Category: Communication
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Closing the loop
Donating blood to the American Red Cross can be an inherently rewarding activity. You know you’ve broadly done a good thing. You’ve helped someone. But look what happens a few weeks after you donate: What a surprising, unexpected follow up! It’s another chance for relationship and a reason to remind people to sign up to…
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Preaching and the mystery box
I just read notes from a session with Chris Seay over on the Collide blog. He’s talking about the power of story – preaching the bigger narrative, asking questions, leaving mystery. There’s something big here for people who communicate and teach. I love this. I see it. I want it. But can I be honest?…
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Teamwork means unity (or, boats don’t get anywhere if you’re paddling in 12 different directions)
“The successful company is not the one with the most brains, but the most brains acting in concert.” – Peter Drucker The success of a team depends on unity and common direction. And that unity and common direction comes from intentional communication, building relationships, listening, sharing stories, and spending time together. It’s not easy work,…
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Communication (and the President-elect)
I love it when leaders embrace communication and new technology. It’s so important to communicate regularly with people, and it’s time to look at how we communicate (is television the only way a President can address a nation?). So along with weekly addresses that will be distributed online (and other places), Obama’s team also has…
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Preparation makes all the difference
I’m amazed at how much thought goes in to things we take for granted…
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Simple wins online, too.
NewSpring Church just launched their redesigned website (complete with a redesigned identity – logo, etc.). Love the design. It’s clean, visually interesting, modern, and easy to navigate. All of the text is well written and concise. Look around! It’s good stuff…
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Because big words impress no one.
Here’s a thesaurus that only suggests shorter words. Simple wins :). [via daring fireball]
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Remove jargon. Communicate clearly.
The more you’re a part of a subculture, the more you speak that culture’s language. That’s all fine and good until you need to communicate with someone outside of that culture. It happens in the church world. Phrases and expectations can be completely odd to the newcomer. And let me tell you – seminary doesn’t…
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That sermon…
A few of you have asked about my first “class” sermon. It went well, thanks. It’s always interesting preaching to a group of 8 seminary students for 15 minutes. (I’m a fan of short sermons – but 15 minutes really is a microwaved message!) There’s things I thought went well, and there are even more…
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Get to the point!
We could talk about Steve Jobs’ communication style or the loyalty of Apple fans (or how I’m sure I’d accidentally forget about my MacBook Air and throw it away in an interoffice envelope), but instead let’s do this. I know some of you wanted to watch Steve’s keynote, but you didn’t have the time. Here…
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Vimeo’s where it’s at
YouTube is great, but if you want a jolt of creativity, you need to explore Vimeo. It’s another video site, but because it supports HD and has a cleaner look, it draws people who actually edit and shoot video. You get cool things like this: I love the editing style of this one. It’s not…
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Overcommunicate vision
We’re launching a new small group study at Glenkirk, and one thing I know but I’m actually learning through practice is that you have to communicate vision every chance you get. It’s something I want to get better at. It’s an area I’m growing in. Without fail, every time I feel like I’m repeating myself…
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Stories can change us
Picture this. You’re about to leave on a trip to Vegas, and two people stop to give you advice. The first says “Be careful who you talk to. You can’t trust everyone you meet. It’s a crazy place!” The second stops and tells you this: “A friend of a buddy of mine went to Vegas…
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Something I love about mega churches is …
… that they do the communication thing really well. Great pastors. Great teaching. Great media and videos. Like the piece at the end of this post from North Point. Like almost anything LifeChurch(.tv) does. Even cool stuff from Granger. Newspring. Elevation. Mosaic does some amazingly creative stuff. Because of where I am and how God’s…
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Don’t Hide – links to the sermon
If you’re interested in hearing the sermon I preached last month, you can hear it here. If you’d prefer, you can also search for “Glenkirk Church” in iTunes and pull it up through their podcast. And here are the visuals if you want to follow along. Enjoy :). I also used a video the folks…
Jon Sampson 