Hanging w/ Mr. Bell
Here’s a great little behind-the-scenes video with Rob Bell.
Two things that resonated with me:
- not an exact quote, but Rob is talking about the act of teaching and how sometimes he thinks that there will be this profound moment, and it’s a dud while a toss-off aside will electrify the room. so true. this is why i’ve been moving more towards an extemporaneous style versus a manuscript. (of course the danger, for me at least, is sloppiness when i don’t have a manuscript, but i’m working on that.)
- “it all begins with content.” and by that he means, that everything begins with what scripture teaches. that’s a good word.
[ht: eric]
something i’ve learned. (i’ve never been a manuscript guy) my sloppiness is greatly reduced when i’ve spent so much time in the text that it is oozing out of me. when i feel good about the amount of time i’ve spent in the text, i don’t worry about what random things might come out of me.
it’s when i haven’t done my due diligence in prepping that extemping may be very dangerous.
just a thought.
david
April 4, 2008 at 8:35 am
exactly!
i’ve done both and different phases of my teaching career…
but it’s a shift from spending more time in manuscripting to spending more time in reflection and study.
i hate putting these two things on a continuum, but in my experience, the continuum is inevitable. (except in seminary where i was taught that one should expect to spend 20+ hours in teaching prep)
i’m not even sure that one is better than the other…i just know that one definitely resonates with who i am a lot more!
charliedean
April 4, 2008 at 9:09 am
At the Isn’t She Beautiful? conference we attended at Mars, Rob talked about how he gets his creativity. He said that he is continually weeks out on messages (unlike pastors who just wait to see what ‘comes’ to them the week before the sermon) – and because he is weeks ahead and is studying ‘in advance’ – he finds that he is much more aware of what he is planning to speak about and ideas are sparked. He keeps a journal/notebook with him and he said he’ll just doodle phrases or stories throughout the day that remind him of what he is preparing. Many times he gets great ‘real life’ stories/examples this way too.
I think as a pastor, this can lead to implementing your team more too. As you’re planning the service, etc. your team can be weeks out on the message planning (I think Mars was months out), and can involve everyone in getting creative ideas (I’ve seen at our church times when the message was planned in advance, or times when it was on the fly the week before – the services always end up much more creative when they’re purposefully planned out).
We have tried this even when leading our small group. Instead of just planning the discussion the night before, we are working on being 1 week ahead so that we, as the leaders, can be finding inspiration and ideas to use for the discussion. It’s great to be going over one idea continually and seeing how it is true in your own life, it makes for easier discussion (in our small group setting).
Hopefully that made a little sense, obviously I’m not a pastor, but that’s what I learned from him
Megan
April 4, 2008 at 10:03 am
Thats funny that I actually just found this last night too – and was watching.
(though that MySpace TV does not seem to like my Mac much – some sort of choppy video play- but the audio was clear as a bell…)
So it was interesting to hear. It made me think about the study portion. I am sooo guilty of talk before thought, reflection, and study. Its a project I am working on….probably for the rest of my life. It drives me to think and reflect more on everything – and Pray.
I think as a pastor it is part of what makes Bell so interesting is that he doesn’t just study God – but he studies everything – because everything is of God. And his gift is making everything of God accessible to the eyes and ears of us all. I mean seriously I remember a sermon where he talked about traffic patterns, the theory of traffic – and landed at Jesus.
It was a good snippet. I did also see that “The God’s Aren’t Angry” is set for a DVD release later this year by Amazon.com which should be good times.
Jason Schifo
April 4, 2008 at 10:12 am
the problem Megan, is the tyranny of the urgent.
Rob has a great privelege in that is sole job is teaching (three parts: 3 parts, weekly gathering, writing books, NOOMA)
i’m sure he meets with people too…but he intentionally isn’t a part of the more “nitty-gritty” of church life. (the way I understand it, he used to be, but since the hiring of Don, not-so-much)
here’s the challenge: if I don’t return a call, schedule a meeting, create the announcements, etc., people notice, and I let them down. if I don’t spend enough time studying/preparing the difference isn’t as noticeable to everyone else. so, when push comes to shove within the constraints of week, it’s easy to push off study.
but i notice…and i don’t like it…and as David pointed out it’s when sloppiness raises it’s head!
charliedean
April 4, 2008 at 12:43 pm
I agree Charlie. RB has the great privilege of being a teacher – and being able to explore being a teacher to the fullest, by being a student. As I too understand his involvement in the nuts and bolts is as much or as little as he wants it to be.
Then you take the other 90% of pastors(You) and there you have a whole different set of circumstances, and standards. I would have to think that the revelation of Rob Bell and how he operates at Mars Hill would be both a frustration to pastors who want nothing more than to really teach – and also a great example of the direction that we should be taking in the life and operation of Church.
Jason Schifo
April 4, 2008 at 3:44 pm
i went from a full manu as they taught us in seminary… to and outline… back to manu at nw. coming to westwinds has allowed a lot more freedom to be me. i get lost in a total manuscript. utilizing mind-mapping software has helped me take a huge step forward in how i prep… as well as how i deliver. but i’m a visual thinker. but seeing my whole talk on one page has helped me not feel tied to every little thing i have written. yet it allows me to jump anywhere i want in the talk with just a glance.
you might try it if you haven’t already. but i agree that feeling like you’ve slept with the text/prep really makes the difference.
btw… good hanging with you the other day. thanks for the time.
randy
April 4, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I am not a manuscript person. I think that too much of the message relies on the audiences participation… even if it is a big audience… I spend my time crafting the flow of the message (via an outline and presentation), the content (through lots of study of the bible) and the hooks (stories and surprises found by studying the culture and my congregation). To be honest, I think that in seminary I was never taught hooks were important other than the intro. I find that my message needs to be laced with things that are going to keep people engaged and keep the message in their head.
The other reason I don’t do manuscripts is that writing them takes me too long. I would have to spend at least 20 hrs just on the writing…
That seems unwise considering that I am not rob and my students need more than a teacher from me.
brandon
April 5, 2008 at 7:49 am
I know this is off-topic but where and what time is Imago Dei meeting this weekend?
Mike
April 7, 2008 at 7:23 am
Charlie,
Somewhere in the recesses of my library I actually have an 8 hr seminar on how Rob prepares his teaching. It has been monumental in my teaching prep. If you’re interested I might be able to hunt it down and put it on a CD for you if you really want it (in mp3 form). It’d take me a while though…I’d have to find the CD’s first.
Re: the content, the basic premise Rob says is that never preach something you haven’t wrestled with first for months. Don’t just sit there and ask, “What am I going to preach on this week?” That is why Rob’s teaching is so effective, because he’s been sitting on it for months, if not years, before he presents it to us.
I like writing a manuscript and reading it out loud to see what it sounds like, but never use it in the pulpit. I think the “hooks” comment that brandon said is vital. You need to have one overall idea, and then the subpoints with hooks under that flow with the one idea. It has been revolutionary in my teaching that’s for sure.
Mike
April 7, 2008 at 7:53 am
Mike,
9:45 at the Gateway Building on the riverfront
Beth B
April 7, 2008 at 9:57 pm