CRAFT Your Messages

23 Sep

Less is more!

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple (Psalm 19:7)

For the past few weeks Matt Gregory, my pastor, has been preaching a series at Soul Purpose Church titled “Less is More.” Matt is a great communicator and learned a lot from Rick Warren’s CD series titled “Preaching for Life Change.”

Rick Warren is a master communicator. No matter what we do for a living, we can learn a lot about influencing people within our own sphere of influence by understanding how he communicates. When Rick prepares a sermon, he does a little thing called CRAFT, which is a methodology he’s developed:

C stands for collect and categorize
R is research and reflect
A is apply and arrange
F is fashion and flavor
T is to trim and tie it all together.

You can learn more about this by reading the article: “Purpose-Driven Preaching: An Interview with Rick Warren” by Michael Duduit.

The toughest part for me when I prepare a message is trimming the message down. I have to remind myself that keeping things short and simple often has the greatest impact on people.

What step can you take to improve how you communicate with others?

Prayer Power
Jesus, almost everything you said was profoundly simple. Forgive me when I complicate things by being too long-winded with people. Help me to be a better listener. Teach me to teach others with short stories (parables) like You did. Train me to be a master communicator and then bless me with the opportunity to speak to hundreds of thousands of physicians and health care workers to transform their lives as You transformed mine. I pray that You make Virginia the healthiest state in the nation. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Link of the Day
Preaching for Life Change Conference [www.pastors.com/pcom/conferences/pflcconference.asp]- This is outstanding!

Blessings to CRAFT your messages to impact others for Jesus!

Your Daily Blessing News
Tomorrow we will discuss how to “Preach by Example.”