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Humor can be a great way to communicate an important message or point in church, and knowing that laughter helps people relax so they are more open to the gospel makes its strategic use even more important.

Learning what makes something funny helps us in choosing the right content that will work in a church setting. Take a look at the video below and then I’ll share some of the things we can learn from it below.

Here are some of the things I noticed in the video. This same process can also be used when evaluating a video to use in church:

• The point: One of the most successful automotive companies in the world (Mercedes Benz) is using humor to communicate that their cars are both beautiful, and smart.
• The character: This video would be just as funny (maybe more so) if it was a guy, but the ‘blonde’ connection helped the video go viral (get passed around).
• Contrast: Notice the ‘contrast’ between the blonde and the librarian. How many ‘contrast points’ do you see? Contrast helps those in the audience (in church or online) notice the main character more.
• The look-around: The dialog stops, and the main character looks around and realizes (supposedly) that she is in a library. The books and people in the background are used to ‘establish’ where she is (a library).
• The surprise: After looking around she still does not know where she is (in classic blonde style:)
• The whisper: The volume of her dialog at the start of the video was louder than normal, now its softer than normal. This is another way that contrast is created, plus it reinforces that she is in the library, and drives home once again – that the main character is blonde :)

Humor is a GREAT for communicating important messages. But beware: Just because its funny to you does not mean it will be funny to others, so like the video above, use the power of familiarity, contrast, and a smart script to help people stay tuned in and get the point.

Those of us who are communicators in the church can learn lots about effective communication simply by ‘observing’ what is working in our culture today.

More than anything else – I want to grow spiritually, closer, to my loving Father, my Lord.

To do that I have to do a self-valuation to determine the areas that I need to grow in the most.

Here are my areas – the ones that I need to grow the most in:

Purity: Our world is saturated with impurities. Now just porn (but that too), but subtle impurities that show up in all kinds of places throughout our day. They are splattered everywhere, particularly in media (TV shows, movies, video games, magazines, newspapers). The REALity is there is a heaven and there is a hell, and we have an enemy who is very crafty. He hides impurities everywhere that are ‘designed’ to weaken our faith. As our faith weakens, our relationship with God (the source of our power) weakens. That matters because there is only so much room in our hearts. Our hearts contain both Light (the Spirit of God) and darkness (our sin nature). But how much of each is determined by our de”fences” and our choices. To the degree we have pure hearts, is to the degree we are close, full, of God. And here’s the deal, you cannot hear God (which is required to do His will on this earth) unless our hearts are pure. Not perfect – but pure. “Father, PLEASE help me be ‘fully’ committed to you and all things pure, and help me say “no” to all that is impure.”

Integrity: You cannot build anything of ‘lasting’ (eternal) value unless you have integrity. Integrity is the foundation in which all things lasting are built. For me, I need to focus and grow mostly in two areas: Integrity in my finances (managing our budget), and integrity in my follow-through (doing what I say I will do when I say I will do it). I realized I am great at giving excuses for not managing my finances and budget well. I do “ok” at it, but I know I can do much better. I find myself saying “I’m just not good at math” or “I’m just not a good bookkeeper.” The REALity is that any human being (including me!) can learn something new because our brains are designed by it’s Creator to learn new things. My main problem is that I have been LAZY. “Father, help me not be lazy in the areas of follow-through and financial management any more. Help me be a man of my word (and go shopping with the girls:) and do my very best at being a good steward of every penny that you give me.”

Prayer: I do pretty good at giving God the first part of my day and reading God’s Word every morning, but I’m finding out that there is NO way that I can HEAR God if I am not CLOSE to God, and that takes both quality time in His Word, and quality 1-on-1 time in prayer (i.e. prayer closet/just me and him time). The reason that is so important is there is no way we can be truly successful in our relationship with God (be in His will) unless we are DIRECTED by Him. To be directed by Him – we must first HEAR him. I believe that 1-on-1 prayer is JUST as important as reading His Word because it is faith in the truest form. It puts us in the physical position of humility and surrender. Following Christ and accomplishing His will is about alignment. The closer we are aligned with him, the greater our spiritual success.

“FROM THIS DAY FORWARD Lord I am stepping up my commitment in purity, integrity, and prayer.” How about you?

When I dream in the color of vision about Studio Church , the unique new church we are planting, I dream of a church that is different. Our goal is not to be different to be cool or standoutish, but so that we can reach not yet reached people with God’s amazing grace and love.

To reach the massive amount of people in our community that attend no church on Sunday, the Church must try different things. The same, repeated, with minor adjustments, just won’t accomplish our Matthew 28 mission. Like a teenager that has tuned-out the constant hum of his parents, many in our culture have tuned out the ever-similar-repeated message of the Church.

Many in our fraternity say they are different, but few truly are. With unbecoming accuracy we can predict what most churches will be like -before we ever go.

