Communicating for a Change: Seven Keys to Irresistible Communication (Hardcover)

by Andy Stanley (Author), Lane Jones (Author) "He'd seen them all before..." (more)
Key Phrases: one point message, most communicators, point preaching, Holy Spirit, God's Word, Willy Graham (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product 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

INSIDE LEFT FLAP

In Communicating for a Change, Andy Stanley shares the seven imperatives that define his approach to challenging people’s minds in order to change their lives: Determine Your Goal Pick a Point Create a Map Internalize the Message Engage Your Audience Find Your Voice Start All Over

These seven concepts will simplify your approach to communication and transform your sermons, lessons, and presentations into powerful life-changing experiences for your listeners.



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.

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

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590525140
• ISBN-13: 978-1590525142
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #1 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Evangelism > Preaching
  #3 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Evangelism > Sermons
  #9 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian Living > Leadership

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Preaching to Post Moderns, July 31, 2006

By	R. Kirkham "jrkirkham" (Rushville, Illinois USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warning to Christian Communicators..., September 20, 2006

By	Kelly K. Dunn "quadzero" (the Heartland of the United States of America) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A relational approach to preaching, July 30, 2007

By	Darryl Dash "DashHouse" (Etobicoke, ON Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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. Also, this book is not a homiletics text, and preachers would be wise to look beyond this book for a full understanding of the task of preaching.

Stanley and Lane argue that the purpose of preaching is to "teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible." They imply, however that this can happen by giving people application points. I am not so sure that application points always lead to life change; they can instead lead to application fatigue and moralism if the preacher is not careful. Preachers will want to wrestle with the larger issue of how people grow into spiritual maturity.

Communicating for Change reminds us of the importance of engaging interest, communicating a single big idea, and honoring relational dynamics in our preaching. It may be what discouraged preachers need as they work to improve their preaching.