|
|
 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Monday, June 23, 2008 |
|
The Art of Effective Communication
Church of God Ministries, Church of God - General
|
|
By Susan Kane
 In today’s society we utilize every modern convenience to convey our message to those around us. Telephone calls, e-mails, text messages, and the written word all allow us to share our thoughts and ideas with others. However, despite the plethora of communication tools at our fingertips, it is estimated that 70 percent of people reach the end of a speech or sermon and have no idea what the speaker was trying to tell them. Truly effective communication skills are becoming a lost art, a thing of the past.
The Dynamic Communicators Workshop, held yesterday in the Church of God Ministries auditorium, provided individuals with the tools to take their communication to the next level. “Preaching and teaching are tasks I have to tackle every week, and preaching is the single most important thing I do. So, I want to be as effective as I can be,” shared Jim Feirtag, of Pasadena, Texas. Stan Harmon, of Oakwood, Ohio, said, “The Dynamic Communicators Workshop is a very powerful conference. I was amazed how informative and practical the content was for me as a pastor. I wish I would have had this kind of teaching many years ago.”
More than forty individuals, eager to learn how to more effectively communicate, came from across the country for the workshop led by . Those in attendance learned the importance of speaking with focus, clarity, and power to better communicate their thoughts and ideas to others. “The workshop gave us the tools we need to effectively communicate whether we stand in front of a pulpit or in a classroom,” said Theresa Robertson, of Elkridge, Maryland. “Everyone should take this class. I have already noticed improvement in creating sermon outlines!”
Topics covered throughout the day included the seven keys to developing humor, how to bring new life to teaching Scripture, practical insights on how to keep things fresh, and how to move an audience to action. Other areas of discussion included innovative ways to communicate through sermons, e-mails, telephone calls, and even multimedia presentations.
The attendees spent more than half their day in small groups and one-on-one settings putting practical application to the skills they had learned. Conference-goers also learned how to effectively use illustrations, eye contact, gestures and body language, and voice control to grab and hold people’s attention. Many learned that the techniques taught during the conference are not new or innovative, but they discovered how to craft these time-tested tools and use them to their best advantage.
Sharon Maxwell summed it up well: “As Christian communicators, we have the responsibility to give clear, meaningful messages to the listener. We have the most important message of all time, and it deserves our best.”
A version of this article appears in the Tuesday, June 24, 2008, edition of the NAC roundup/08 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (2.34 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|