Pentecostal ADHD?

Yesterday I got into an intersting email discussion with some colleagues about the attention span of a congregation, specifically a Pentecostal/Charismatic one.  In 2009, former Presidential Advisor David Gergen was inteviewed by Bill Hybels at Willow Creek's Leadership Summit and stated that the most effective speeches were 15-20 minutes in length.  He further stated that if a speaker goes beyond the 30-35 minute mark, 75% of the listeners have checked out.  When it comes to preaching, does the same principle apply?  

Pentecostal Preachers in general tend to go well beyond the 35 minute mark.  If Gergen's assessment is true, the question we have to ask ourselves is this:  "Do our congregations check out after 35 minutes or do they suffer from Pentecostal ADHD and need Holy Spirit ridilin to get through our oratories?  After 20 years of this, I think it's the former.

Here's my take on why we preach too long:  Preachers fear not having enough material when the reality is we tend to pack too much into a single message. I'm guilty of this and I have preached in series ever since my wife told me several years ago after a Sunday morning, "That was a great series you preached today." 

I was trained to believe that preparation was key (and it is).  Further, the more prepared you were the less likely a congregation would be able to sniff out an unprepared message. But I believe in our quest to be good preachers we have failed to become good communicators of truth. In our passion to move an audience emotionally we have at times lacked the communication skill to motivate them to practical action. If a message leaves a listener feeling good at noon Sunday and marveling about how great the message was but it doesn't translate to practical action at 8:00 AM Monday morning, we have not done our job. When I listen back to my own podcasts (something we should always do) I always pick out 10 minutes of fat I could have easily trimmed and the message would have been just as effective.

Old habits die hard but I am up to the challenge to make sure I effectively communicate truth.

What do you say? 

Snowed in And Unplugged

I am in Happy Jack, AZ this weekend with my wife's family celebrating my father-in-law's 70th birthday.  About 25 miles somewhere south of here, AT & T has service.  That simply means I have no connection to the world via my smartphone.  My kids quickly point out that if we had Verizon we would have service.  It's a tired argument with me.  I'm not switching. 

I was finally able to wrestle my sister-in-law's laptop and wireless aircard away from the kids and get after it.  Situations like this make you realize how depedent we are on technology to stay connected with the world.  Yet there has been something peaceful about this weekend.  No constant barrage of text messages or email.  Yet we are having very meaningful family connection as the snow falls in north central AZ. 

By the time many of you read this you will realize I didn't make it to church today.  While I miss my congregation, I am still fulfilling the vision of the house by making meaningful connections.  Snowed in and unplugged isn't so bad after all.