My speaking was greatly influenced by a drive across the farmlands of Indiana on the way to give a business talk in Indianapolis. It was spring and to my right I watched this farmer plowing. In front of him was his faithful mule and following him were about fifty chickens. They were not following him to admire his plowing they were following him because he was turning up worms, I said to myself, "Turn up the worms and the chickens will follow." Chickens need a reason to follow; so do listeners.
To communicate with purpose, we need to start at the close. Before you try to communicate, determine what you want to happen at the close. How do you want them to feel? What do you want them to do? What attitude do you want them to have? What do you want to happen because you spoke? Be specific.
I personally want to change or solidify attitudes into convictions and positively affect behavior. When we are too general in our purpose we seldom accomplish what we should.
We must remember that people hear what is interesting and retain what they use immediately. A teacher of a large Sunday school class closes each lesson by "this is how you can use this on Monday," then lists the ways the lesson can be specifically applied.
If after speaking I'm complimented on my communication skills I have failed. If they are repeating something that is helpful to them, I have succeeded.
Good communication is more than a function, it is a relationship. To be effective, it must be personal.
When we speak for God, we should speak or communicate God's message for God's glory, not our own. This requires the presence of the Holy Spirit to own the communication. The spirit must convince; we can only present.
When we desire to be empowered, we must have as pure a motive as humanly possible. We become stewards of the message, not authors. As communicators we become the prism through which the light of God is focused into the hearts of our listeners. The clearer the prism, the more perfectly the light can be focused.
We are empowered to express our faith, not our doubts. Doubt is a cloud over truth. It does not change truth, but it keeps it from being seen clearly. I might feel more honest expressing my doubts to an audience but I am buying my feeling of honesty by my irresponsibility to them. When I read the great preachers of the past I never read doubt, I read faith.
If I might give a word of personal testimony, I feel that when I am speaking for God I'm never spiritually prepared until I would prefer that someone else do it, even though I've spent tremendous time in preparation. To me, empowerment is evidenced in those moments of holy hush which I call pregnancy moments, in which you know the seed was planted and life will come forth.
Oswald Chambers says that in prayer we find the mind of Christ. It is that mind we are trying to express. Prayer should be an ingredient of the preparation, not a sauce poured over it. If you have prayed adequately before speaking you won't need to ask the audience to pray for you while you speak. They should be listening. Praying for you while you are speaking generally means you are in serious trouble, like the black lady who called out while the white preacher was struggling, "help him, Lord Jesus, help him!"
Prayer helps me to exclude that which is extraneous —— those ego licks, those hidden agenda items, those subtle kicks at my enemies. When I'm praying right, I'm conscious of God listening while the audience listens.
A business friend who had a great testimony began to enjoy speaking so much that he decided to develop a second talk. He didn't realize how bad it was until he started giving it, then he and the audience both knew. When he had finished a middle-aged businessman came running down the aisle toward me, with his face shining and a big smile saying, "Wasn't it wonderful! Wasn't it wonderful!" When I asked him what was so wonderful about it, he said, "I did something for the first time in my life. The speech was so bad I prayed for the speaker."
Leave the audience wanting more. In a flea market for one dollar I found a sign which I keep on my wall: "Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough." Never go beyond the allotted time. Audiences are TV-trained to observe time slots. It isn't how much material we have but how much time we can hold the interest of the audience. Don't satisfy them so much that they'll never want to hear you again. A friend once said that he knew his speeches were totally satisfying because he had never been asked back.
The imperatives of effective speaking are practical steps to connecting the audience with the message. You are there because you want to say something that is helpful — and something they will take with them. Make your point, illustrate your point and create a handle for the point ---- make it work for the audience. And never forget that if you turn up the worms the chickens will follow.
