Ten Commandments For Effective Speaking
(Batsell Barrett Baxter)
[This material is taken from the book, "Speaking For The Master - A study of Public Speaking for Christian Men", by Batsell Barrett Baxter.]
I. TAKE AIM: SELECT A GOAL WHICH YOU CAN ACHIEVE. To make possible an intelligent beginning at preparation for any speech, the speaker must set a goal for himself. Otherwise both the preparation and the speech will be "like a leaf dancing on a tree," constantly in movement, but getting nowhere. Many a speech lacks a proper goal, and its rambling, purposeless, fruitless nature is often painfully apparent to the audience and disappointing to the speaker. Before facing an audience a man needs to decide what he aims to accomplish, and of course it ought to be an aim within reach. Having chosen his goal, he should write it out in a purpose sentence - or proposition - and then direct all his efforts toward achieving it.
II. CHOOSE A SUBJECT WHICH FITS YOU, THE OCCASION, AND THE AUDIENCE. Now the speaker is in a position to choose a subject. The number of possible subjects is determined primarily by three factors: (a) the speaker's own background of information or experience; (b) appropriateness or inappropriateness to the occasion; (c) the interests, training, and mood of the audience.
III. EARN THE RIGHT TO SPEAK BY ADEQUATE WORK AND STUDY. Before taking the time of other people a speaker should earn the right to speak by study and work that will enable him to give them something in return for their attention. A man who addresses one hundred people for half an hour has used up fifty hours of their collective time. A speech must contain a great deal of meat in order to be worthy of the time it takes; and that meat needs to be well prepared and ready to be assimilated.
IV. TOUCH THE BASIC HUMAN MOTIVES - THE SPRINGS OF RESPONSE. Man has certain basic desires, or drives, or urges. The speaker who achieves a high degree of success in influencing people has learned to direct his appeal to their God-given, basic human motives. it is comparatively ineffective to tell a man he ought to go to the Red Cross and give a pint of blood. Instead, point out that a pint of his blood will produce gamma globulin which will help to prevent "polio" from striking down his own or some other child.
V. MAKE A THOROUGH OUTLINE. Men are seldom moved by a careless, haphazard presentation of facts. They expect and appreciate some reasonable plan or system. In order to provide this a speaker usually must draft a careful outline of his material. His main headings stand out for special emphasis, and his subordinate points support them. Choosing and arranging the headings is of vital importance. The outline is to a speech what the skeleton is to the human body.
VI. BEGIN AND END THE SPEECH IN A FORCEFUL MANNER. The very beginning and the end are the places of greatest emphasis in any speech. If the speaker is to gain and hold the attention of his hearers, he must begin well, for the first few sentences often win or lose the battle. It may also be son or lost in the closing sentences. Often the entire speech is built toward a climax. An otherwise good speech can be ruined by a weak beginning or an ineffective close.
VII. BE CONCRETE, PICTORIAL, AND VIVID. Human beings think in terms of pictures. Henry Ward Beecher states, "He who would move men must either tell stories or paint pictures." It has been said, "One picture is worth a thousand words." It is the speaker's task to paint pictures with words, so that the hearers carry away concrete and videoed impressions rather than vague concepts or generalities.
VIII. KEEP MOVING TOWARD YOUR GOAL. Hundreds of interesting side roads beckon to the traveler when he sets out on a journey, but he must ignore them in order to reach his destination. So, in speaking, every subject that one might choose has many related side areas that must be ignored. Before any fact, quotation, illustration, or other piece of material is introduced into a speech it must face the exacting question: "Does it aid in achieving the goal?"
IX. PRACTICE ALOUD. However wonderfully composed a speech may be, it is all for nothing if the speaker forgets it or garbles it in delivery. Repeated oral practice is the best precaution. Go over and over the outline until the plan is vivid in your mind, and until words to put flesh and blood on the skeleton come easily.
X. BE ENTHUSIASTIC, GENIAL, AND CONVERSATIONAL WHEN YOU SPEAK. If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the test of a speech is in the delivery. All that goes before may be in vain unless it is effectively delivered. In our age the simple, direct, conversational style is best. Say what you have to say in animated, enthusiastic fashion, and as simply and directly as you can. A speaker who likes people and lets them know it will be like in return.
