In the final part of our interview with Andy Stanley he gives some advice to young pastors related to the responsibility of preaching.

In case you missed them, here are parts one, two, three, and four.

I am glad to hear so many of you mention that you ordered Andy's book, Communicating for a Change. If you have not done so, I recommend you do so.

Here is a bit more from our interview and a some additional information from Preaching Magazine.

Question: If you had to give one word to young pastors about communication, what would you tell them?

Andy: Show up every Sunday morning with a burden that is so heavy that you feel like you will die if you don't deliver it. And pray for that. Because if you don't have that, then you just have information. The people will put up with all kinds of a lack of excellence if there is an intensity and a burden that has to be delivered. And many times I have looked at my notes and thought, "Yeah, this might be helpful, but God, what's the thing I can't wait until Sunday morning to deliver? And I honestly can't wait for Sunday morning.

The other thing I always tell pastors, "If you preach from your weaknesses, you will never run out of sermon material."

In an interview with Preaching Magazine, Andy was asked a similar question: "Are there some things you've learned about preaching that you wished you'd known years ago?"1 Two parts of his reply really struck a chord. The first part had to do with how he structured his messages; the second dealt with how he planned his message series. As for how Andy structures his messages, this is what he said:

In terms of how I structure messages and memorize them, what I finally figured out is that there's basically three or four, maybe five parts to every message. What it took me years to learn is this: if I'll just get those in my mind and understand my transitions, I can forget the details. And I am far more free to communicate rather than try to remember something... And so in terms of memorizing sermons, I figured out there are only three or four big chunks and when I can mentally go through the big pieces, then I am ready. It took me awhile to figure that out. This helped my memorization and my communication style tremendously. I became far more conversational. I also discovered it's about a journey and it's about one thing, not four things.2

As for how he plans his messages, Andy described it this way:

All of our series planning begins with a team of people and me just throwing things up on the board and at every level of preparation bringing people into the process and saying, "What do you think about this? Does this make sense?" The average person gives me all the credit for that wonderfully delivered message, but it had a lot of hands in it...I think the whole team approach to series planning is helpful. My best visual aids weren't my ideas but when you get a group of people thinking, they all have a gift. So I wish I'd done that earlier. It takes the creative pressure off sometimes. I'll have other people out there thinking about it while I'm in here working on the details.3

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1 "Preaching Without Fear," Preaching 20 (July-August 2004): 32.
2 Ibid, 32-33.
3 Ibid, 33.

When I started using Twitter I wasn't sure that I would like it, or continue to do it. But I have really taken to this social networking service. It is an easy way to share parts of my life, thoughts, or links that do not warrant a blog post. Since I tend to write LONG blog posts, this is a refreshing change.

Others have shared their thoughts on why Twitter is worth it. Michael Hyatt gave 12 reasons to jump on the bandwagon, and also wrote a helpful beginner's guide. Now that I'm comfortable with Twitter I thought I'd share a few pieces of advice for those getting started.

1. "Tweet" the angles (Twitter is the service, "tweet" refers to the update/post).
It's not worth tweeting that you had lunch. But the fact that your boss stole fries off your plate while he thought you weren't looking is. Avoid the obvious and find the angle of an experience. People want you to share your life, so give them the good stuff.

2. Use your cell phone.
Part of what makes Twitter so great is the easy of updating via your phone. If you have a Blackberry be sure and get TwitterBerry. It is easier than texting all the time. You can also send email if you use Twittermail.

3. Use your cameraphone.
If your cell phone doesn't have a camera, it's time to throw out that Nokia 6110 and upgrade to a phone released in the 21st century. The ability to share an image of where you are, or what you're doing can let people in on fun, exciting, or even deeply meaningful moments.

4. Do not respond to all comments.
People won't expect you to. Most are rhetorical. And, if you respond to most, people will expect you to respond to all. Just respond to those you want think others might find interesting. Remember, that when someone asks you a question like, "Why are you reading The Shack?," only people who read their Twitter see it... so people who read your response won't know to what you refer. However, if you respond, everyone who follows you sees your response. So, try to restate the question in your response if you choose to respond. All of your responses are public unless you use direct messaging.

5. Pace yourself.
Don't tweet multiple times in a row. If you have that much to say write a blog post.

6. Think before you tweet.
Keep in mind that anyone can see your Twitter, not just your subscribers, so don't say anything you wouldn't say on a blog.

One word of caution. If you want to get people upset on Twitter, just point out that you don't use a Mac, and that a Mac is for people who are not technologically savvy (like when I mentioned that my mother recently bought a Mac).

You can follow me on Twitter here.