I also plan different series to reach different groups of people, but not exclusively
so. In other words, I believe every message I do should communicate something
to everyone in the audience. Whether we're doing a series on decision-making,
the church's mission, dating or parenting, there should be something for everyone
in those messages. Singles can benefit from messages on marriage and parenting,
parents can benefits from messages on dating, new believers need to hear about
spiritual maturity and the mature need to be reminded of the basics.
Something
I try to do is what I call "speaking to the chairs." Let's extend
the analogy of serving the bread of life to the hungry and think about the different
guests who might be sitting around your church's dinner table, so to speak,
on any given weekend — the new believer, the person investigating Christianity,
the person going through marital trouble, the struggling single parent, and
so on. I do not believe in giving messages just for seekers or just for believers,
because in today's post-modern climate, everyone is seeking at some level. So
I am a seeker-targeted person in the sense that I speak to everyone. When you
proclaim the truth creatively, it can feed everyone, no matter what their spiritual
level or place in life.
Advertisement
Make
Creativity a Constant
In
the end, the question should not be, "How can I become creative?"
The question you ask should be, "What's keeping me from unleashing my creativity?"
Because if we're going to get the chicken sandwiches beyond the mouths of the
already fed, if we're going to take the bread of life to the starving people
as they pass by, then we must unleash a life-style and ministry marked by creativity.
In
other words, creativity must remain a constant in the local church. After all,
the Father invented creativity, the Son modeled it, and the Holy Spirit empowers
it. And people desperately need it.
______________________
Series:
RPMs
Message Titles:
“1000 RPMs” “2000 RPMs” “3000 RPMs”
In
this series, we borrowed a 2004 Ferrari Spider 355 convertible sports car that
I actually drove onto the stage during each message:
[excerpt from
“1000 RPMs”] “This is a Ferrari — the dream car of most human beings . . . Ferraris
are special cars. They kick out some serious RPM’s.
And we’re beginning a brand new series today called RPM’s, Recognizing
Potential Mates . . .
It’s what we don’t do before we say, “I do,” that gives our “I do’s”
some great octane and allows us to hit on all cylinders.”