Pixar’s Principles For Preaching

Each Christmas morning, my family had a fun tradition — gathering around the tree to retell the Christmas story. Mom didn’t share the “stats” of the shepherds, and Dad didn’t detail the “data” of the donkeys. No, we entered into a captivating story!

• As communicators, we know that people will put up with facts and figures, but they love hearing an engaging story. Ears perk up. Eyes widen. Minds open. Attention spans lengthen, as complex concepts become concrete.
• In our work as church leaders, we need to harness the tremendous power of stories. Previously, I wrote about “Five Places to Tell Stories in Church Renewal.”

In this week’s newsletter, we’ll look at a few great storytelling techniques that anyone can use in ministry. I love to learn from others, and today, we’ll be learning from the one of the best storytellers today, Pixar.

• In 2011, Pixar story artist Emma Coats tweeted the “story basics” she learned there. (You can read a summary of them here.) Today, we’ll look at how a few of these principles can help us share the greatest story ever — the Gospel!
• It’s more than just preaching! The following examples each speak within the context of sermon writing, but these principles could also apply to other forms of communication (leading board meetings, writing newsletter articles, etc.).

Seven Rules for Telling Compelling stories

Rule 1. Show the Struggle

• “You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.”
• The best characters aren’t flat; they’re three-dimensional. Seeing their flaws and struggles allows us to identify with them. The Bible provides this type of nuance in its stories, so let’s not iron it out. Let’s also look for appropriate ways to share the struggles we have overcome so people can relate to our story as church leaders too!

Rule 2. Put the Audience First

• “You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.”
• My cardinal rule as a communicator is to put the audience first. What will benefit them? What works best to get this particular group of people to lean in, listen, understand, remember, and apply the message? If I’m entertaining myself but losing the audience, I have failed.

Rule 3.  Write then Re-write

• “Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.”
• The act of writing often brings clarity to the writer. I often discern the thematic “through line” of my sermon most clearly after finishing the first draft of it. With that new clarity in mind, I can then go back to the beginning and add cohesion to the entire sermon. Don’t skip the re-writing phase!

Rule 4.  Create Movement in the Plot

• “Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.”
• A sermon can be a string of random facts without any flow, or it can be a swiftly moving stream that carries people along! One week recently, I noticed that all the pieces of my sermon could be linked with “and then.” It was boring! I started reorganizing the manuscript and looking for ways to link the various parts with “Because of that…” or “In spite of that…” The sermon took on a new life!

Rule 5.  Look for an emotional connection

• “If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.”
• Life transformation happens when we help people enter into the story of God. Listening passively from the safety of the sidelines won’t cut it! Emotional connections increase people’s ability to remember what you say, and it drives them to make a decision.

Rule 6. Do not be afraid to move on

• “No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.”
• Sometimes, an illustration is weak, your writing is not clear, or the text becomes repetitive. These parts have to go! But they’re not gone forever. Often, I cut and paste the weak parts of a sermon to the bottom of the document. I know they may find a place after further refining… maybe even in a future sermon. Either way, the sermon is stronger without using them as-is.

Rule 7.  Speak from your “Burden”

• “Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.”
• Do you believe in the importance of the story you’re telling? If not, your audience will know. Andy Stanley says he learned from his father, Charles Stanley, the importance of having a “burden” when preaching. Are you burdened for the lost to meet Jesus? Are you burdened for believers to discover their purpose and to get on mission? Let that passion come through!