Adam Sauer.tv

Creating a Hook Message

The age old saying in communicating is that the first 5 and the last 5 are the most important moments. Because of this, communicators spend hours pouring over their message, analyzing, critiquing, and trying to figure out ways to get people to stay engaged past the first 5 minutes.

The same principle applies to sermon series’.

I think it’s a shame when communicators don’t put that much thought into the first message of a sermon series. Are you following me here? What I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter how great our second, third, fourth, or fifth messages are in the series if we’ve already lost people’s interest in the series when they leave after the first message. In essence, we need to learn how to make a “hook message” so that people don’t just want to, but they feel like they need to come for the remainder of the series.

There’s something about tension and the mysterious that draws people back. Communicators need to leverage this to their advantage. Each and every time a new sermon series begins people need to walk away thinking things like:

“There’s no way I’m going to miss the next three weeks.”
“I can’t wait to see how this plays out.”
“I can’t wait to see how this tension is resolved.”

For me, I’ve found that tension plays out the best if questions are posed in the first sermon but no answers are offered. As communicators we are often too quick to give people answers instead of letting them “think on it” for awhile.

Perhaps it helps to ask yourself this question as you are crafting your hook message: “Why should people come back for the next 3 weeks?”

Just finished reading over my copy of Steve Saccone’s latest book, “Relational Intelligence.”

In all honesty, it’s one of the better books that I have read in the last couple of months. Maybe that’s because the topic is intriguing to me. If you’ve never heard of the term relational intelligence, that’s okay, don’t worry because I hadn’t either until a couple of months ago when Jerry passed me a CD of John Ortberg speaking on the subject.

The basic premise behind relational intelligence (as well as Saccone’s book) is that you can be the smartest, hardest working, most knowledgeable leader in the entire world but, your leadership skills and your ability to influence people around you can be lacking simply because you are not relationally smart. In fact, there’s a quote on the back of the book cover that states something like, “Some of the smartest leaders I know are actually the dumbest.”

As for Saccone’s book, it’s extremely practical. He goes through different areas of relational intelligence that a leader should work on developing. Without going into too much detail here are a few of the areas: being a storyteller, being an information collector, being a culture-changer, etc.

Anyone out there looking to learn how to lead better or perhaps even just relate to the people around them better, I would highly recommend this book.

Just a side note: my favorite chapter is the chapter on how he states that we all have a little bit of the Michael Scott syndrome. If you don’t know who Michael Scott is, he’s the office manager on the show “The Office” and he’s completely clueless to how relationally un-intelligent he is.

In “The Jesus of Suburbia” Mike Erre poses the question, “Have we (modern Christians) lost Jesus among the trappings of Christian religion?”

The basic premise on which the entire book is built is that, perhaps, the American church (and its converts) have tamed the Son of God and turned him into a civilized, respected, suburban figure instead of the revolutionary man that He truly was and is.

While the premise of the book is good and while the question posed is good, I’m not sure that the book is convincing. Perhaps this is just my opinion because the book seems to follow the same format as many of the other books in this genre: the author poses a question, the author explains how they thing is should be (using the life of Jesus), the author proceeds to break down all the areas of American Christianity that need to change, the author ends by summing up that America needs to change or we are in danger. I’m not 100% sold on the thought that this book is any different from anything written by Rob Bell, Donald Miller, or any of those other well-known counter-American church authors. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not referring to the debate between emerging and non-emerging. I’m simply stating that the argument and answers presented in Erre’s book are the same as the others.

Overall, outside of the premise being over-played, I think the book makes some good points. There are several chapters that I would consider definitely worth reading.

Would I recommend it? Umm… maybe. It depends on how much you like to read and how much time you have. If you don’t like to read and are a busy person, perhaps there is something better. If you are like me and you like to read, go for it. It will cause you to think regardless of whether you agree or disagree with Erre.

In Doug Fields’ book, “Help! I’m a Student Leader” he challenges student leaders with practical guidance on what it means to be a student leader. In a time where the phrase “student leader” has become so clouded and muddied, his explanation and practical advice is right on target. Laying the groundwork with service, Fields goes on to describe on a very high level what a student leader is, how he/she thinks, and what he/she can and should do.

This is a great book for youth pastors to give their student leaders. Many of the things Fields writes about are not things that a youth pastor could tell his students himself: things like telling your leadership how much you appreciate them; letting your youth pastor leave early as you finish the event; etc. This is a great read for students who are looking to further their leadership ability and talent. It’s a great resource for every youth pastor to have for his/her students.