Archive - Impression RSS Feed

What Are You Demonstrating?

0

I am what you call a visual learner. I love a good demonstration. Know who does that well? Vacuum salesmen. When they knock on your door, they don’t come in and just tell you about their product. They demonstrate:

  • How it works
  • What it does
  • How it will revolutionize your life
  • What makes it worth the cost

As Christ followers, we have been given the task of going and making disciples. To do that effectively, it is not enough to simply communicate the truth of Jesus. We have to DEMONSTRATE Jesus:

  • How He works
  • What He does
  • How He will revolutionize your life
  • What makes Him worth the cost

If it’s been a while since you’ve seen someone in your circle come to know Jesus, maybe you should ask yourself…what are you demonstrating?



Written by on February 15, 2012 and categorized under Impact, Impression

If I Stunk, Would You Sit Next to Me?

0


Our church is currently working through the “More to Life” study by Dennis Pethers (a phenomenal study, by the way). In the first session, Dennis tells the story of a homeless man who comes into a church to worship. Needless to say, he is not dressed to the nines, has not bathed in quite some time and probably smells bad. One of the leaders of the church walked up to him and asked him to leave because he “wasn’t dressed appropriately.”

Shocked? I was, too. I could not believe someone in a church leadership position would ever ask someone to leave because he didn’t “look the part.” I thought to myself, that would never happen at our church. Then, Scott, our Discipleship Pastor, shared a question his wife, Veridee, had posed after watching the video.

“You wouldn’t ask him to leave. But, would you sit next to him?”

Wow! Talking about taking it to the next level. It is so easy to think our church has the right attitude toward those who are outside our walls. We think we have it all together. But, do we really? Are we really willing to put ourselves, individually, in uncomfortable or unfamiliar waters if it means just one person could be reached…just one person could come to know Jesus?

Guess what…Jesus did.



Written by on October 27, 2011 and categorized under Impact, Impression

Got the Point?

2

Here’s a question you should always ask when programming your Sunday worship service: What do I want people to leave with? When answered well, that one question can revolutionize the effectiveness of moving people from just hearing the message and being changed by the message.

What I’ve found to work best is to focus every aspect of the service on the message…and to make sure the message only contains one key point. People can focus on one point. They can remember it. They can act on it. Too many “key points” and all you’ve done is given information and not allowed for transformation.

Drive that point home with everything that happens that Sunday:

  • song selection
  • staging
  • props
  • dramas
  • videos
  • teaching
  • take-aways
By programming around the point, you vastly increase the chances that it will travel past the front doors and into the world when Sunday becomes Monday. It also improves the flow of the service…makes it less choppy and more intentional, more excellent…and we all want to present God with excellence, right?


Written by on October 25, 2011 and categorized under Impact, Impression

Page 1 of 612345»...Last »