Bick's Quicks

Discipleship by Txt

I read an article over at Fast Company this morning about how Obama is leveraging technology in his campaign.  Devoted politco's can sign up and receive the big "VP" announcement as soon as he reaches a decision, they'll know before the major media outlets.  The "white-haired" dude doesn't have a texting service.  

I'm not endorsing one candidate over the other but I think this is a pretty genius move on Obama's part. His campaign is creating community through technology.

Some churches are utilizing texting and twitter to stay connected to their attenders.  I'm thinking through the implications for discipleship, encouragement, communication that leveraging this technology may present.

Would you sign up for an SC twitter or text service?

How could it be helpful to you in your walk with Christ?

What info would you like to be the first to receive via texting?

Laughing in Church

A guy in our church says that if I ever quit my day job I should be a stand up comic-I don't think I'll ever quit my day job, my kids need to eat and I have a mortgage to pay. When I communicate a weekend message I'll try to incorporate a few laughs now and then, here's why....

• Laughter lightens it up-when you're delivering a challenging concept or one that could offend, humor can disarm.
• I need to "get some energy out"-that's a quote from my 7 year old-an audience gets a little antsy from time to time and laughter releases physical energy and helps them refocus.  
• If they're laughing they're not angry-this comes Ray one of our Pastors-he's right. 
• Powerful points are pre-punctuated by laughs-make them laugh and then you can drive it hard to the basket and nobody feels "dunked" on.
• If they're laughing, they're listening-this is mostly for me and it helps me know that I'm connecting as a communicator.  
• Laughter creates memories-I'm sure there's a scientific study somewhere that could back this up but when we laugh and laugh a lot we remember.  That's why great jokes, punch-lines and movie scenes stay with us. 

  It's okay to laugh in church....hope you did this weekend.
  
  
  

Fun with Chuck and Huck

Thanks to Anne for posting this ad featuring Chuck and Huck....just too good not to pass along. 

Rick Warren emailed me....sort of

I received this tonight....

April 11, 2007

Dear Pastor,

            Just wanted you to know that the Holy Spirit led me to pray for you and your Easter services several times this past weekend. I also gathered a group of local pastors on Good Friday morning to pray for all the pastors we know and their services.
 
            I’d love you hear how your Easter went if you have time to write.  We’re in this together friend.

Rick Warren


Saddleback Church
1 Saddleback Parkway
Lake Forest, CA. 92630

An interesting background note....our Sr. Pastor traveled to Saddleback to hear Rick Warren before starting our church, much of who we were in the early days was a result of that trip.  Now, we share in common a passion for making a difference in Africa. 

Thanks for checking in Rick....

Man Law

I'm up to speak on Super Bowl Sunday this year.  We're planning on doing another Man-Friendly message, not that all of ours aren't that way already but we're taking a special focus on Guys.  The title of the message is Man Law-yes copied from the Beer commercials.  Our goal is to help those who know and live with men better understand guys and guy culture.

Our categories are as follows.....

• Communication
• Respect
• Sex
• Conflict

If you're a Male Bick's Quicks Reader what Man Law's would you propose as a member of the square table?

Big-ining BIGGER ENDING

Beware....bad preaching is plentiful.  Recently my workouts have been punctuated by a plethora of preaching via podcasts..much of it bad...little of it good.  I've bailed on more messages than I've made it through.

I realize I'm offering up critical comments about my own fold, real life Pot and Kettle I know. I've offered up my fair share of bad messages, ones that have even bored me during the delivery!   There happens to be a lot of buzz about communicating right now.  Tally, Gary, and another Bob are giving props to the same book aimed at preachers.  Michael serves up a check list.

Driscoll offers a different perspective on getting ready to deliver a message, well worth a read. 

What's important for the communicator? to the listener?

• Personal Prep-have something worth saying...immerse yourself in the bible, ready widely on the topic, let your message simmer in your mind all the time.
• Style-if something about your delivery is quirky and goofy, you have lots of uh's and um's or if you breathe heavily after each point-so much so that the microphone picks it up(making it unbearable to listen via podcast), what you have to say will get lost in the delivery. 
• Transitions-It will be difficult for your listener's to stay with you if you're all over the place, watch to see if you've lost your audience, if you have, pull over to the side and let them catch up.
• Keeping it real-the best stories are ones from real people and real life.  When I share from my own life, the good and the bad I connect with my audience.  When we share a "real life" story from someone who attends our church the message is even more powerful-the audience identifies with them more than me...after all I'm paid to say what I'm saying.
• Supernatural Power-God will use our words when we become available to Him and dependent upon Him...the goal of our communication is God's glory not our own..when this happens He is pleased and lives are changed.

