By Dr. Ted Baehr
Those who proclaim God’s message speak to people and give them help, encouragement, and comfort.
– 1 Corinthians 14:3
Are you called to do great things for His Good News?
In the summer of 1981, I was invited to Knoxville, Tennessee by nine local churches, representing different denominations, to consult on the design of an exhibit which would communicate their presence and biblical views to the many people who would visit the 1982 World’s Fair. About thirty consultants, media-experts and theologians from throughout the United States came to this consultation to advise the Knoxville churches on their exhibit. The theme of the Fair was “energy,” so the prevailing opinion of those present was that the exhibit should contain posters illustrating energy (e.g., a power plant, an engine, an atomic bomb), with biblical subscriptions (e.g., “Blessed are the peacemakers,” “Blessed are the poor,” and “the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants”).
This approach sounded very dull. As the meeting continued, I recalled the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City, where almost all the exhibits had long waiting lines except the Protestant Exhibit which was decorated with posters with biblical subscriptions. I reasoned that people came to a World’s Fair to be entertained by visionary exhibit which captured their imagination. If the churches wanted to attract people to their exhibit, I suggested that they should use the latest technology and the best creative talent to build the most exciting exhibit at the Fair.
By the Grace of God alone, the churches asked me to be the executive producer of the exhibit, which we named: THE POWER.
In prayer, God gave me a vision of an exciting amusement park type exhibit which presented God as the Author of all energy — THE POWER.
A month of meetings with creative talent focused this vision into an exhibit where: the audience would step into a time machine rocket; blast-off back to the beginning of time; find themselves plunged into total darkness (which was only allowed by having someone watch in case any of the audience panicked); watch God create the heavens and the earth; land in paradise; get kicked out for disobedience; enter into man’s world; become overwhelmed by the cacophony of voices competing for attention to convince you of their point of view; cry out for help; meet Jesus; follow Him though the Cross into His Body (The Church); where they could be filled with His Spirit to do His work; and, finish singing “The Lord’s Prayer” together.
After months of hard work by some of the top electronic media and show business talent in the country, THE POWER became a reality — the most technologically sophisticated exhibit at the Fair, visited by over one million people, and representing the combined statement of fifteen denominations. Newspapers from all over the United States called THE POWER the most exciting exhibit at the Fair, and children of all ages enjoyed this trip through time and space.
Over 1.2 million people signed up that they had received Jesus Christ as they Lord and Savior when leaving THE POWER exhibit.
I thank God for all the miracles that made THE POWER possible, and the tremendous contributions of all the talented individuals who created, built and maintained the exhibit. However, the churches, acting together as the communicator, made THE POWER possible by adhering to the basic principles of good communications.
For Christians, effective communication means much more than achieving one’s goals, desires and needs because communication is at the heart of His story, and we have been called to communicate that story.
His story begins with communication:
“In the beginning was the Word”
– John 1:1.
That Word of God is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, the Author of creation, the great communicator, who made all things.
Ever since the Fall, His story continues, the Word of God has been in the business of rescuing people, created in His Image, from Death; and, He has called us to help Him. As Jesus says:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…”
– Acts 1:8.
We want to proclaim His Gospel because we love Him, and because we love our neighbor so much that we want to save our neighbor from Death. Our witnessing is a direct, natural, inevitable consequence of our becoming and being Christians, according to Jesus in Acts 1:8. Filled with power, we will witness.
We learn God’s will by studying His word, The Bible, and by allowing His Spirit to live in us. The good news is that He gives each of us our own unique combination of motivations, talents and gifts which, when discerned, will help each of us discover how we can best communicate what we want to communicate and what genre and medium of communication is appropriate for each of us and our communications. All too often, we become frustrated by trying to communicate in a way and through a medium which does not suit our unique motivational talents. Some of us are chosen to be writers, some executive producers, some directors, some art directors, etc.
When you discover your unique motivational talent and learn the language and the grammar of the medium through which you will be communicating, then you will be able to access any channel of communications (streaming, television, radio, newspaper, etc.), capture and motivate an audience, and communicate the Gospel in all its glory.
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