Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (Jn. 4: 13, 14).
What is inside us comes out in everything we do and our communications are no exception.
- If we love sports, our communications will be filled with analogies from sports.
- If home and children make up our world, our life lessons will come from kitchen and nursery.
- If we have a cynical view of life, our words will bite and be tinged with satire.
We are all far more transparent than we realize as Jesus reminded us when he said that out of the abundance of our hearts our mouth speaks (Matt. 12:34).
Christian communicators have the ultimate reasons for wanting their communications to be powerful-the eternal destinies of souls are at stake. Christian communicators don't create sermons, websites, church bulletins, blogs and newsletters only to fill the empty minutes of their days, but to enable people to know Jesus as savior and grow in Christian maturity.
John 4:13 tells us how to accomplish those purposes with power. The core way to do it isn't reliant upon technology or spotting trends or attempting to be relevant to the issues of the day-though all of these actions have a proper place. The core action, the essential thing we must do to communicate with power, is to drink deeply of Jesus.
Jesus, permeating our lives and our message, is the key to communicating with power. If we spend time in his word; in prayer, in study, in worship; if his values and viewpoint permeate our lives it will show. It will spill out into every piece in print or online that we produce.
Not only will we be refreshed and satisfied when we create out of a heart filled with Jesus, but it will become a "spring of water welling up to eternal life." People are attracted to what truly satisfies. If you want your church communications to satisfy the deepest desires of their souls, first fully fill yours with Jesus.
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From Devotions for Church Communications by Yvon Prehn, available either as a free download for ECC Members or in paperback book from amazon.com.
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