Love to get to communicate at camps with teens who do not know me. Why? It gives me a chance to once again focus on connecting with a group of people who I have no history with. The people I lead week in and week out get my style, my humor, my delivery. When you go to a camp to speak you have to work hard to connect quick so communication can be effective. People listen and process information better when they trust the communicator. So here I am this week, trying to do this all over again. With every camp it is a challenge but I know it helps me rethink who I am as a communicator. There are several guys that have influenced me directly and from a distance when it comes to speaking. More and more these days I am striving to be comfortable with who I am as a speaker. I have to be Michael Bayne, not a conglomeration or clone of all my influences. Tonight was one of those reminder nights. God worked, God spoke to kids, God helped students express their thoughts in small group. Go God! I am that communicator who is better at setting kids up to deal with truth and process it rather than the come down front "traditional" response guy. I grew up measuring effectiveness by HOW MANY PEOPLE MADE A PUBLIC DECISION with little regard for life change in the majority of people in the crowd already following Christ. Here is what I am finding my communication style is...
connect with the audience / speak truth clearly / apply / allow room for thought / get out of God's way
I think I just need to focus on what God has called me to do and how he has wired me to speak. There you it...my mid week rant as I process communication and what it means to God's people. I just pray at least I can be clear. There is just too much poor communication out there to just go through my "ministry life" adding to the noise.
Oh, by the way, this is all in process, I have the right to disagree with myself at anytime!
Sunday morning 26 of us from relevant student ministry head to New Orleans to serve kids in the 7th ward for a week. We have kind of adopted the 7th ward as our summer focus. We love the kids there, love that we get to go back and connect each year, love that God changes US as we serve there. I wanted to ask any of you that read this to please lift our team up in prayer this week. We are going to have video updates here on the blog so make sure and check in here to see what is going on each day as we SERVE new orleans!
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