This is related to my last post, and it also tells us a lot about the need to focus on really listening to other people when they are talking to us.
“Most listeners process information in the range of 300 to 500 words per minute (the rate generally declines with age). But most people speak at a rate of 100 to 200 words per minute, which means there’s serious excess capacity on the listening side of the transaction. And with excess capacity comes the tendency to daydream, fret, plan, doodle, and – if we’re not careful – lose track of what the other person is saying.”
Seth Godin writes some pretty interesting things on his blog about talking and teaching. They are things we should be thinking about in church communications. Here are some highlights, but you should read the whole post.
What’s the point of talking to a group?
I’m serious. We spend a lot of time in presentations, or at the United Nations, or sending our kids to school. We have orientation sessions and keynote speeches and long-winded oratory on the floor the Senate. Why?
Here’s my point: In our scan and skip world, in a world where technology makes it obvious that we can treat different people differently, how can we possibly justify teaching via a speech?
If you teach–teach anything–I think you need to start by acknowledging that there’s a need to sell your ideas emotionally. So you need to use whatever tools are available to you–an evocative powerpoint image, say, or a truly impassioned speech.
If it’s worth teaching, it’s worth teaching well. If it’s worth investing the time of 30 or 230 or 3330 people, then it’s worth investing the effort to actually figure out how to get the message across. School is broken. Legislative politics are broken. Linear is broken. YouTube and Bloglines, on the other hand, are new platforms, platforms that enable the education of millions of people every day, quickly and for free.
I’ve thought about that a lot as I sit in chapel everyday. I think to myself, “Is preaching (AKA: talking at people) the best way to spread the message?” I often ask myself how often people sit in a room to listen to one person talk. I mean, in everyday life. Sure, we go to school. We attend conferences. But most of the time, we are educated with things other than just one person talking. I’m convinced that good teachers include other things in their classes. I’m convinced that good pastors should, too.
Everyone who we were keeping the secret from now knows where Janell and Nathan are this week. They left early on Thursday morning to go to Florida to visit our family.
It was recently all of our parents’ birthdays, so we decided that they should see their grandson for a week. My mom was the last to find out today, and she told me that she was really surprised. I can’t believe we pulled it off.
I’m glad they are there. It’s good for the family to get to see Nathan, and it’s good for Nathan to see the family. They come home next Saturday, just in time for my birthday on Sunday. Oh, the trip is also part of Janell’s birthday present. So everyone wins out in the end.
So, I gave in and made a MySpace profile. There are a ton of old youth group students, friends from high school, and friends I’ve met along the way on there. It’s almost like a big reunion being able to catch up with them. I don’t know why I had waited so long to get on there. Maybe it’s all the bad press the site gets. Or it could be the addicting nature of it. Anyway, if you want to check out my profile, it’s here. Come be my friend.
