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6 Characteristics Of A Good Communicator

One of the key elements of ministry is being a good communicator. Obviously that is true of the one in the pulpit, preaching on a weekly basis. But it is also true for a lot of other roles in the church as well.

A few days ago, I shared three common characteristics of a bad communicator. Today I want to look at six of the good qualities.

Microphone

Since stepping out of youth ministry into a preaching role, I’ve found myself digesting everything I can find on preaching and communicating. While I will be the first to tell you that I still have a long way to go to become the communicator that I want to be, I have found that preaching every week is pretty incredible, and I enjoy it immensely.

In my reading of books, blogs, and articles on the topic of preaching or public speaking, I’ve identified several characteristics of a good communicator. I’m sure there are many more, but these six seemed to jump out at me.

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Coffee Break – 08.19.2013

Coffee Break

Coffee Infused Socks – My love of coffee knows no bounds. Ministry of Supply has designed a new sock that contains coffee in the materials used to make it. This was a Kickstarter project, and I helped to fund it. Looking froward to getting my socks this fall!

What The Night Sky Would Look Like If The Other Planets Were As Close As The Moon – Astronomy has long been a fascination of mine. It’s probably a result of my love for science fiction. So, seeing these images of the planets in the sky sparks my imagination. Brings me back to some of the sci-fi greats I’ve read.

Incredible Self-Portrait Photography By A 14 Year Old – I love seeing people’s creativity. It’s amazing to see what people come up with. This is especially fun, since the creator is so young. Pretty fun stuff.

A Letter From Dad To His Special Needs Son – When a young couple in Australia found that their unborn son had sever disabilities, and would probably not survive, he wrote a letter. This five minute video shows some excerpts from the letter, and shows a lot of his heart. It’s worth taking five minutes of your day to watch.

3 Simple Steps For Studying The Bible – While there are as many different ways to study the Bible as there are people studying the Bible, this is a pretty simple approach to it. If you are looking for a way to start digging into what God has to say through his Word, this is a great tool to help you.

Another Big Mistake That Young Preachers Make – It’s easy to get so caught up in ministry that you ignore some of the most foundational elements of what makes ministry, well… ministry. Elements such as Bible reading, prayer, and others are crucial to maintaining a solid relationship with God so that you can be effective in ministering to others, whether you are in a paid ministry position or not.

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

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Memorize Scripture: 1 Timothy 5:1-2

After Paul finished the fourth chapter of his letter to Timothy, he moves from doctrinal and leadership issues to more relational matters. In this chapter he’ll encourage Timothy in the areas of relationships by age, widows, elders, and finally, slaves.

He begins by stating some simple rules for relating with various people. You can see these rules in 1 Timothy 5:1-2:

1 Timothy 5:1-2

Paul identifies the church as a family. This is an image that is presented more than once in the Bible, and Paul uses it here to give some instructions to Timothy on how to relate to various aspects of that family.

Older men

Respect for the elderly, especially men, was a very important part of Middle Eastern culture, and still is in many parts of the world. Paul’s instruction to Timothy is to treat such men with the respect due to them. What he is not saying is that Timothy shouldn’t correct an older man when he is in error. Rather, he should do so in a manner that conveys respect and courtesy.

Younger men

While the NIV uses the word “treat” here, the idea is a repetition of Paul’s instruction to exhort. Many ancient cultures expected treatment of people of similar age as siblings. Timothy is to exhort younger men as brothers. It bears mentioning here that the word “exhort” means to strongly encourage.

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Book Review – Judges For You by Timothy Keller

Judges For YouThere is a new commentary series on the market that has me very intrigued. It’s from The Good Book Company, and I have two of them on my shelf already.

My newest addition is Judges For You, by Timothy Keller. And I have to tell you, I am once again impressed.

Most of the time, I use commentaries only as reference materials for a sermon, an article, a lesson, or a blog post. But this new series turns a simple commentary into a Bible study devotional tool. I’ve learned more about the book of Judges than I ever have before through reading Keller’s material.

