8. Illustrate

 "A picture is worth a thousand words” To communicate your story you want to illustrate your main points.  Help the listener enter your story, not merely sit and watch.  Where did it happen?  Set the stage.  How did you feel at the time?  What is the mood?  Was it in a crowded space or the privacy of your room?

It's easy to share concepts, but they are hard for the listener to grasp.  What do you mean by the concepts you are using?  I said I was in the snack bar in West Halls when I first heard the gospel.  I usually got a cheeseburger around 9pm each night.  A snack bar is a noisy place with college students all around, and the smell of ground beef cooking on the grill.  That was how I set the stage.  "I was in the snack bar at Penn State."

When I talk about my adversarial relationship with my mom during my teen years I say, "I hardly remember a kind word between us all those years."  That's not good enough.  I remember one dinner time when the pork chops were overcooked and I remarked, "These taste like mahogany."  Mom hauled off and slapped me, while the fork was still in my mouth.  It cut the inside of my mouth, and I spit blood.  For some audiences, particularly those with strained relationships with parents, this might help them understand the nature of my interaction with Mom.  For the women's axillary, I'd never use this illustration, obviously.

These illustrations can be short and to the point.  Beware of lengthy storytelling.   I remember the testimony of a teenage girl who felt lonely and unpopular.  She tells, "I finally got a date for homecoming.  I was waiting for him to pick me up.  I was in the living room watching the clock.  He never came."  Wow, that is poignant.  I've never forgotten her story.  Look at how quickly she was able to illustrate the issue of popularity and how she felt in those days.

Once you settle on your main theme, you will want to ask what it was like BEFORE I came to Christ relative to that theme?" How can I help my listener see and feel what I am talking about.

Then do the same thing to your life AFTER Christ.  Stick with the same theme and illustrate the difference Jesus has made. Ask yourself how Christ changed your life.  What was the time, place, or situation that would most illustrate that change?  For me and my mom I might say.  After receiving Christ, I visited home over the holidays.  Mom asked me if I would like to go shopping with her.    Normally I would bow out, but this time I asked myself, "what would Jesus do?", so I went along.  We had a great mother/son shopping trip.  This is when she first asked me what had happened to change me so.  I was able to share Christ with her that day.

Here's how it fits together:

 

  1. Introduction
  2. My life BEFORE Christ
    1. Illustration
  1. How I came to Christ
  2. My life AFTER Christ
    1. Illustration
  1. Conclusion

Assignment:

  1. Write out your main theme, then describe the illustration that supports that theme for before you knew Christ. 
  2. Repeat this exercise for AFTER Christ to show how He has changed this area of your life. 

Next, we will address your conversion.

NEXT>>


 

 

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