Youngme Moon of the Harvard Business School collaborated with XPLANE to create the following video introducing her new book, DIFFERENT. In it she punctuates the meaning of business differentiation. The interesting thing about this amazing video is that we could easily substitute the word “business” with the word “church.” Take a moment out from the norm and watch the video to be reminded of the need for fresh new ideas in the Church that have the potential to puncture the tough membrane of our culture, and reach hearts not yet reached with the love of Jesus.

How do you feel the Church should be different to reach the not yet reached?

Here’s Perry Noble talking about serving people outside of the church as only Perry Noble can. *Warning: If you don’t want to be in your face challenged, you may want to pass on this one.

• Teach people to read their Bibles…to discover the reality of Hebrews 4:12, the LIVING/ACTIVE Word of God.  A person who learns to hear the voice of God through the lens of Scripture is UNSTOPPABLE!
• Challenge the church to take care of “one another” instead of hiring professionals to do it all!
• Treat people outside of the church like they have a heart and soul…for example, being incredible kind to the server at the restaurant, DESPITE the “service” that they give.  They might have had the roughest day of their life…and the last thing they need is someone wearing a Christian t-shirt and has a fish on their car being a complete b-hole to them because their water glass wasn’t filled!
• SERVE the world we live in rather than screaming at it.  (The stupidity of some people in the church who believe lost people should act like Christians still blows my mind!)
• Stop looking down on others who commit “those sins” and realize that, were it not for the grace of God that we would be the very people we criticize!
• Repent of our own sins before we call out the sins in others!
• STOP trying to isolate ourselves from the world that God was so desperate for that He sent His Son to LIVE HERE for 33 years and then gave His life for it!
• Stop trying to win God’s approval through legalistic effort and walk in the incredible grace that HE gives us in Christ.

The world can try to deny Christ and Christianity all day long…but when a church gets on fire because the people are on fire and we actually do and become what Jesus has called us to do and become…I believe we’ll see an outpouring of God’s favor and anointing like NEVER before.

People in the church will hurt you. I know.

As someone who has spent many years in church ministry I’ve had opportunities to see the best in people – and the worse in people.

At one church I served as pastor I was totally blind-sided one Sunday by the church “leaders” and immediately let go because of my preaching style. The church was growing in numbers and health, which turns out to have been part of the problem because that threatened the powers that be. Just six months earlier… our family had sold most of our possessions to help pay for the move, endured all of the emotions of seeing our kids break off their friendships, and moved half-way across the country to a small rural town. The betrayal of those leaders

devastated me, my dear wife, and my family. It took well over a year to heal enough to once again move forward. As you maybe can tell I am still a little PO’ed (Pretty Offended) about the whole matter. You bet I am!  Mess with me all you want. Mess with my family and you take it to a whole nother’ level!

As hard as that experience was I did learn many lessons during that time, including that there is a big difference between those that defend the church – and those that defend people in the church.

Defending the church is much different from defending people in the church. Most of the time when we defend people we are defending their actions. When we defend the church correctly, our focus is not on defending people’s actions but defending God’s Word. Defending God’s church must include standing up for what is right according to the instructions he has given in his Word which means godly men and women must dig together deeply into his Word to determine what is the right thing to do. To be sure, upholding God’s Word is not the easy way out, it’s often the hard unpopular road – even in church. Because it’s hard many church leaders cave and end up defending people instead of the Word. The results? Let me sum it up with a popular 4-letter word: Mess!

In 2 Samuel 23:8-39 David gives an account of his defenders. These were the people who put their very lives on the line for their king and friend. What made them great is that they lived by a standard. A stand·ard : is something considered to be an authority. David’s fighting men upheld something far greater than another person’s opinion. They stood for what was right.

After my experience with that church, I determined to never again serve with nonspiritual leaders who are willing to place defending a person over defending God’s Word.  Perry Noble got to the root of it when he said “the fight to keep people happy is not a [church] leaders job…and if it is then Jesus really stunk at that… no matter what you do someone is always going to be upset…so please HIM, not them!”

Whether you are leading and defending a church, business, or family, true victory is found when we always come back to the standard of God’s Word.

What do a table full of blind people sitting in a restaurant have in common? Turns out, a lot.

On a recent trip I had a unique opportunity to observe a large group of blind women and men having breakfast at the hotel where I was staying.  Luckily I was also in earshot and could hear the conversation.  Although listening in did make me feel a little guilty, I was glad I could do so without being noticed :) and honored for the unique opportunity to be a spectator of their conversation.

As I jotted a few notes & quotes in my Moleskin it occurred to me that what I was observing and hearing could also be applied to building and managing teams in a church.