Judges has long been one of the Old Testament books I’ve found most interesting. The story of the Hebrew people on their conquest of the Promised Land, and before God gave them a king to rule over them, has always captured my attention. There are dozens of interesting stories in the book of Judges.

  • Ehud, the left-handed leader of Israel, who killed the oppressing king Eglon.
  • Deborah, who led the nation into freedom from the Canaanites with the help of Barak.
  • Gideon, and his fleece, and his wine press, and his 300 warriors who defeated the Midianites.
  • Samson, a man of great physical strength, but not of great moral strength.

There are more, but these are just a few of the stories that grace the pages of Judges.

Timothy Keller does a great job of digging into these stories and showing them for what they are, a cycle of rebellion, leading to God’s anger and a foreign nation’s oppression. The people cry out, God hears and sends salvation through a chosen judge. There is peace, which leads to complacency, and after the judge dies, the people slip back into rebellion.

Keller opens up these stories, and pulls details into view that a cursory reading doesn’t catch. He shows how these stories continually spiral down into greater depths of despair for the nation of Israel, and how God shows time and time again how a savior is needed. But not just any savior, the people need one who can save them permanently.

Really, the stories found in the book of Judges show our need for Christ.

I read through Judges For You from cover to cover, just as I did with Keller’s Galatians For You a few months ago. I highly recommend that grab a copy and read it. It will put a lot of the history of the Old Testament into greater perspective for you.

Out of all the stories in the book of Judges, which is your favorite? Why? You can leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Judges For You, by Timothy Keller. You can purchase it at Amazon.com in print or for Kindle. You can also purchase the additional study guide to go along with it.

Disclosure of Material Connection:
I received this book free from Cross Focused Media as part of their Cross Focused Reviews blogger review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.“

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3 Characteristics Of A Bad Communicator

My role has recently changed. For more than twenty years, I focused my energy in ministry on working with teens. Over the past few years, I sensed that my time in youth ministry was coming to an end, at least in the way I’d know it for more than two decades.

Microphone

Earlier this year, I left my role as a youth minister and stepped into the lead role… permanently. And one of my primary responsibilities is preaching on a weekly basis. Previously, this happened a few times a year. Now, it’s a part of my weekly routine.

With that responsibility in mind, I’ve been reading as much on the art of preaching and communicating that I can get my hands on. And over the course of the past few months, I’ve discovered a few good characteristics and bad characteristics of communicators.

In this post, I want to look at the makings of a bad communicator, with an examination of the positive aspects in another.

I’ve identified three major characteristics of a bad communicator. As I listed these out, I actually had a longer list, but every one of them fit into one of these three categories.

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Coffee Break – 08.12.2013

Coffee Break

What’s Inside A Cup Of Coffee? – This brief video from Wired Magazine takes a look at the ingredients in a cup of coffee. Breaking them down to their scientific levels, these ingredients aren’t really that appealing. But when mixed together and in the perfect proportions, they create liquid happiness.

Mind-Blowing Carved Book Landscapes – It’s this type of thing that makes me wish I was more creative. i would love to try something like this. However, I probably don’t have the patience, or the eye for it. And if I tried, it might look more like something from the Flintstones.

The Periodic Table Of Middle-Earth – “Chemistry would have been a lot more fun in high school.” And it would make a great item to hang on the wall in my basement. That’s how much I like it.

The Ugliest Churches In The World – You often see beautiful images of the classic cathedrals and some really stunning images of more recent places of worship. But these, while functional, probably, aren’t that appealing to look at.

God Wants You To Bother Him – Do you ever think that you shouldn’t bug God with trivial pursuits when he has so much else, big stuff, to worry about? That’s not necessarily God’s perception of prayer; just ours. He wants us to come to him with everything we have. This short article reminds us of this reality.

10 Passages For Pastors To Memorize Cold – While it hasn’t been as hot as it normally is here in Missouri, that doesn’t mean that these passages should be neglected. Here are ten passages that, if you haven’t already memorized them, you should. Pastor or not.

Sometimes God will deliver you from trouble. Oftentimes he will deliver you through it. – Frank Viola