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Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication [Kindle Edition]

Andy Stanley
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (138 customer reviews)

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Book Description

When You Talk, Are People Changed?

Whether you speak from the pulpit, podium, or the front of a classroom, you don’t need much more than blank stares and faraway looks to tell you you’re not connecting. Take heart before your audience takes leave! You can convey your message in the powerful, life-changing way it deserves to be told. An insightful, entertaining parable that’s an excellent guide for any speaker, Communicating for a Change takes a simple approach to delivering effectively. Join Pastor Ray as he discovers that the secrets to successful speaking are parallel to the lessons a trucker learns on the road. By knowing your destination before you leave (identifying the one basic premise of your message), using your blinkers (making transitions obvious), and implementing five other practical points, you’ll drive your message home every time!

“Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”

“Once upon a time…”

“In the beginning…”

Great stories capture and hold an audience’s attention from start to finish. Why should it be any different when you stand up to speak?

In Communicating for a Change, Andy Stanley and Lane Jones offer a unique strategy for communicators seeking to deliver captivating and practical messages. In this highly creative presentation, the authors unpack seven concepts that will empower you to engage and impact your audience in a way that leaves them wanting more.

“Whether you are a senior pastor with weekly teaching responsibilities or a student pastor who has bern charged with engaging the hearts and minds of high school students, this book is a must-read.”
-Bill Hybels, Senior pastor, Willow Creak Community Church

“A very practical resource for every biblical communicator who wants to go from good to great.”
-Ed Young, Senior pastor, Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas

“To communicate effectively, you have to connect. Andy has been connecting with people for years, and now he’s sharing his insights with the rest of us.”
-Jeff Foxworthy, Comedian

Story Behind the Book

Andy Stanley and Lane Jones are on staff at one of America ’s largest churches, North Point Community. Leaders of thousands of people, they regularly speak in front of large groups. They also listen to numerous speakers and know the disastrous effects of a poorly delivered message. This book is the result of their efforts to make public speaking—one of the most common fear-inducing activities known to mankind—simple, easy, and even enjoyable, so that God’s messages will readily produce the life-changing results they should.


From the Hardcover edition.


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andy Stanley

Andy Stanley serves as senior pastor of the campuses of North Point Ministries, including North Point Community Church in Alpharetta , Georgia ; Buckhead Church in Atlanta, Georgia; and Browns Bridge Community Church in Cumming, Georgia. Each Sunday, more than twenty thousand attend one of these NPM campuses. Andy is the bestselling author of Visioneering, The Next Generation Leader, It Came from Within!, and How Good Is Good Enough? Andy and his wife, Sandra, have two sons and a daughter.

Lane Jones

Lane Jones is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, where he lives with his wife, Traci, and their three children, Jared, Caitlin, and Madison. He coauthored 7 Practices of Effective Ministry with Andy Stanley and Reggie Joiner, and is the executive director of membership development at North Point Community Church, where he loves to write and participate in the creative process. Lane holds degrees from Georgia State University and Dallas Theological Seminary.

Product Details


Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Preaching to Post Moderns July 31, 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A casual reader might glance through this book and think Stanley is suggesting watering down the gospel in an effort to be pragmatic. This is not accurate. This is not a book about Biblical exegesis or scholarship. This style of preaching does not preclude in depth study. Study for sermon preparation simply is not what this book is all about.

This is a book about delivery. About half of all younger Christians today attend the top 10% of churches. These churches have learned to communicate in ways that are simple and relational. We pastors need to speak in a language that people can understand.

I went through this book and applied its communication principles to a "test" sermon. My preparation was no different than I might have done at any other time, except my delivery intentionally followed patterns laid down in this book. The results were electric. People were engaged. They didn't want to leave after the message, and conversation continued as people slowly left for home.

These principles will not be comfortable for everyone, but they are still worth wrestling with. We pastors spend the largest portion of our lives preparing for or communicating publicly. We must constantly stretch and learn new methods. Buy the book. Read the book. If these principles do not fit your communication style, fine. But make sure you know why they don't fit and that you are correct. Don't refuse to consider them just because they are new and novel.
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Warning to Christian Communicators... September 20, 2006
Format:Hardcover
I feel compelled to warn fellow Christian Communicators. This book may make you angry. It just might inspire you to change the way you communicate the life-change message of hope.

I suppose whether you are angered or inspired depends upon what your goal is. Is your goal to teach the Bible to people? Or, is it your goal to see people changed as they apply the life-changing message of the Bible?

If you are comfortable with people telling you "Nice message..." as they leave; If you really don't want to disturb those who sit under your preaching/teaching; If you are satisfied with merely reading your three points to your people and expect that they'll "get it" because it is a sermon then you might want to take a pass on this book.

However, If you are like me and have a burning desire to see people CHANGED having heard the crucial message you want to give them then you will want to read this book (several times) with a legal pad and pen!

I can hear my seminary preaching professor even now in my mind, "This is against all convention!" That would be a correct assessment to be sure.

