"Imperative?"
"I know it sounds kind of strong, Ray, but on the open road there"s no room for indecisiveness. Just look at signs along the road; Stop a Do Not Enter a Wrong Way! All imperatives because when your life"s on the line there"s no time for discussion."
"Fortunately no one"s life is on the line when I preach," Ray laughed.
"No, just where they spend eternity." Will wasn"t laughing.
"Right. So what is the first imperative?"
"Well, like I said it was my goal to see the world that led me to be a trucker and so, before you start to communicate: Determine Your Goal."
Will could tell that Ray was still not with him. "Before we talk about how to communicate, we need to talk about why to communicate. What is your goal as a communicator?"
"Um a I guess to make sure that people understand the Bible."
"So your goal is understanding."
"Well a understanding is important isn"t it?"
"Sure it is a but is it the most important thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Ray, I"m going to tell you everything I know about how to effectively communicate. But if you have the wrong goal, I"ll only help you get better at doing the wrong thing."
"Will, I"m lost."
"Well, son, the first thing we need to do is get you saved, then we"ll work on your preaching." Now it was Ray"s turn not to laugh. "Ray, have you ever heard the question, *Are you teaching the Bible to people or a "
"Are you teaching people the Bible," Ray finished the thought. "Yeah, I heard that in seminary."
"And what does that mean to you?"
"It means that we shouldn"t be so focused on teaching the Bible that we forget that our real goal is to teach people."
"So there it is."
"There"s what?"
"Your goal. You used the word goal. You said your real goal is to teach people the Bible."
"Yeah, I guess I did, didn"t I. My goal is to teach people the Bible," Ray said with an air of satisfaction.
"You see what I mean, Ray, it"s good to have a clear goal. Even if it is the wrong one."
Ray was caught off guard. "What? That"s the wrong goal? I thought you said that teaching people was the goal?"
"Actually, Ray, you said it. I only repeated it."
"So are you saying that teaching the Bible to people is the goal?"
"Well, it certainly is a goal, I guess, but I wouldn"t call it the goal."
Ray was getting a little tense. "Then what is the goal?"
"Now that is the question, isn"t it?" Will said as he stood and stretched. "Look, Ray, it"s not important that you know what the goal is right now. It"s enough that you know what it"s not."
"Why is that enough?"
"Because now you"re ready to adapt your approach to communication."
"Adapt it to what?"
"The real goal. Is that your only bag?"
Ray nudged the small overnight bag with his foot. "Yeah, my wife packed for me and I"d have to say it"s a little light. Where do you want me to put it?"
"Wait right here."
Will disappeared into the garage. In a moment he reappeared, this time in the cab of one of the biggest pickup trucks Ray had ever seen. "Throw it in the back and climb in."
By this time Ray had become accustomed to following orders. He obediently tossed the bag in the back of the truck and climbed into the pa.s.senger seat of the ma.s.sive cab. "Are you going to tell me the real goal or not, Will?"
"You"ll figure it out, Ray. In fact, you already know it, you just don"t know you know it."
"Well, if you"re not going to tell me the goal then what are we going to do?"
"We"ll talk about how to communicate for a while and the why will become clear."
"Thanks, Yoda, or do you prefer Obi Wan?"
The look on Will"s face made it clear to Ray that Will had missed the Star Wars generation.
"Well," Will began, "as I said, most of what I know about preaching came from driving a truck. I don"t drive the big rigs anymore. This here is the biggest thing I tackle these days." Will patted the ma.s.sive dashboard as if it were a pet.
Ray couldn"t help but think that size was relative. Will didn"t drive the big rigs anymore, but what he did drive seemed twice the size of Ray"s minivan. Will pulled out onto the street and drove a few minutes in silence as Ray studied the interior of the four-door pickup. He was looking at the various gauges and indicator lights when he realized that they were merging onto an interstate highway.
"Will?"
"Yes?"
"Where are we going?"
4.
THE END OF THE ROAD.
"What"s that, Ray?"
"I asked where we were going."
"Why?"
"I don"t know. I guess I"d just feel better if I knew where we were headed."
Will smiled and glanced at Ray in a knowing way. "And that"s lesson number two, amigo. The second imperative of communication I learned from driving a truck. Before you head out on the open road: Pick a Point."
The oversized pickup was actually very comfortable. The ride was smooth, the seats soft and roomy. "If the people at Meadowland could sit in a seat like this every Sunday, they wouldn"t care what point we were headed to," Ray said.
"Yeah, but they"d probably go to sleep."
"That"s pretty cold coming from another preacher. Even if he is a truck driver," Ray said with a smile. "So a what exactly do you mean by picking a point?"
"Just this. I"ve always thought of a sermon, or any talk for that matter, as a journey. You start somewhere, you go somewhere, and ultimately you end up somewhere. The question is, did you end up where you wanted to go? Now you can drive around w.i.l.l.y-nilly and hope you end up somewhere interesting, or you can decide before you get behind the wheela"or the pulpita"where you"re going. I"m talking about taking your audience on a journey. Taking them to a place where they discover a truth that will change their lives."
Glancing over at his pa.s.senger, Will continued. "As a driver I can get in my rig and head out across the country. And eventually, I"ll get somewhere. I may even see a lot of interesting things along the way. But if I don"t have a destination in mind, then I"m just out driving, aren"t I?"
Ray nodded.
"You see, Ray, my effectiveness comes from knowing where I"m going and getting there. Preaching"s the same way. I can talk about a lot of interesting stuffa"and it can all be true, for that matter. But if there"s no point, no ultimate destination, then all I"ve been doing is talking.