(Selected)
The first sermon preached each Sunday is not by the minister, but by you. You preach a message of good cheer when you say "good morning" to those you meet as you are parking, in the hallway and classrooms.
You preach a message of welcome! We have room for you when you slide over in the pew instead of forcing others to squeeze in front of you. You preach a message of hope and joy when you enthusiastically sing during the song service.
You preach a message about the power of prayer when you fervently enter into our time of payer together. You preach a message about respect when you listen attentively while the sermon of the assembly is being presented.
You preach a message about the importance of the Scriptures when you open a Bible to the text of the day. You preach a message of love when you smile, say hello and introduce yourself to visitors.
You preach a message about faith when you give of your means in the contribution. You preach a message of devotion when you attend the services of the church. Many messages are preached before the minister stands up to bring his message. If your message is positive and consistent, then the message given from the pulpit will be much better received.
(Amber Blake)
God cares about the bad people, not just the good people. But that doesn't mean that we can be bad and get to go to heaven. God wants everyone to be good.
If your friend's parents do not go to church, but the children will go, then take them to church. When they grow up, they will invite their parents to church.
When you invite a friend over, take them to church. Play with them, eat supper, and then when it is time to go to church - get up and take them with you.back to top
(Author Unknown)
The steamer, Lady Elgin, was carrying 323 passengers. It was a chilly evening in early September. She was brilliantly lighted and loaded with travelers. Suddenly, before she reached the port of Chicago, she began to sink. Obviously, before help could arrive, she would be gone, The crowd on the shore watched the tragedy; most were powerless to help.
Two brothers, students in a theological seminary, plunged through the crowd with a rope in their hands, Nat, the elder, a powerful man and a trained swimmer, leaped into the waves. Inch by inch, he fought his way through the waves until he reached the sinking ship and climbed aboard. A moment later with Herculean strength, he carried back to safety a woman. With eager arms the crowd helped to haul him in; he was choking and cold, but still strong. Again he plunged in - and again - and again!
In all, Nat Spencer saved 23 lives. For weeks he lay delirious. Meanwhile the 23 whom he had saved scattered to their homes. In time, the nation began to forget the tragedy of the death of 300 in Lake Michigan.
But the 23 whom he had saved surely did not forget. Surely, they were grateful - or were they? Not one of them ever came back to thank Nat Spencer for what he had done. Not one of them even wrote him a letter. Nat Spencer lived out his life as an invalid. Not one of the 23 people said, "Thank you."
Surely, we who are saved by faith should express our gratitude by word and deed to the One who gave His life for us that we might have our sins forgiven and that we might enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[Christianity Magazine/June 1991 - page 8]
(Kent Heaton)
The following excerpt was taken from the book, "First Lessons In American History," by Lawton B. Evans (copyright 1928). This book was used as a school book and written for children ten to twelve years of age.
"Sunday was strictly observed in all the colonies. Any diversion or work on Sunday was punished by a fine or by imprisonment. It was forbidden to fish, shoot, sail a boat, or do any kind of work. Horses were to be used only for going to church and not then if it was possible for the family to walk. There was little or no cooking allowed on Sunday, so everybody ate cold food on that day. Nor was any one allowed to use tobacco in or near any meeting house.
Everybody was compelled to go to church. The church was usually cold and uncomfortable in winter, the sermons were always long, sometimes lasting two or three hours. Often a single prayer lasted on hour while everybody knelt on the cold floor. Nobody dared to sleep, for the tithingman was on guard to rap the men on the heads with a rabbit's foot on one end of his stick, or tickle the women's noses with a rabbit's tail on the other end of his stick, if they nodded for a moment.
The colonist believed in punishment. If a man stayed away from church, or wore fine clothes that he could not afford, or chewed tobacco near the meeting house, or went hunting or fishing on Sunday, or told a lie, or drank too much whiskey, he was brought before the magistrate and punished. If a woman was a common scold, she was ducked in the water. If a man was a drunkard, he was compelled to wear a big "D," made of red cloth, sewed to his coat.
