This was originally a guest post for my great friend Ron Edmondson, but I thought it needed to be shared here as well…

The greatest communicators…

are the greatest story tellers. So if we want to become better communicators, we MUST learn to be better Story Tellers! (Among a lot of other things I know).

1 ~ Feel the PASSION

Why this story? Does this have any value or meaning to you personally? The most powerful stories are the most moving, and moving stories are birthed in passion.

Don’t just download a funny story you heard and re-hash it. Work in the passionate place!

2~ Open with a BANG

Like the old adage goes, we only have 30-seconds to capture our audiences attention. If not…Well it only gets harder. So…make sure your story has a captivating EMOTION tied to it. And you need to know what that is! You will need to mix that back in through out your sermon or talk.

3~ Close with a BUCKLE

Close it tight! Don’t let your pants fall down at the end! Your closing is absolutely key. So here’s my idea. Make sure you have the opening and closing down, even before the middle.

This is what people will remember, this is what you sending them home with.

Tighten it down, let them know they are not leaving the same as when they came.

4~ The story has to WEAVE

I have this diagram (shown at the right) that I share with those own our communications team. I use it illustrate the flow of a good sermon or talk. 

• We open with a powerful story

• Transition the story to our Biblical Text

• We interject other points of the story

• We weave the story through out the sermon

• We transition back to the story’s ending

• We use the stories ending & Biblical Truth

• We end with a strong challenge based on Scripture

Is seeing this process any help to you? Do you value the power of “story” when you communicate?  

Church Leadership Missional Pastor Preaching