Comments on: Politics and Preaching

By: scott

scott — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:58:42 +0000

I agree with your assessment. The role I have play at onevillagecoffee.com has shown me what my giftings are. My response has been to develop new relationships in the DE, MD, D.C, VA area for our mission to help the world one village at a time.

Go eagles!

love you man…

hope to hang out soon…

By: persuasion « Interstitial

persuasion « Interstitial — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:24:54 +0000

[...] Hiestand has an exellent post up about persuasion in sermons. His illustration is the speeches given at the political conventions [...]

By: the church geek » Blog Archive » Wednesday Roundup

the church geek » Blog Archive » Wednesday Roundup — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:42:13 +0000

[...] 1.) After listening to the rhetoric of the DNC and RNC, Todd Heistand offers some excellent reflections on preaching. [...]

By: ryanb

ryanb — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:18:39 +0000

Hey Todd… Some interesting statistics/research related to this that was shared with me in a recent seminary class I took. We were talking about this very idea of persuasion and how the brain responds to one-sided appeals (like preaching). When a person is listening to a one-sided appeal, they of course are processing the information at various levels of conciousness. Their brain begins to increase it’s amount of inner speech (a level internal communication in practical conciousness). In a typical conversation, the brain will process through ideas with about 400 words per minute of this inner speech, when a one-sided appeal is being presented, that jumps to 4,000 words per minute. The listener essentially shuts down any possibility of being persuaded and begins to think of all the reasons why they disagree with the speaker. The more intense the appeal, the more intense the inner speech and the less likely someone is to be persuaded. In fact, some research shows that a person listening to a one sided appeal (that they don’t already agree with) will be 80% more likely to be in further disagreement with the person giving the appeal after it’s all said and done.
It’s interesting to also note, that Jesus had his times of one-sided appeal, but it was typically with a “friendly audience” (i.e. a party convention) who were more likely to nod there heads in agreement (or wave their signs and cheer loudly every thirty seconds). The other times he seems to use the one sided appeal is when the result of any type of conversation is a fairly foregone conclusion and it’s a quick way to make a point and get out of a situation (such as with the Pharisees).
Finding ways to effectively preach is definitely a challenge!

By: esther

esther — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:04:40 +0000

Todd – funny thing, just minutes before reading your post i was thinking about this same idea! You know I think for people, myself included, sometimes its easier to just stick with our current form of thinking. To be challenged in our beliefs or ideas takes humility on our part and a willingness to say I’m going to research that out or seek God on that topic. Way too much effort! And then as leaders/public speakers its a more challenging route to take to think about how can I get people to explore a different line of thinking – its so much easier to say what we want people to hear. We come out feeling good about ourselves because of the pats on the back for an awesome speech. I am a big fan of iron sharpening iron. I believe that is where the refinement comes and how we can truly accomplish things as one nation/body.

By: jim

jim — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:53:05 +0000

Hi Todd, this post is awesome!! ;)

I like your thoughts here. I wonder are there some specific ways you invite people to consideration? What has changed about your preaching style to invite this kind of thinking?

By: Preaching and Political Speeches… « Painfully Hopeful

Preaching and Political Speeches… « Painfully Hopeful — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:16:19 +0000

[...] 9, 2008 · No Comments My Friend Todd asks this question on his [...]

By: wezlo

wezlo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 11:12:30 +0000

Nice post Todd. I couldn’t even watch the conventions this year, I don’t understand why we should think of something that everyone says, “It’s all scripted, nothing surprising happens on the stage” as high drama.

I think the problem with a lot of preaching is that it’s about being more right than “them.” I kinda take the tack that sermons ought to be about Jesus and how WE do/don’t reflect him (well, mostly it’s “I,” the rest of the congregation just gets to listen to my wrestling). I sum it up this way, “The mirror shouldn’t be turned outward against people, but on ourselves – with the accompanying question, ‘Do we see Jesus in it?’”

You’re also right, I’ll take 10, “I’m not sure I agree with you, but you gave me some things to chew on”’s over 1000 “Great sermon, pastor”’s any day of the week.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:30:52 +0000

Hi Todd,

Thanks for writing this.

I think you’re raising really important questions and ideas. For my job, I spend a lot of time thinking about how people can talk with each other in constructive ways across political and other differences. I work with Jewish folks in particular, but I’m really interested in the conversations that happen in churches too, and in all kinds of other settings.

I’ve come across a couple of really interesting short articles that I thought you might appreciate. Brian McLaren published a fascinating piece in Sojourners in the summer of 2004 called “Praying for Good Politics.” The essay outlines his ideas about how to speak most effectively about controversial issues from the pulpit, and about how to foster constructive discussion within churches about those issues. You can find it at:

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19458/praying_for_good_politics/

This past summer, Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller, who is a leader in a Jewish peace and justice organization called Brit Tzedek v’Shalom, published a short essay called “3 Strategies for ‘Successful’ Conversations about Israel.” It briefly lays out some fascinating lessons she has learned from engaging with her congregants around controversial issues related to Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

You can find it at: http://ga3.org/btvshalom/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=27810108

Good luck with all you’re doing!

–Mitch

By: Black Coffee Reflections » pssst - Christian shirts don’t work » Blogging between the sacred and the trivial while drinking my coffee black.

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:59:36 +0000

[...] they only rally Christian (Todd Hiestand has an interesting post regarding preaching) and offend the skeptical, the hurting, the marginalized and the normal. [...]