Kathy, not a preacher, offers some great advice.  Give me a reason to listen and motivate me to (care, change, act, get on board etc).  All of the above is important to the communicator...I'm not discounting any of it, what matters for the listener is the impact on their life.

"Preaching for life change requires far less information and more application.  Less explanation and more inspiration...if you decide to preach for life change you won't be satisfied until the behavior of your audience is transformed; and you will be willing to do just about anything to see that transpire."  Communicating for a Change-Andy Stanley.

Helping Can Hurt

I like to be helpful to others...connecting them with resources, relationships, spiritual truth.  It feels great knowing that I've made a difference in someone's life-especially when they express their thanks. 

Sometimes I just begin helping....I may clean up around the house tossing away what I believe are just extra papers, clutter etc. only to find out that the little piece of paper with chicken scratch on it that I just sent through the shredder was as valuable to my wife as the original signed copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Here's the problem: We often seek to help others in ways we envision would be helpful to us and do so without consulting those we are seeking to help.  So helping becomes a huge problem.  The person we're seeking to help isn't thankful, they're ticked.

The helpee may interpret our actions as communicating...

• that we know what's best in this situation-and they don't.
• a complete disregard for their perspective or desires.
• we don't believe in, trust or approve of their approach.
• we don't value them enough to communicate.
• we don't believe they are doing a good job.

When they push back we get miffed, after all we are just trying to help!  Why aren't they grateful?

I'm leaning into this a little more lately......these phrases are becoming helpful to me in my helping......

What can I do to help?
How can I help?
What do you need from me?
Would this __________________ be helpful to you?
I was thinking _______________ would that make your role/job/responsibility easier?
Could I run with this ___________________ for you?

Would that be helpful to you?

Want to make a point?

Ever been in those meetings where someone belabors a point?  They stress it once, twice, three times a lady....Oops! wasn't expecting that...

Anyway..Why is it that when we feel we have something to contribute to the mix we state our opinion, make our point, share our wisdom?  What if nobody asked for our opinion, our view and we gave it anyway?  How does that make you feel-when someone launches into "SAGE" mode?  What thoughts run through your mind?  Have you ever been in mid-delivery of your magnum opus and realized that half the room has glazed over?  Did you shut it down or try and regain your befuddled audience with over speak?

What if I asked more questions?  What if I asked better questions?  What would happen if instead of making points, sharing opinions and perspectives I inquired those things of others?  What if I led with questions, sought to understand and became more inquisitive?

Hmmm...what do you think?

Make Your Life Easier-Subscribe

It's great knowing that others are out there reading this blog, if you're new to the blog world you now know that it can become TIME CONSUMING!  Save some time and hassle by subscribing to the blog feeds by using a service like Bloglines.  Set up an account, it's FREE! and easy, follow the simple instructions and you're ready to go.

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Thanks for reading!

Say it in Story

After missing last night's service I was a little anxious about speaking this morning-David did a great job of stepping in last night.  We were incorporating a "real life story" element from some good friends and I wasn't exactly sure how it would play with the talk I had put together. 

From the feedback this morning, the story connected.  Stories are more powerful than sermons....always have been...always will be.  One guy said; "The reason I decided to stay at Springcreek was because of the stories."  Today a lady said; "That was so incredible, what a great service-I know(the couple) but I never knew their story."

Jesus-arguably the best communicator-told stories.  Did you hear the one about the Father, he had two sons.....A farmer went out to plant some seed....stories cause us to lean in, engage and imagine, learn and change.  At the UofA, I was privileged to have a history prof. who told amazing stories from which he gave tests..other prof's gave lectures-he took us on an experience, I stopped disliking history because of his class. 

Seth had a post last week about the power of stories to change lives...

Facts don't change people's behavior.

Emotion changes people's behavior.

Stories and impulses are what change people's behavior, not facts and bullet points.

We're working on telling better stories...I can't wait to hear and see what happens next.