The pillory and stock were set up in the village green, or in some other public place. Offenders were made to stand in the pillory or to sit in the stocks, so that passers-by could see them and make sport of them. If a person was condemned to be hanged, the execution was in public, and was made a great occasion. People came from miles around to witness the scene, and preachers made long speeches warning the people against sin." (Pages 132,133)
There has to be something said about the 'good-ole-days' when things were much different. I will leave the conclusions with you as to which ones we should implement again today. Since we don't have cold, uncomfortable church buildings anymore and the floor is no longer cold, I would opt for a few of the good old days, i.e., preaching lasting two or three hours. Since Steve is the usher for this month we will let him find the rabbit to keep people awake (some cases a sledge-hammer would do just fine). The pillory and stocks could be set up out by the sign near the road. We could have someone check for tobacco in or near the meeting house and make sure that no one wore clothes they could not afford. We might want to leave the hanging out - not many of us would be left. Amen. back to top
(Selected)
"While I lived, I provided for everything but death; now I must die and am unprepared to die." Cesare Borgia (1475 - 1507), Ruler in Italy, hero of Machiavelli, helped bring new extreme in worldliness to the Catholic Church; he was the illegitimate son of pope Alexander VI.
"I say again, if I had the whole world at my disposal, I would give it to live one day. I am about to take a leap into the dark." Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), one of the greatest British political philosophers, an agnostic.
"All is now lost, finally, irrevocably lost. All is dark and doubtful." Edward Gibbon (1737-1794), an English historian who wrote 'The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire.' in his day was a champion of militant agnostics.
"Stay with me, for God's sake; I cannot bear to be left alone ... O Lord, help me! O God, what have I done to suffer so much? What will become of me hereafter?" Thomas Payne wrote 'The Age Of Reason' and predicted it would replace the Bible. He made the above statement while dying, drunk and swearing.
"Give me more laudanum that I may not think of eternity and what is to come." Honore Gabriel Raqueti Mirabeau (1749 -1791), a political leader in the French Revolution and an atheist.
"Until this moment I though there was neither a God nor a hell. Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty." Sir Thomas Scott (1808-1878), 'freethinker' who wrote over 200 books and pamphlets attacking Christianity.
"I am abandoned by God and man; I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months' life." (This was said to Dr. Fochin, who told him it could not be done.) "Then I shall die and go to hell!" Voltaire (1694-1778), French author, stated that happiness was to be found in the advancing arts and sciences and not in a proper relation to God or hope of heaven.
"Oh, the insufferable pangs of hell! Oh, eternity forever and forever." Sir Francis Newport.
"O God, if there is a God, save my soul, if I have a soul!" Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899), orator, politician, lawyer, popularized Higher Criticism of the Bible, champion of Darwinism in America.
"What a fool I have been" Charles Churchill (1731-1764) poet, satirist, once a clergyman "through need not choice," immoral, agnostic.
What did they see beyond death? If there is no life after death, these died with foolish fears: but if they were right ... "it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews 9:27
In the space below, write your last words if you were to die today:
(Kent Heaton)
We hear from the religious world that it doesn't make a difference what we believe as long as we are sincere. We all are on the same side and we should be united in our respective beliefs. Each person has his or her own interpretation of the Bible.
Everyone should have the right to follow after their own beliefs and practice them without anyone saying otherwise. Well, I agree. I think that we should be able to interpret the Bible as we see fit. It is much like typing this article into my computer. I am using the standard keyboard that everyone else uses in typing. I have learned to type without looking at the keys and with the help of my spell-checker, type fairly consistent.
Everyone knows that proper typing begins with the proper placement of the fingers on the keys. Since I have the liberty to choose what I believe, I will move my fingers over just one key to let my interpretation of typing be shared.
The following is Mark 16:15,16 - "Smf Jr dsof yp yjr,. Hp omyp s;; yjr ept;f smf [trsvj yjr hpd[r; yp rbrtu vtrsyitr/ Jr ejp nr;orbrd smf od ns[yoxrf eo;; nr dsbrf' niy jr ejp fprd mpy nr;orbr eo;; nr vpmfr,mrf/"
SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T FOLLOW THE ONE TRUE PATTERN? (And I was only one key off).
No, I do not agree that we have the right to interpret the Bible as we see fit. As we know from this example we must follow the one true pattern in order to produce the same results. When a person is taught to type, they are taught to follow only ONE pattern. Is that narrow-mindedness? Yes. Why is it when it comes to religion that believing in ONE plan of salvation is wrong? I AM narrow-minded when it comes to scripture. It's God's Word!