Called to Proclaim Jesus

In October my team led communication training in Denver for 45 Cru leaders from various campuses. Afterwards one of those leaders named Tim sent us some very encouraging feedback about his experience:

“I am deeply grateful for the Comm Lab. Beforehand, I knew that the delivery of my messages was something that could be improved, especially as someone who knows that speaking is not one of my top gifts. I was astonished by how much I grew in this area over the course of just a few days. The Comm Lab consisted of engaging training sessions, immensely practical drills, and Christ-centered and personal feedback. I’ve had a propensity to spend 95% of my preparation working on the content of my messages. The Comm Lab helped me fully believe how much delivery affects my ability to communicate effectively. We covered topics such as how to quickly write effective talks, understand your audience, use illustrations well, and communicate better with eyes, gestures, voice, and movement. My biggest takeaways for delivering messages is to have enlarged conversations with specific people in the audience and that being very animated looks good to the audience despite how unusual it might feel to me.

“Everyone in our group was impressed with how the Comm Lab team shepherded us with compassion, sensitivity, and insightful feedback. Regarding the drills, I think most of us were somewhere on the spectrum of feeling very nervous to feeling the need to self-protect. Very quickly, everyone was convinced of the care from the Comm Lab team and felt unleashed and encouraged. I’ve shared the experience of one person in my group who said, “I very rarely get feedback after delivering messages and when I do it is simply, ‘Good job.'” In contrast, it was so life-giving to be specifically complimented and encouraged. God wants to communicate through us in a way that leverages how he has specifically wired us.

“Last but not least, there was a refreshing emphasis on how God gives the power to speak truth about himself to people he cares about immensely. I am called to proclaim Jesus, the Word, who is both the content and the means of the message. The Comm Lab team wisely said that delivering messages is ‘dying to self in front of an audience.’ Working in my audience’s lives and my life is God’s will and good pleasure. What a refreshing vision!”

Thank you so much for partnering with me to equip leaders like Tim who are called to proclaim Jesus! 2014 will bring many more opportunities to train leaders to speak God’s truth, and your continued prayer support will help me to do that. Thank you again!

Denise DiSarro

View posts by Denise DiSarro
I am a staff member with Cru, a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ. I work on a creative team in the Indianapolis area.

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