other preachers a bad name.
You my friend are a bad preacher. You simply suck at it. You don’t communicate a compelling vision at all, you keep telling me about how I going to go to hell, well what is so compelling about that? You communicate in the most boring, tedious and obnoxious manner that even a believer will defect after listening to you. I am willing to bet that even your own mother can’t stand your sermons. Finally you are not even attempting to relate to my personal circumstance. Heck! you don’t even know anything about me nor are you willing to take the time to find out.
Please do everybody a favor, either you quit preaching or take the time to do it right. Like most things in life, preaching is a skill that can be taught and with practice you can actually become good at it.
I believe that to be a good definition of what a good preacher is. The same definition can adopted for a preacher in any other religion or other ideology. Notice that the definition of a good preacher doesn’t include strength of one’s own faith.Effective Christian preachers have a compelling vision of Jesus Christ which
they communicate forcefully to their listeners to lead them to view their
circumstances differently and to respond with strengthened faith and commitment.
(Zuck, R. B. (1996, c1994). A biblical theology of the New Testament (Page
370). Chicago: Moody Press)
Now lets analyze it a bit. First the preacher must have a “compelling vision”. The preacher must be able to verbalize and communicate a crystal clear vision that the listener is able to imagine in his own head. He must be able to talk about some idealistic world or some perfect place and describe it to you in such detail that you start believing that such a place does exist. Once that is done you are hooked, you will do anything to follow him into that perfect place. For example, you have to say” I can make you become thin, I can make you become happy, I can make you find comfort, I can make you feel good, I will take you to a beautiful place. You can’t just talk about happiness or comfort or whatever else it is you are selling you have to describe it in detail, what does it look like? how does it feel? what does it smell like? Once I am in that state how will I be different, will people perceive me differently? Will I look different? Will I be more successful?. You need describe that person so that I can even imagine what they will have for breakfast for the next 10 years.
Second, “communicate forcefully” the preacher must be a good communicator, he must be able to communicate not only clearly but in a forceful manner. It’s not good enough that the preacher communicate in clear language, he/she communicate is a manner that can’t be ignored. He must be entertaining, his words must be gripping, he must be charismatic, when he talks you just want to listen and can’t ignore him, very few people know how to communicate is such a seductive manner. For example, you can use one liners which are radical yet memorable so that they will stick in a person’s head for a long time. “Jesus love you”, “Islam is the solution” it doesn’t matter what that means it sounds good and once you hear it a few times it sticks in your head and the next thing you know everybody is repeating it like a mantra. Humor is a good communication tool, if you can get people to laugh then you have them, it is hard to ignore somebody once they gave you a good laugh.
Finally, he must relate to the personal circumstances of the listener. It is not enough that a preacher paints a beautiful picture of the ultimate goal. Most people will say, yes but I am flawed, perhaps some other people can reach to that idealistic place, but I can’t. A good preachers will address your own particular short comings, he will say I can see that you have sinned, I can see that you have suffered, I can see that you have been through tough time, I can see that you have failed before and that is ok. What that does is help the listener actually believe that even they can achieve the required goal. For example, you must be able to sense what the person is looking for and then promise that you will give it to them. This person wants to lose wait, another is having marriage problems and feels completely overwhelmed by it, this person is afraid of social gatherings, another is looking for lasting love. To each person you need to say I will give that which your heart desires. To each person you must deliver a customized message that speaks to their individual yearnings. You might think, but hey! isn’t that manipulative and perhaps a little dishonest. Well yes it is, and quit frankly it only works on feeble minded people, objective and self confident people are not swayed by such techniques. The good news is that majority of people are the feeble minded category and only a minority are the objective kind. Most people allow their feelings to sway them.
Most people will say that they hate being preached to, I believe that what they mean is that they hate being preached to by bad preachers who don’t follow the basic rules of conduct of preaching and give other preachers a bad name.
You my friend are a bad preacher. You simply suck at it. You don’t communicate a compelling vision at all, you keep telling me about how I going to go to hell, well what is so compelling about that? You communicate in the most boring, tedious and obnoxious manner that even a believer will defect after listening to you. I am willing to bet that even your own mother can’t stand your sermons. Finally you are not even attempting to relate to my personal circumstance. Heck! you don’t even know anything about me nor are you willing to take the time to find out.
Please do everybody a favor, either you quit preaching or take the time to do it right. Like most things in life, preaching is a skill that can be taught and with practice you can actually become good at it.
