Connection (TED Commandment 5)

Continuing our series on what preachers can learn from the TED conferences’ guidelines, which they’ve affectionately dubbed “The TED Commandments”.

Today, commandment number five: Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.

We’ve got at least eight people in the preaching rotation at Greenhouse, and while we are going to develop themes and content collaboratively, most of the sermon writing will fall to the person preaching.

So as to not give people a schizophrenic church experience, it will be important for the sermons to not come across as isolated, disconnected ideas. The spirit of this TED Commandment tells us that there’s something attractive about existing within a crew of people (a “tribe” if you will?).

And so we preach through series in tandem with each other, we build off of each other’s work, using last week to inform this week, which will in turn inform next week (which, if done well, could inform next month, and to some extent, next year).

And it means we get to have fun with each other. We get to acknowledge each other’s quirks, affirm each other from the stage, and if we’re very, very brave, poke fun at each other in that loving, familial way.

But it means being intentional, spontaneous, and familiar with what everyone else is talking about.  And it means investing in the larger whole. But the reward for all of the extra effort could be a very compelling way to do church.

What does this commandment speak to you?

Other posts in the TED Preacher series
Overview
1-3: Shticks, Dreams, Curiosities & Passions
4: Story