{"id":6705,"date":"2016-10-12T12:57:44","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T16:57:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=6705"},"modified":"2016-10-12T12:57:44","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T16:57:44","slug":"how-to-ace-a-global-report-to-your-church-the-five-minute-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/?p=6705","title":{"rendered":"How to Ace a Global Report to Your Church (the Five-Minute Guide)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"640px-sennmicrophone\"By Shane Bennett<\/p>\n

Is the pain as real for you as it is for me? The worship leader begrudgingly surrenders the microphone (just kidding, worship leaders!) to an ill-prepared but enthusiastic \u201cmissions person.\u201d A low collective groan rumbles across the room. By the time Missions Minute Man has adjusted the mic and begun to speak, no one is happy anymore. It\u2019s not as bad as a root canal or a sermon on tithing, but close.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this article, odds are good you\u2019re into missions to some degree, and as such have seen a ton of missions-related promos in your day, maybe given a few yourself. And if you\u2019re honest, you might admit: we haven\u2019t always knocked it out of the park!<\/p>\n

Give me another four and a half minutes and I\u2019ll give you five key principles that could help you become the mission-report equivalent of Charles Spurgeon, Tony Robbins, and Maya Angelou rolled into one. You\u2019re going to kill at this!<\/p>\n

1. Ask for some time.<\/h3>\n

Here are two things I think you\u2019ll agree with me on: that most churches could use more in the \u201csharing cool global-God kind of stuff from the pulpit\u201d department, and that they\u2019re probably not going to ask for it.<\/p>\n

So, job number one for a killer missions promo is get the time. Maybe your church is so super giant that this just never happens. No worries. Your Sunday School classes and adult fellowships are probably as big as most of our churches! So focus on them.<\/p>\n

Courage, my friends: Follow the prescribed path to get five minutes in person or on the phone with your pastor. Explain what you\u2019d like to say and why saying it on Sunday morning will help (not just help you, but help the church). If you get a bit of resistance, it\u2019s because your pastor wasn\u2019t born yesterday! Remember, we may be digging out of a hole here because of past experiences.<\/p>\n

If the resistance holds, try this: Offer to videotape the whole desired report, submit it to your pastor, and ask that it be shown. It may never happen, but being willing shows humble moxie.<\/p>\n

2. Make it great.<\/h3>\n

If you get a chance to share, pledge before God and the memory of legendary mission mobilizer Lottie Moon that you will not mess it up! Rather, you\u2019ll make it unforgettable. In decades to come, people who were present for your report will die with a smile on their face as they recount how well you did!<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll make it great by making sure it is:<\/p>\n

A. True. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Email and the Web will lie to you (except for Missions Catalyst!) Check and double check any facts, and resist the urge to exaggerate stories. Say things only with the degree of confidence you actually have.<\/p>\n

B. Important.<\/strong><\/p>\n

An average service is only about 90 minutes long. Time and attention are precious. Let\u2019s not waste them by talking about stuff that doesn\u2019t really matter. Of course that\u2019s subjective, but do your best. Maybe even risk running your thoughts by your wife or that one surly deacon as a test.<\/p>\n

C. Compelling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you can do it in the time you have, tell a story. \u201cHere\u2019s a thing that happened\u201d and \u201cHere\u2019s why it matters.\u201d Stories, told well, are almost impossible to resist. Leverage that.<\/p>\n

3. Make it short.<\/h3>\n

Plan to use only two-thirds of your allotted time. This will do two things for you: You could stand out as one of the few people who ever ended early! And if you do go long, you can still end within your allotted time.<\/p>\n

As we all, know, it\u2019s better to leave people wanting more than to end with people just leaving!<\/p>\n

4. Make it hopeful.<\/h3>\n

At any given time, a higher percentage of your church than you\u2019d like to admit is probably thinking God\u2019s getting beaten. Let\u2019s try not to reinforce that. I confess I\u2019m not above using some heart-grabbing statistics or a gut-punch anecdote to get people\u2019s attention, but don\u2019t leave them there. Presumably you have given your situation, so help others see where God is at work in it. Take a long view on what can happen. Paint a picture of the godly redemption that you foresee.<\/p>\n

If the situation you\u2019re reporting on is apparently, from all angles and as far as you can see, God-forsaken, go ahead and say so. But honestly, if you do that more than once a decade, people may think you\u2019re being hyperbolic.<\/p>\n

If God is doing anything, he\u2019s redeeming this whole broken mess. Let\u2019s remind each other of that as often as we can.<\/p>\n

5. Make it actionable.<\/h3>\n

When you step away from the mic, your audience should have something to think, something to feel, and something to do. Encourage them to:<\/p>\n

A. Think.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Present information that is so new and fresh it requires mental processing to integrate.<\/p>\n

B. Feel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pluck heartstrings. Most of us let our emotions have a pretty big role in our actions.<\/p>\n

C. Do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Give people a way to play a part! Even better if the part is somewhat tuned to who they are instead of just a need for any non-flatlined body to join your team. Invite people to pray, give money, invest time, visit, advocate, help, adopt, fight, post, and share.<\/p>\n

If you really want to swing for the fence, give them something to take home! As missions people, I think we underuse the tchotchke<\/a>. A tiny trinket will help people remember your cause. I\u2019m currently giving away small beads made from the lava of Mt. Etna to help people remember to pray for refugees in Catania, my beloved city that sits at the base of that volcano.<\/p>\n

Run your next global report through these filters. You\u2019re going to do great! Maybe together we can turn the tide on mission talks. Thanks for reading this and sharing with others you think will benefit from it.<\/p>\n

\u00bb Comment and share your ideas below or on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

image: Chris Engelsma, Flikr\/Creative Commons License<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shane Bennett Is the pain as real for you as it is for me? The worship leader begrudgingly surrenders the microphone (just kidding, worship leaders!) to an ill-prepared but enthusiastic \u201cmissions person.\u201d A low collective groan rumbles across the room. By the time Missions Minute Man has adjusted the mic and begun to speak, … Continue reading How to Ace a Global Report to Your Church (the Five-Minute Guide)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-practical-mobilization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6705"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6707,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6705\/revisions\/6707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}