We Hear You!

4 TIPS to telling GREAT TESTIMONIALS/ STORIES OF FAITH

  1. AVOID THIS: Don’t come out GUNS blazing, e.g. “I highly recommend Ps Steve, he’s the best ever!”  It will sound like a sales pitch. You don’t talk that way normally. 

  2. SET UP: 

    1. Start with something relatable—everyone has a name, a job, a family, tell us about it in 30 seconds. 

    2. Include your success(es). Nobody believes you were the lowest of the low before Christ and became perfect after you came to Christ. Don’t pretend. Be real. 

  3. TENSION / CONFLICT: 

    1. Go to your turning point/ unexpected event. 

    2. Everyone faces challenges. Elaborate on yours. Don’t say, “I was sick and now I’m healed.” Help us feel it, “I was playing tennis and a sharp bolt ran through my back. I was out for days. I prayed to God but nothing seemed better. Until…” 

    3.  This is in the script of every movie. It’s called the turning point or climax.

  4.  RESOLUTION: 

    1. This is when you introduce Jesus, Discover Church, Pastor Steve, and the steps you took to resolve your tension/ problem/ challenge. 

    2. Now you can INVITE others to also join, give, go on a tour or mission, serve, volunteer, evangelize, reach out to a neighbor. The biggest mistake is to start at the end. 

    3. It’s like asking someone you like to “Marry me!” Before you introduced yourself and they had time to consider what they think about you. Emotionally people need to warm up to an invitation. They might be open but want to say “no” at first for no reason but to test you, to know they can say no, or they may have doubts from their own past, unrelated to you. 

These 3 acts are in every Bible story

GENESIS

  1. First man and women in the Garden living with God in perfect peace

  2. The serpent comes in and tempts them. They betray God and fall into sin. 

  3. God comes to find them and promise one day, the serpent’s head will be crushed by the Messiah, a Savior who will be born of a virgin woman. 

EXODUS 

  1. Hebrews are prospering in Egypt and multiplying like rabbits. 

  2. An Egyptian Pharaoh forgot about the good the Hebrews did and persecute them. Moses showed up and things got worse. He killed an Egyptian task master and ran away. He came back and 10 plagues fell on Egypt, making the Egyptians madder at them. 

  3. Pharaoh lets the Hebrews go but then changes his mind. At the worst possible conundrum when all hope was lost, and their fates seemed sealed, God shows Moses what to do and He parts the Red Sea. The Hebrews are free, but face different temptations, such as longing to go back to Egypt.