The message doesn't begin when we get up front.  Hours before we start to speak, these three habits form the foundation for significant impact.  If you over look these three, you will be blindsided often.

Blessings,

Vance

Dr. Vance Hardisty

You've finished your message, you have a line of people who want to speak with you but, there is that person who seems to go on and on, or you are exhausted, or there are guests and visitors that you should meet.

How can you deal with the reasons that we as pastors tend to use that cause us not to give that person who is in front of us our 100% undivided attention?  There is a solution - a powerful one.

Blessings,

Vance

Often, when we finish a message, sermon or presentation, we sit down and figure our job is finished.  But that is far from the truth.  

When the service ends we mingle with the crowd and greet people who come to shake our hands and there is one thing that we do that will either tell people to believe us, or forget everything that we just said.

People don't even realize that they are looking for this, but they are.  Subconsciously this plays a huge role in our ability to minister and relate to people.  Subconsciously, this tells people whether we are real or fake.  Subconsciously this tells people whether they should believe us, or throw away everything that we just said.

Over the last few months, I sent out surveys to 1000's of pastors, asking them what they believe they should do in order to make their messages exciting, messages that gripped the audience and kept them focused.  

A number of people wrote me and said that it was not about being exciting, it was about the Word of God.  I whole heartedly disagree.  If you have a message that has changed your life, that will change the lives of people to whom you speak and do so on an eternal basis, then it must be exciting and it will show up in four places immediately, as you communicate.

This is the reason why we share Christ - changed lives!  

This morning I had one of those phone calls that puts you on cloud nine.  It was from a man who came from prison to my job site and worked for me.  Along the way, he found Christ, then he stole my truck, committed another felony and went back to prison.  

I continued to visit him, and over the next year, his life changed.  As I stayed in touch with him, he continued to grow, and this phone call was one of those milestones.  

Confession time.  

So I spoke at the first church and the pastor liked my message so much he asked me to speak in his place at a neighboring church that afternoon.  I agreed.

We had guests who had just flown in from India, so the afternoon was terribly rushed. I arrived at the second church about 5 to 10 minutes before the service began, and that's why the problems began.  I gave the media guy my screen program, they pointed out where my mic was, and I waited to be announced. 

Since I had very little time to talk to the pastor ahead of time, he knew very little about me an was not able to tell people why I was speaking.

Because I was not able to do a complete sound check, my opening illustration, which had so powerfully captured the audience in the morning, was interrupted 3 times because the sound wasn't working correctly.

Because I didn't do a media check, they couldn't get the computer to work with my presentation, so I was interrupted all the...

Have you ever wanted a sure fire method to make your audience sit up and pay attention in a way that didn't seem like a gimmick?  I have used all four of these and they are very powerful.

These 4 methods cannot replace great content, or prop up weak content, but I guarantee that when you use them, the audience will be riveted and the truth you are teaching will be remembered.

Blessings,

Vance

Dr. Vance Hardisty

Why do we do what we do?  Why do we preach, teach, share the good news of the gospel?  Because we long to see people's lives change.  For those who know Christ, we want them to be more like Christ each day.  For those who do not yet know Christ, we want them to realize their need for a Savior.

In all, our desire is for change in the lives of people.  Most people are resistant to change, and so here are 4 keys that will ignite the desire for change in your audience.

May God bless you richly,

Vance

Dr. Vance Hardisty

Pastors, Teachers, Chaplains and Missionaries, if you would have your words up front impact those to whom you minister, then these four keys are vital.

1.  Don't take yourself too seriously.

2.  Be honest.

3.  Interact.

4.  Let yourself be evaluated.

People want to listen and allow you to guide them, but to do so, they must trust you.  These four are the path to trust.

After you watch, please comment down below.

Blessings,

Vance

Dr. Vance Hardisty

First, thank you for the time you gave taking this survey.  I know you are busy, but please know that your input will bless others.  These results are going into a seminar that I am building for pastors, teachers, professors and chaplains around the world. 

This is the second follow up to the survey “What would you tell Pastors and Teachers” and the results have changed quite a bit. 

I asked pastors, teachers, professors, chaplains, and those on staff with a ministry to take the survey.  The first results were when over 500 people had responded to the survey.  Now we have had over 1000 respond and more results keep coming in.

I’d like to give you the results to date.

Question #1          0 = boring, 50 = O.K., 100 = exciting.  The average rating was 54 or O.K.

Question #3 - What is the one thing that pastors/teachers/professors/chaplains must do to be exciting speakers?

This question was fill in,...