Are Using Movies as Message Themes Creative?

Since the “seeker” movement started it seems you are considered “creative” if you take whatever is the hottest movie or TV show in our culture and turn it into a sermon series.  For example, Desperate Housewives becomes Depserate Households, or American Idol becomes a series on the idols in our culture.  Here are a few more examples:

• Granger Community Church is doing a series based off the Fox TV sereis, Glee. 
• Lord Spice Soul Wash- Off of the Old Spice Commercial.
• “Insert Church Name” at the Movies

I’m sure you get the idea.  I’m not here to comment if this is Biblical or to get theological on your butt concerning this issue.  Other commentators have tackled that task.  My question is, “Is this really creative preaching?”

In my opinion it is not.

Recently, blogger Cliff Guang, criticized UPS for ripping off Ryan Johnson’s outdoor sculpture in their latest ad campaign.  See the art work below (You can tell which is UPS and which is Ryan’s, but notice the similarities!):

UPS simply lifted Ryan’s cool work for thier own campaign.  Not cool.  UPS doesn’t even acknowledge the artist.  The ad designers of UPS come off weak and lazy and a little bit unethical.  Are preachers not doing the same when they lift ideas from the culture and use it for thier sermons?  It merely cheapens the product we profess and writes the “unwritten curriculum” that we cannot think on our own.  We cannot come up with original and creative ideas ourselves.  We have to borrow from our culture.

I know the idea of borrowing themes for preaching is an effort to be culturally relevant.  I get it, but this doesn’t express relevancy.  It expresses laziness.  It expresses that we are not willing to do the hard work to be creative and cuturally relevant at the same time.  It demonstrates to our culture that we area little unethical in the market of ideas.

While I understand that we are speaking from an ancient book our preaching should be fresh and original.   This is what will make us truly relevant.  This is why real creativity is important in a world that is bludgeoned with less than creative messages every second.  We need to stand out, not copy others originality.  After all, we follow the Originater of everything!  Go ahead, describe the taste of a cherry.  Go ahead.  You can’t because it’s original.  It tastes like a cherry.  Don’t you think we can be truly original like a cherry if we follow God in our preaching?

Message Series for Sale

I just recently completed a series on the book of Numbers called, Wild Life, that was well received.  The 8 week series compares stories of the Israelites wanderings in the desert with the 8 skills needed to survive in the wild.  The premise is we all live in a wild life because the future is wild.  Here are 8 skills to navigate your life through your wild life to protect your soul.  Here are the titles:

Skill 1: Navigation

Skill 2: Finding Food

Skill 3: Signaling for Help

Skill 4: Finding Water

Skill 5: Know Basic First Aid

Skill 6: Build a Shelter

Skill 7: Build a Fire

Skill 8: Predicting the Weather

The series deftly connects the Old Testament with the New Testament as well.  If you want a sneak peak I can send you a copy of the outline I used to speak with for free.  When you purchase a sermon you will get a working outline, manuscript, powerpoints, and the speaking outline, plus anything else I have in there.  Each sermon is $5 and you can buy the whole set for $35.

Learning From Comedians: Connect With Your Audience

John Maxwell makes a great point when he says great communicators know how to connect with their audience.  So how can you connect with them?  You can have all the creative methods and ideas in the world, but if you don’t connect with your audience they will not work.  So how can you do it?

In the world of comedians they are taught to connect with their audience as quickly as possible, in just a few seconds.  How do they do it?  Here are some pointers given to comedians on the practice of connecting with your audience.

First, you need to be aware of your environment.  In the comedy world you have to be aware of the venue you are in, the mood of the crowd (did the previous guy bomb?) and the size of your audience.  Your timing and delivery are completely different with a crowd of 10 then with a crowd of 10,000.  While you may preach in the same “venue” week in and week out their are other factors that might affect the environment such as the weather, time of year, or a story in the community.

Second, connecting with your audience is directly tied to your confidence.  Practically, this means you are not in a hurry to get to the microphone and start talking.  You need to show you are competent and in control without saying a word. If you are not confident in what the Lord has given you to say the people will see that insecurity and dismiss your teaching.  No one wants to follow an insecure person.

Third, look your audience in the eye- each and every one of them.  “Direct eye contact is critical to your ability to connect (and maintain your connection) with an audience.”  – Steve Roy  I have never been a fan of looking at the back wall just above their heads routine.  Look people in the eye.  This also displays confidence.

Fourth, be a pro with the pulpit.  No one wants to see you fumbling around with the music stand, adjusting your notes (whether on a computer or paper), or messing with your microphone.  Be in command of all the physical parts of the stage.

Fifth, make sure you you do something that lets you know you have connected with the audience in the first 30-45 seconds.  You can tell people are connecting with you when they are smiling, keeping eye contact with you, and maybe, laughing at your jokes.  One way I’m learning to do this is by making a strong pregnant statement at the beginning of the message, and then unpacking it in my introduction.  I have also learned that when men are listening they are generally frowning and women will gently shake thier heads (but that doesn’t mean they are agreeing with you).

Sixth, be prepared!  There is nothing as bad as hearing a speaker that is not ready for the event.  Be familiar with the stage set-up, who your audience is, and know your material!  If you have command of your material you will display confidence and they will listen to you, even if they disagree.

Tips for comedians taken from an article by Steve Roye, a recognized expert in stand-up performance.

3.

Good Ideas Start Lonely

Hugh MacLeod, in his book Ignore Everybody writes, “When I say, “Ignore Everybody,” I don’t mean Ignore all people, at all times, forever.  No, other peoples feedback plays a very impotant role.  Of course it does.  It’s more like, the better the idea, the more “out there” it initially will seem to other people, even people you like and respect.  So there’ll be a time in the beginning when you have to press on, alone, without one tenth of the support you’ll probably need.  This is normal.  This is to be expected.”