There is a way between voice and presence where information flows.
In disciplined silence it opens.
With wandering talk it closes. .... Rumi
6:23 PMAiieeee!
You have certainly mastered "communicating forcefully" and "making everyone believe that you are addressing them in particular".
8:34 PM
Who is the bad preacher? I'm sorry, I didn't follow that part.
8:13 AM
Ihath, if you're going to hell, I'm going with you. I'd rather be in hell than be in heaven with 'bad preacher' and others of his/her sort.
God save me from dogmatic christians, muslims, and other religious and political people who feel only they follow the "true" path and want to force it on others.
Hana
3:11 PM
congradulations...it's good to know your heros feel bad that they have to thin out the dogs...
http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=041210033510.1bgx7r1p.xml
12:32 AM
i made a post on here, what happened to it? this sucks.
11:41 AM
Last Sunday, I was in church listening to a sermon when I began thinking about Ihath's post. The sermon was not that terribly good, and I reflected upon Ihath's thoughts regarding preaching as my eyes and mind drifted from the preacher and his preaching. As someone who admits to enjoying "good preaching," there were was something about her post that troubled me, and I really had to mull it over before I could identify it. Now, after the mulling is over, I am still trying to figure out whether I can communicate it, and this is my attempt at doing so.
The quotation from Zuck concerns "effective" preaching, not "good" preaching. In the author's mind, the goal is having listeners view their circumstances differently and to respond with strengthened faith and committment. How do preachers accomplish this? According to the author, by having a compelling vision of Jesus Christ and forcefully communicating it. While this may represent effective Christian preaching, I don't consider this necessarily to be good preaching.
Perhaps using the analogy of a salesman is helpful in illustrating what I am trying to communicate. An effective salesman need not personally believe that the car he is trying to sell you is great or even good. All that he requires is a "compelling vision" of what that car can be made to appear. He forcefully communicates that vision to you and relates it to your personal circumstance. Just listen to the engine, you look great in that car, it fits you, its your color, check out these surprisingly interesting features that you never knew that you needed but you now know that you do. You buy the car after having been seduced into believing that the car was made just for you, and all of the alarm bells that went off in your head were silenced one by one by the fast talking salesman who preyed upon your feelings. If you knew my wife, you would realize that this is more than just a hypothetical example.
A good salesperson, by contrast, actually believes to be true the representations that he is making about the car. His goal is not just selling you any car, but the car that best fits your actual needs. When he asks whether you have thought about having more kids or additional pets, he is genuinely concerned about making sure that you buy a car that fits your present as well as your anticipated future needs. In short, he views his job as matching you and your actual needs and desires with the best car. He's building a relationship, and your satisfaction counts now and in the future.
"Objective and self confident people" do not rely soley upon salespersons, good or bad. They do their own independent research, consulting as many sources including various salepersons as possible, before making a decision.
As I said, I enjoy good preaching. While I might marvel at effective preaching that is bad, I don't enjoy it anymore than I enjoy seeing effective but bad salesmanship. Some of the most effective and good preaching that I have enjoyed recently came at this site.
12:36 PM
AngloGermanicAmerican,
It is rather sad when comments are more interesting than the original post :-)
thank you for sharing on this blog I enjoy reading your comments.
1:00 PM
My pet peeve is the manipulatie s.o.b.'s. Perhaps it's thanks to my siblings, but I've got an internal alarm that goes off when sleazy emotional manipulation is in motion....hence, I didn't vote for Bush the first time.
Second time around, his own economic policies pretty well damned him...that and his personal delusions.
6:58 AM
Anon 1:00
The difficulty, I find, sometimes with alarms is identifying who or what set them off. Every year it seems we evacuate our entire office building as a result of a fire alarm going off, and only once as a result of an actual but rather minor fire. Sometimes its a prankster, sometimes the sensor falsely alerts to the presence of dust which looks like smoke, apparently, and other times changes were made to the system and the fault lies in the alarm system itself. The prudent course of action is of course to evacuate the building, regardless of your personal belief concerning the existence of an actual threat. But, there never is a need nor any benefit to be had in panicking or causing others to panic.
3:17 PM
I think my preacher must take xanax before his sermon. His speech slurs and his words get all mixed up. I thought it was due to nervousness but that was 2 years ago and he's getting worse. Is there anywhere a person can go to hear the truth?
5:47 PM
Believer of Truth and Peace,
The truth is a obviece as the sun. Most of us don't dare look straight ahead though.
» Post a Comment