Here are five things that I observed from the blind people at the table that can also relate to building and managing teams in a church:

1. They were in sync. The blind people at the table moved things around the table as one. Plates were moved, drinks were refilled, and salt & pepper passed with ease. It was obvious that their working together was part of their plan for success. It’s the same with church teams – moving forward together as one is important to success.
2. Mistakes will be made. One of the highlights for me was when I overheard a girl say loudly to a guy, “You know when you started the fire in the kitchen and all the alarms went off? That was so funny!” When she said the whole table erupted in laughter because they all were part of the story. Successful church teams understand that mistakes are okay and part of learning to be successful.
3. Laughter builds community. The blind people at the table did not act like they had any negative challenges. They laughed – often and loud!  To be honest they were the only ones in the stuffy and somber restaurant that were having loads of fun. Church teams that don’t laugh often and loud are missing out on true community and some of what’s most important in life.
4. Each person has their role. It was obvious that each member of the blind people at the table knew what they were best at and what their role was. One guy was great at hearing where the waiter was and flagging them down, and another was always asking who needed a refill and passed the coffee jug around with ease.  Understanding who is best at what is an important part of a successful church team.
5. Grace must be given. Things did not go perfect for the blind people at the table. Things were spilled, dropped, and knocked over. But no one stopped and focused on that, they just kept right on going with their mission – eating and enjoying each others company.

It was fun enjoying a moment in time with the blind people at the table. I was encouraged by their zest for life and inspired to live my life focused more on chilled quality, and less on rigid quantity. Hope you are too!

What can be the difference between having active listeners or passive listeners in your church? Testimonies. Nothing holds attention in church better than a real life story.

The Apostle Paul spoke about the value of  sharing our faith stories to encourage one another in Romans 1:12.  What was true in Paul’s day remains true today – sharing testimonies of what God is doing in people’s lives is very important.

Some years ago my bride and I heard a short real-life testimony in a church service. Later that night we made an interesting discovery. We remembered the testimony we had heard that morning at church, but not the sermon. That’s where I learned:  The better we can engage our audience, the better we will hold their attention, the more they will learn, and the faster they will grow. At Studio we call this our ELG strategy. Engage=Learn=Grow.

Benefits of using testimonies in your church service:

• Testimonies help evangelize. I believe the sharing of testimonies is one of the most underutilized evangelism tools in the church today. The technology to capture and tell stories is now available to all. Inexpensive video cameras and computers with basic video editing software are now the norm.
• Testimonies cast the vision of your church. When people share their story they are also sharing about their church -your church! Positive things about your church will come out as a person shares their story and we all know it’s better for someone in the congregation to toot the church horn rather than the leaders.
• Testimonies help your people  know they are not alone. When we here the stories of others we realize they also have challenges and that we do not have to share our burdens alone.
• Testimonies inspire action. Hearing the testimonies of others and how they overcame their obstacles inspires others to keep going and not give up.
• Testimonies expand the faith of those in your church. When our people learn about what others have accomplished it lifts the vision they have for their own life.

Using stories in our church service not only helps to hold attention, but it also communicates God’s amazing grace and love found in Jesus. If you’re not sure how to get started using testimonies in your church, get in touch!

The plane was crowded and as God would have it my only seat choice was to sit between two big guys who were headed to a jazz festival in New Orleans.

As soon as my hiney hit the seat John on my left ordered two double vodkas, and Steve on my right ordered two double bourbons.  I wish I could say that the first thing that popped into my mind was “All right! Here’s a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus!” Nope. Not even close. Here is what I actually thought: “Oh dear God. Why did you sit me here!” Outreach FAIL big time.

As the plane, John, and Steve flew higher God reminded me of several important things:

1. God loves everyone, no matter their condition. Jesus proved this over and over and did not prequalify whether someone could follow him based on their past – or present – condition. If they were willing to listen that was enough.

2. All humans have an interest in spiritual and eternal matters. Even as alcohol and altitude increased, I found that these guys had a genuine interest in the things of God.

3. Being drunk does not close the heart. I knew it was only a matter of time before the #1 favorite pastor question of all time while flying was asked. “So what do you do?” John asked. “I’m a pastor that’s planting a new church in Nashville” I said.  After a brief (and expected) moment of stunned silence both John & Steve continued talking, but the course of the conversation changed. Now we talked about spiritual matters and I had a wonderful opportunity to share my testimony and how Jesus literally saved my life.

4. Sometimes Good Samaritans help drunks not fall down.  By the time we landed these precious men that God loves so much were sloshed!  So much so that one was off balance and stumbling as we disembarked the plane.  The fact that they were drunk as a skunk is not the point – the fact that Jesus loves them is. So I helped them not fall down.

I’d like to say both of these dear men embraced Jesus during our high flying adventure but to my knowledge they did not, yet. They did however meet a Christian that loved them in spite of their condition. My willingness to not judge, listen, and love may one day play a small part in their decision to say “yes” to God’s amazing grace and love found in Jesus. Plus, I made two new friends named John & Steve.

The other day I had this pop into my head:

Why do the things we want the most take so long to achieve?
Because we are the most valuable to God when we are hungry.

Why is hunger important? Because hunger creates.

Hunger creates:

• movement
• motion
• motivation
• action
• determination
• a reason to be
• anger
• a different view of our world
• new/re-newed vision
• fedupness
• I’ve had enoughness
• time to get off my buttness (*thanks Jason!)

Hunger creates…

That’s why hunger is important to God – the Church – and to us.

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