Crowdsourcing the Message: Engaging People in the Church for Powerful and Effective Teaching to the Church [Paperback]

Jeremy Jernigan (Author), Joe Grana (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2012

Churches are defined by the weekend teaching and there is a range of expectations set upon the preacher. As the teaching goes, the church usually goes. How do we guarantee that the communication is the most effective possible? A preacher could obsess about working harder. More study time. More writing time. More practice time. But rarely is that a viable option to a pastor with other responsibilities and the same number of hours. The answer is found by looking to the Church as the resource that God has provided to ensure communication of His Word. It doesn't matter if you are the one on stage or the one behind the scenes. You have a part to play. Crowdsourcing the Message isn’t just practical. It’s biblical. See more at: www.CrowdsourcingTheMessage.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jeremy's latest book will show you how to capture stories and put together a team that will make Sundays come to life like never before." -Craig Gross, author and pastor of XXXchurch.com

"Crowdsourcing the Message can benefit the local preacher, church members, and preaching classes in Christian colleges and universities. The ideas given will help the small church as well as the mega church." -Dr. Joe Grana, Dean of PCC at Hope International University

"I can say that most of the improvement in my preaching through the years has been as much about listening as it has about studying. Jeremy has done an excellent job of putting these ideas into action steps and helping communicators take the message back to the people." -Dr. Tim Harlow, Senior Pastor of Parkview Christian Church

About the Author

Jeremy lives in Gilbert, Arizona with his wife Michelle and their three kids Gavin, Madsen, and Adelyn. He serves as the Worship Arts Pastor at Central Christian Church. Check out his blog at www.tomorrowsreflection.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 12, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1466479345
• ISBN-13: 978-1466479340
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeremy lives in Gilbert, Arizona with his wife Michelle and their three kids Gavin, Madsen, and Adelyn. He serves as the Worship Arts Pastor at Central Christian Church.

Check out his blog at www.tomorrowsreflection.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars First book ever read on purpose... September 8, 2012

By Steve B.

Format:Paperback

I'm just going to lay it all out there, I'm not the kind of person that goes to Barnes & Noble, owns a kindle, an iPad, or researches the next best thing in literature, At least not until I got my hands on this book. I can honestly say that this book is the first book I read on purpose and probably the first book I have read since the 4th or 5th grade, trust me I was never a reader. If we are not counting the bible then I can honestly say the above statement is in fact true, I have read a lot of the bible just not from front to back, but I am working on it and I do read the bible (on purpose) every day.

After reading Crowdsourcing The Message from Jeremy Jernigan, I realized that deep within my being there has been a yearning for more literature, I never knew how reading could be such a powerful substance that feeds your mind and grows your intellect. I must have missed my entire educational life as I was never taught the importance of reading until I read this book. Or maybe it was my ADHD that caught me off guard for so long... (Insert laugh here)

Joking aside, what I found was remarkable, I found that our pastors and leaders in the church read the bible constantly as well as read books from a lot of different authors from within and sometimes outside of the Christian circle. Growing in their understanding of life in general and trying to relate to the crowd that they are faced with presenting a message too each and every week in a never ending world of faith seekers needing to be united to Jesus through an understandable message pointing them in the right direction without being too out of touch. Crowdsourcing the Message unlocks a great weapon to dealing with the never ending wave of weekend services, by engaging those that want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. With the help of the congregation the leadership is then presented with more ideas to feed off of and a better understanding of what the weekend services should touch on. With some comedic stories from Jeremy (especially the one about Gilbert), you are sure to get a great chuckle out of this book and a serious in depth look into the weekend services at Central. I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn about becoming a leader or is just curious to see how the church can work together for the greater good. Very well done Jeremy, I applaud your writing skills and I look forward to reading more books from here on out!

-Steve

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars It's a concept that requires humility... August 26, 2012

By Justin Narducci

Format:Paperback

Jernigan's first book is based on a simple premise: build a strong team to brainstorm sermon preparation with and it will edify the preacher and the Church. Having watched Jernigan play this out in practical terms from afar, he is `practicing what he preaches' (pun intended) for the betterment of those who listen to his sermons on a weekly basis.

As I read through the book, I kept wondering to myself `why isn't everyone doing this?' It's so simple and takes relatively little effort...and then I realized what it does take that many preachers don't have readily available - humility. It takes humility to ask others for help, or to take input from lay members of the congregation. I'm so grateful that Jernigan has the humility to model a new style of preaching that is inclusive of opinions that don't align with yours, political views that differ, gender imbalances that go unacknowledged and even generational differences that often go unaddressed.

It is unfortunate that the title may find little relevance outside of a Christian Church audience, because there are many valuable lessons that apply to all facets of life. I hope Jernigan will write a second book about the secret life of a preacher - maybe under a pseudo name? Some of the anecdotes from this book are very funny (Jesus in the mildew, comes to mind).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I will swear to the benefits of using these techniques... June 29, 2012

By Chester Qualls

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I read this book on my Kindle, I am not a preacher -- I sit in the seats listening to preachers. I am working on my second book which I believe is going to be stories of two Pastors with very different approaches to ministry. For one of the Pastor's stories I envisioned him having a collaborative approach to sermon preparation and "Crowdsourcing the Message" seemed like it would give me some better material. It most definitely did. Not only did it give me better material but it also convinced me to change how I approached this book over the last one I wrote. I decided to get help much earlier in the process. Crowdsourcing is a technique than can help just about any process, creative or otherwise -- So why not use it for sermon prep? End result: Good feeling that you aren't all alone, knowledge that what you say will have a positive impact on at least some percentage of the listeners, and truly better sermons.

How do I know the sermons will be better? Jeremy is a Pastor at the church I regularly attend #disclaimer. I have known for a while that the preaching team here is a cut above as far as how they communicate the information, particularly the Sr. Pastor and Jeremy. My In-Laws who have visited say the same thing. Now I know the "not-so-secret" way they accomplish this. From a guy who has sat in the congregation for over 50 years I can say the results of using this technique are outstanding.