What this means in your preaching is this: If you are a people pleaser, and many preachers are, then you will have a hard time convincing people of the creative insights God has given you.  You will be too busy making sure your idea is palatable to the folks in the pew, squashing it’s focus and effectiveness.  Sometimes you have to start preaching a lonely idea and keep at it.

Logic and Icon

Darius Salter notes: Christianity from its inception has been iconic.  The english  word icon comes from the Greek eikon, meaning image.  Judaism was born before written language and Christianity in a largely illiterate world.  Thus, we must noit overlook the use of image in the trnsfer of the Gospel.  In the writings of Paul we see him using logical argument on top of logical argument and couples this abstract moral thought with icons. Not the graphic metaphors he uses fragrance, peddle the word, you are a letter from Christ, beholding as in a mirror, treasures in jars of clay, earthly tent we live in, Christ’s ambassadors, weapons of our warfare, and thorn in my flesh.

As the example of Paul demonstrates successful engagement in preaching requires the creative mix of excellent logic coupled with the artful use of icon.

“Creative exegesis is not simply about parsing verb tenses and identifying the correct case of nouns, but allowing the creative God to shine forth in His transforming power.  Only the gift of creative speaking will allow a creative God to continue to create  and recreate in us the Living Word.”

Infographic

Here is an infographic on fast food.  I wonder what impact we would have if we had an infographic in the bulletin instead of an outline?

How Creative Are You?

The first step in being creative is to define how much creativity you exercise.  Assessing your creative chops can help you know where you can be more creative.  Here is a little true / false test to help you determine your creative proweress.  Answer each question with a true or false decision.

1. Once I have made up my mind, I seldom change it.  T  F
2. I am very careful about my manner of dress.  T  F
3. I am often so annoyed when someone tries to get ahead of me in a line of people that I speak to him about it.  T  F
4. I always follow the rule “Business before pleasure.”  T  F
5. Compared to my own self-respect, the respect of others means very little.  T  F
6. At times I have been so entertained by the cleverness of a crook that I have hoped he would get away with it.  T  F
7. I don’t like to work on a problem unless there is a possibility of coming out with a clear-cut and unambiguous answer.  T  F
8. I commonly wonder what hidden reason another person may have for doing something nice for me.  T  F
9. Sometimes I rather enjoy going against the rules and doing things I’m not supposed to do.  T F
10. I like to fool around with new ideas even if they turn out later to be a total waste of time.  T  F
11. I get annoyed with writers who go out of thier way to use strange and unusual words.  T  F
12. For most questions there is just one right answer, once a person can get all the facts.  T  F
13. I would like the job of a foreign correspondent for a newspaper.  T  F
14. Every teen should get away from his/her family for a year or two while they are in thier teens.  T  F
15. The trouble with many people is they don’t take things seriously enough.  T  F

(From, Color Outside the Lines, Howard Hendricks, 1998, p. 15-16)

Based on this inventory how creative do you think you are?

1- Leonardo DaVinici

2- P. Diddy

3- Bart Simpson

The good news is creativity is a muscle we can develop.   All you have to do is work it!

Why This Blog is Important

Seth Godin makes a great observation, “In most fields , there’s an awful lot of work put into the last ten percent of quality.”

For example, getting my golf score below a hundred was fairly easy, but getting into the low 80′s has been exponentially more difficult. 

Answering the phone on the first ring is a lot harder then just letting ring into the messages.  Cooking a fine meal is a lot harder than using hamburger helper, or going to Wendy’s.  A professional developing a logo is infinitly harder than you using Microsoft Publisher prefabbed forms.  We live in a world where the extra 10% of effort is what stands out.  it’s the difference between Mariah Carey and the wannabes on American Idol.

The same is true in preaching.  People can hear a sermon any time of the day on any day of the year.  With the internet, TV, radio, cell phones, apps, and podcasts people can listen to a great sermon anytime they want too.  This doesn’t even include the cacophony of media “experts” offering advice from family life to voodoo spirituality.  So why should they listen to you?

It’s your extra 10%.  It’s your creative signature on the message.  Most preachers do not take the time to be creative.  If they are creative it’s usually an afterthought or maybe something they think of during the week.  Your creative 10% (emphasis on “your”) is what helps the message God has given you stand out from everything else.

It’s your final 10% of extra effort that people are looking for, the way you communicate and care for the people you are talking to.  There is an old saying in preaching, “You are the message.”  People are hearing you communicate the Gospel and it’s your last ten percent of effort, of preperation, of execution, of the follow through, of prayer, that makes the difference.  (Note: The role of the Holy Spirit in preaching is not the focus of this article, but I believe He has a role too.)

That’s what this blog is about.  It’s about your final 10% of effort that makes your message from God stand out from all the noise.  After all, that’s what you get paid for.

Overcoming Obstacles to Your Ideas

Catalyst monthly just put out a great article on how to overcome obstacles to creativity.  While it is addressed to working in an office it applies very easily to sermon preperation.  Here is the link:  http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/may10_making_ideas_happen/

I love what he says at the end of the article, “Show your ideas some respect.  Creativity is not only a sacred gift and opportunity, it is also a great responsibility.”  It kinds reminds me of Spider-man!

What’s the most important leadership quality for CEO’s?

Turns out: Creativity!  60% of CEO’s said in a recent survey that creativity is what is needed in the coming years more than integrity, global thinking, influence, openness, dedication, focus, humilty, or fairness.

You can see the complete survey at this link: http://www.fastcompany.com/1648943/creativity-the-most-important-leadership-quality-for-ceos-study?partner=homepage_newsletter