"You see, in my business a clear destination is vital. If you leave Atlanta to make a delivery to *somewhere on the West Coast," you can easily end up a thousand miles off course. Were you headed to Seattle or San Diego? See what I mean? But even knowing it"s San Diego doesn"t help that much when you consider the size of that city. But knowing that I"m headed for the Chevron station at 1221 Eleventh Avenue near Broadway in San Diego means that I know where I"m going before I leave."
Ray stared at Will, afraid to entertain the thoughts that were creeping into his mind. I"ve traveled a thousand miles to learn to preach from Mr. Google Earth. Just how desperate am I? Desperate enough. "So what"s your point?"
"Just this. When you step up to speak, can you tell me the address you"re taking me to? Can you, in a few short wordsa"like 1221 Eleventh Avenuea"eliminate all the other possible places my mind can wander over the next thirty minutes? When I get to where you want to take me, will I know I"ve been there? It"s what I call a one point message, Ray."
"One point?"
"That"s right. It"s just like an address. It"s a short, simple statement that summarizes the entire message."
"But a ," Ray wasn"t really sure what to say. Of course he agreed with Will that you had to have some important things to say, but things. Not one thing. "But I always have plenty to say, Will, that"s not the problem. I look at a pa.s.sage of Scripture and it"s like it comes alive. I don"t need help coming up with truth; I need to know how to make people listen."
"I"m getting the same feeling right now," Will said. "Ray, you"re not listening to me. Let"s try something. Ready? Forty-two, seventeen, eleven, thirty-nine, seventy-six, twenty-four, nine, twelve, eighty-four. Now, repeat those numbers back to me."
"Well a I can"t do that. I can"t remember all that."
"Good. If you could, I was going to drop you off at the next exit. Now let"s try again. Forty-four, forty-four, forty-four, forty-four, FORTY-FOUR. Now repeat back the number."
Ray answered, but he didn"t want to. "Forty-four."
"Very good. Look, I know it"s a silly ill.u.s.tration. But it"s an important point. If you give people too much to remember, they won"t remember anything. They"ll have forgotten all your points before they"re out of the church parking lot. Everything you say can be interesting. Heck, everything you say can be life-changing; but if they can"t remember it then it won"t change a thing. It"s like somebody said one time, *If you"re thirsty, don"t go to a fire hydrant. You"ll drown yourself before you ever manage a swallow." You"ve got to narrow the focus of your message to one point. Then everything else in the message supports, ill.u.s.trates, and helps to make it memorable."
"But I think that"s what I do," Ray said defensively.
"Open that glove box." Ray complied and what he saw surprised him. Stacked neatly were about ten plastic ca.s.sette cases with tapes of sermons. Ray"s sermons.
"Where did a ? How did a ? You couldn"t have known I was a "
"Relax, man. Pete"s been sendin" me those for the past six months. We send each other things, compare notes on hobbies, interests, things like that. Anyway, Pete started sending me your tapes after you guys met. He said something about protecting his investment. Reach in there and pull one out."
Ray reached into the stack and pulled out a tape. "I remember this one. I called it *4-giveness"a"with the number four instead of the letters for four. I preached on forgiving others as Christ has forgiven you and I talked about four aspects of forgiveness."
"What were they?"
"What?"
"Your four aspects of forgiveness, what were they?"
"Oh. Well, Christ"s forgiveness was complete. Um, it was undeserved. And it was a it was a two other things." Ray sighed. "And if I can"t remember them, why would anyone else?"
"Now don"t beat yourself up, Ray, that"s not my point."
"No, I get it. Why give them four things when it"s hard enough to remember one?"
"And remembering it isn"t nearly as hard as applying it. If we give people three or four things to apply to their lives each week, they"ll quit before they even begin."
"Okay, but how do you narrow it down, Will? I mean, when I"m studying and preparing, there"s just so much."
"Now that"s the huge upside to this whole approach."
"What"s that, Will?"
"That tape you"re holding would make an excellent four-part series called *4-giveness." You see, studying and preparing a message is like looking up an address in the phone book or, for a guy your age, one of those online map things. You"re going to see lots of other stuff, good stuff. Write it down and use it. Just don"t use it all at one time in one message. There have been times that I couldn"t wait to finish one message because I was so excited about a new insight. But you have to be disciplined. It"s what I call the See Rock City trap."
"Rock City?"
"Yeah. It"s a tourist attraction in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It used to be that everywhere you drove from north Georgia to the Carolinas and throughout Tennessee you"d see barns with "See Rock City" painted on the roof. Well, by the time you got to Chattanooga you just had to pull off and a "
"See Rock City," Ray finished the thought.
"Exactly. And insights can be the same way. You can be so excited by a different idea or another element of a pa.s.sage that you forget where you"re headed and start taking a side trip. It may be a great place, but it"s not where you were going and you"ll confuse your listeners."
Could that be the reason for those confused looks I"ve been seeing on Sunday mornings? Ray wondered. He couldn"t help but laugh as he thought of how many series he had preached on one Sunday morning.
"Okay, Will. I can buy that it"s much easier to remember one thing than three or four, but it"s hard for me to envision talking about one thing for thirty or forty minutes."
"All depends. What"s your goal?"
"So we"re back to the goal thing again? In this case my goal is to not run out of things to say ten minutes after I start."
"Look, don"t get hung up on how long it takes or doesn"t take. Besides, I"m not saying to say the same thing over and overa"like the number forty-four. I"m saying that every story, every ill.u.s.tration, every question raised and answered should point to THE point. You can be creative and funny and all those things people like. Just be certain it takes you where you want to go. Ray, I"ve driven some of the finest rigs you"ve ever seen. They"ve had everything from TVs to coffee makers and vibrating seats. And yet even with all the bells and whistles, if the truck isn"t headed in the right direction, it won"t get you where you want to go. See what I mean?"