The great communicators connect, regardless of style, personality, background, subject — it doesn't matter. There is nothing I love better than to hear somebody speak and evaluate. I can tell you if they've connected, I can tell you when they connected, I can tell you why they connected. You know I love to play golf but if you don't understand what a proper swing feels like and looks like you can practice 'til Jesus comes and you are still going to be bad. Practice doesn't make perfect — it makes permanent. So people who don't understand that connection is the key for a communicator — they can do their preaching, do all their study and the whole process, and they're still going to be boring until they understand that.
And how do you connect? You connect thru authenticity. You connect by being yourself and not trying to be someone else. You know what I'm saying? Stay in your strengths zone.
Preaching: Among preachers, who are some of the ones that you saw that you learned from as connecters?
Maxwell: I saw that Chuck Swindoll connected through humor. He loved to laugh. Loved to laugh with people, laugh at himself. I saw John MacArthur absolutely communicate, connect through confidence. John MacArthur, when you got done you were just convinced that he knew the right way. This is the way that I ought to go. I just studied these guys, and I watched them.
You know the great African-American preachers understand it so much better than the white preachers. They understand that they get on a subject and they stay there until they connect. Here's the difference between a white preacher and an African-American preacher: the white preacher has to finish the outline. A black preacher, once he finds his connection point he never leaves, he never leaves. He never finishes his message. Never does the outline right. But he stays right there. He understands that when you find the bait you stay there. So I watched and I observed — how long does it take a person to connect?
Jack Hayford was a classic example. It took him almost a whole message. He's more warm-up than anybody I have ever heard. You know what I'm saying. But I always stayed with him because he would connect. It took him forty minutes but he would connect. And it was worth it. He could land that plane every time.
So I began to appreciate people for how they connected and when they connected and understood the process of what helped them to connect. Let me tell you something about the great communicators: there is also the type of preacher who can communicate in his setting because he knows his setting, but you take him out that setting and he can't do that. So they are very strong in creating an environment where they are comfortable and they connect there. But because they are not really great communicators — they just are good leaders that set an environment for connection in their setting — when you pull them out of that you say, "What happened?" What happened is that they weren't pure communicators. A pure communicator reads the situation, adapts himself or herself to that situation. Figures out what the connecting link is and moves into that. It sometimes takes a little while but it ultimately makes that connection.