Do you need help with messages?
Curriculum
We could have a list of curriculum available to buy. We could sell it and try to make money. There is plenty curriculum out there for you to spend money on as it is. However our philosophy when it comes to a message is to be real with our audience. This is born from speaking from the heart, where God dwells. If you really need curriculum for your message, I recommend taking it as a skeleton and personalizing it as much as possible. Copy cat ministries and ministers are weak at best. When dealing with youth and especially skaters, they will quickly size you up and if they don’t find something authentic they will dismiss your words. Speak truth, but speak a truth you truly believe. It should be obvious, but if we share a message which is not a living and real truth in our own lives, why will anyone else buy into it?
The best thing to develop in preaching and speaking is our commitment to speak what we hear God telling us, beyond that a constant drive to better our technique is also profitable. Below are some good basic principles to apply when speaking to an audience and running your site in general. Train your team in these principles and review them frequently. We all have room to grow and develop, but the most important thing is just getting up and doing something in the first place. Trial and error is the best teacher we have. Build a personal understanding of what these principles below really mean to you. Subtle changes such as voice inflection, eye contact or body language can have a dramatic effect on your stage presence and charisma. By nature you may not feel extroverted or even a talker… so fake it. As long as your content is true to your heart, how you share it is nothing less than an art form: one which you can develop and improve like any other skill.
Techniques
- The battle is won on the night before. There can never be too much preparation.
- Your message preparation requires, thought, study, prayer and effort.
- Be more concerned that the audience apply what they learn, rather than memorize what you say.
- Always create a friendly atmosphere. Shake hands, hug, smile, welcome.
- Plan on arriving early.
- Make sure you have a checklist.
Opening format
- Music, Videos and Power Point should all be on before anyone arrives.
- Make sure your music selection is age appropriate, and exciting.
- Don’t hide behind the stage. Use the time to greet the skaters and encourage the workers.
- Exercise authority if you are on the mic. You are in charge.
- Don’t idle chatter.
Sound System
- Pay attention to what’s happening on stage and adjust volume as necessary.
- Play music loud.
- Always play music quietly when someone is talking.
- Play music constantly during opening to cover any dead time or transitions.
- Turn off music during message to eliminate all distractions.
- Learn how to use all the equipment
- Think ahead and be ready to change discs or videos or power point
In General
- There should be no dead time EVER.
- Always face the audience, never turn your back to them
- Make sure you can be seen and heard and communicate with your team
- Be excited otherwise the audience will not be excited.
- Be genuine and not patronizing.
- Credit people with intelligence and talk to them with respect.
- Never leave the area unattended.
- Have fun but draw the line at silliness if it compromises authority.
- Build relationships and be encouraging.
Introduction and open
- Start on time.
- Begin on a high note. Use ice breaker if you want to, tell a joke or funny story.
- Introduce the leaders and teachers.
- Share any news or upcoming events which relate.
Prayer, Rules
- Your prayers should be simple and to the point.
- Make sure you limit rules as much as possible. Teach grace not religion.
If you should do any ice breakers…
- Be well organized and not chaotic.
- One person should explain the game to the players and another person to explain it to the crowd.
- Judge the games fairly and quickly.
- Put someone in charge of giving out the prizes.
- Make sure the audience can see the action!
Preparing your audience
- Take a few minutes to explain your expectations
- Discipline is a process of education.
- Encourage certain behavior with rewards if need be.
- Have team members on the floor dealing with problems. The person on the mic should be free to speak, not focused on crowd control.
Keep things moving along. It takes no time at all to lose your audience concentration
Message
- There will often be distractions, don’t stop preaching. Get your workers to deal with the problem and keep preaching.
- Who is your model as a teacher? Jesus
- All of your Messages must be
- Focused. Stick to one point
- Visual. 80% of child’s learning is visual
- Mosaic. Multiple input, voice change, back n forth, etc
- Relevant. Culture today
- Personal. From own heart and experience
- Applicable Teach application of message
- Know the difference between Bible trivia and Bible truth.
- Capture the audience attention- don’t just talk.
- Use simple language. Avoid Biblical words and Christian jargon. VIP.
- Words need to be simple and understandable even to a child.
- The message is more important than exact literal translations. Don’t get lost in trying to be deep, translating Greek and so forth. The goal is to share Truth not knowledge.
Bible Reading
- IT REALLY HAPPENED!
- Keep it simple, short and visual.
- We are teaching people not lessons.
- Don’t get bogged down in minor details.
Object Lessons
- Do not ramble.
- Try to avoid cliches.
- Make eye contact with everyone.
- Use your voice to create excitement.
- How to teach an object lesson:
- Grab them with a one liner
- Educate them about the objects
- Relate the object to a spiritual principle, power point
- Apply to their lives
Life story
- Tell a true story and don’t exaggerate or lie.
- Flow between story and personal application smoothly
- Stories hold peoples attention, use them frequently. Jesus used them. They make deep truths simple to understand.
Concluding
- Know how you will conclude the lesson ahead of time.
- Bring lesson to a strong conclusion.
- Tie everything in the message together.
- Bring the audience to a point of decision and or action
Closing Prayer
- Providing an opportunity for the children to respond.
- Make sure your prayers are simple and short.
- Give the kids an opportunity for personal ministry during the dismissal.
Evaluation
- What did you do right? Get feedback from your team. Don’t be prideful. Listen to input and apply it next time. You will develop your skills this way.
- What can be changed?
- Give your team feedback. Build them up in love and encouragement and address mistakes. Iron sharpens iron.
Developing a message
I suggest choosing a book of the Bible, perhaps one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) and go through it a chapter or section at a time. Study it for yourself. See what God says to you through it and then take those truths and build a message from them. You can reference verses from other parts of the Bible too of course, but I think the overall goal should be to make Jesus known. Follow a Gospel from start to finish and you will have shared the life of Jesus, his character and ultimately Gods love in a broad way. You can break down the meaning of each verse and share cultural insights if you like, but stay on track. The goal is to show the way, the truth and the life, not show off your Bible knowledge. If you are not adept to research and studying the background of each and every word of the Bible find stories from your own life that illustrate the point at hand. In fact I would recommend this method over any other. Be transparent, share what you believe, confess any area of confusion and highlight Gods love as much as possible at every opportunity you find in a passage. Build as much application into your message as possible i.e. How does your audience apply to their lives what you are teaching them? If all they come away with is Bible facts and not a chance to apply Bible truth you have wasted everyone’s time.
Follow the example Jesus gave us. He told parables. Stories about the culture and world the people were familiar with and used them to highlight a spiritual parallel. Do the same. Tell stories. Find parables in skateboarding, music and life today and reveal Gods truth..