I'll confess the title caught my interest so I picked up the book. Once I started reading this book I literally could NOT put it down. Please know that I have read many books on the art and science of preparing, and delivering sermons. I have had several preaching classes in seminary, but NONE of them challenged me to make ONE point! Andy Stanley did... give him a fair hearing. I know this: I will never communicate Biblical truth the same way ever again! As Stanley correctly states, there is so much that is at stake!
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars A relational approach to preaching July 30, 2007
Format:Hardcover
Anyone who has heard Andy Stanley preach knows that he is an effective communicator. Now, Stanley and coauthor Lane Jones let us in on the secrets of effective preaching in Communicating for Change.

The first half of the book is a fable about a discouraged preacher, Pastor Ray Martin, who is desperate for help. He meets with an acquaintance, a successful businessman, who flies him by helicopter to meet Will Graham, a truck driver who has just the answers that Ray needs. By the time Ray leaves, he has a new approach and new hope for his preaching.

The second half of the book explains this model of preaching, covering topics like the goal of preaching, how to outline the message relationally, and how to engage the audience.

The model offered by Stanley and Lane has two main strengths. First, it centers preaching around one central idea, taken from the text. This is more effective than other approaches, which fail to capture the central idea of the text. In trying to communicate everything, they communicate nothing. Haddon Robinson and others have also written on the importance of the big idea in preaching.

Second, Stanley and Lane also present a relational outline approach to preaching. Their outlines are built around "the communicator's relationship with the audience rather than content." They remind us that "the way we organize material on paper is very different from how we process information in a conversation." This relational approach can lead to better communication of the Biblical idea of a passage.

The book is not without its problems. The leadership fable, in which an unlikely hero rescues a hapless practitioner, may be an overused approach.
... Read more ›
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful
By Daniel
Format:Hardcover
Which is better, preaching that exposits biblical texts, or communication that changes lives? Having trouble deciding? Think of expository preaching as the mere transfer of information with diverse multiple points that no one--not even the preacher--remembers. Now think of the alternative, modeled by Andy Stanley and Lane Jones, as "teaching people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles and truths of the Bible" (p. 95). Still not sold on Communicating for a Change? Try assuming that Bible teaching only imparts knowledge that puffs people up with pride, while talking to them about themselves from the Bible (p. 96) results in obedient action. After all, "We don't live our lives by points" but "by emotions. We respond to what we see, taste, and feel" (p. 102). So why insist on an approach to preaching that requires rational understanding of historical facts and spiritual appraisal of their personal implications? If, by chance, you are still left standing in support of teaching the Bible to people, ask how you can possibly defend your stance since it reflects "a system designed in another era for a culture that no longer exists" (p. 89)?

Such a line of argumentation runs throughout a book that is otherwise brimming with helpful communication insights and techniques. In fact, the practical value of this book, the engaging style in which it is written, and the authors' own success as effective communicators, seem to have overcome any inclination on the part of its 89 reviewers to voice biblical objections to some of its assumptions. Before offering my own critique, I want to summarize the material I found most helpful.

Helpful Content

I agree that a sermon should reflect a clear goal that can be expressed in single statement.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars I'm ruined for the ordinary!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I dare you to do the same. It requires being honest with yourself, taking a look in the mirror and making necessary adjustments to your style.
Published 9 days ago by Warrick Strydom
4.0 out of 5 stars very practical
I enjoyed the book immensely. There were points that I disagree with but as a whole this book is entirely helpful. I think this can be a help for many. Read more
Published 27 days ago by Justin Jones-Fosu
5.0 out of 5 stars good pattern to follow
This book is easy to read, but tricky to apply. Ps Andy outlines a simple pattern to follow that will ensure listeners are engaged. Read more
Published 27 days ago by kylie
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, practical and easy to understand.
I always listen to Andy Stanley's teaching and he is indeed an excellent communicator. This book is very well written, practical and easy to understand. Read more
Published 1 month ago by joycee alo
5.0 out of 5 stars challenging the preachers to lift their game
As a leader in the church I am an agent for change. This book helped me look at how I'm doing this with my preaching. Encouraging, practical, and applicable. Read more
Published 1 month ago by jeffm
4.0 out of 5 stars Creating Memorable Preaching
Communicating for a Change by Andy Stanley is a very interesting and slightly controversial book on communication within the church. Read more
Published 1 month ago by nzfastbunny
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book
Great buying experience! The book came on time and I really enjoy reading it. It is a great book for learning how to preach.
Published 1 month ago by acp91
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy read Powerful Instructions
Very good book that I would recommend all who stand to deliver a sermon should read. Although I practice a lot of the suggestions given by Andy, I have never implemented them in... Read more
Published 1 month ago by David
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but not Simplistic
Having been a preacher for over thirty years I approached this book with mixed feelings of anxiety and hope. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Erich Roberts
3.0 out of 5 stars Tries to expand a roadmap mnemonic into a full book
This would work better as a youtube series rather than a book. It was helpful but it seems that the author tried to leverage a good idea for a roadmap (which turns out to be the... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Edward Anton
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