Research is King

When I was an announcer on 96five my Program Director Malcolm Pollard used to drum into me all the time Research is King. What is your audience doing when listening to your show; what did they watch on TV last night; what did they do on the weekend; what sports do their kids play?

It was vital to me as an announcer to be able to connect with my audience. If I didn’t they would turn off. I didn’t need to live their life but I did need to have an understanding of what they did and why. Radio has taught me the ability to walk in someone else’s shoes and be able to ‘connect’ with them in their life.

I believe the same statement Research is King is important for ministers. Ministers need to know what their congregation is doing, watching, reading,. You might like reading the Financial Review or Weekend Australian but the majority of your ‘audience’ is probably reading the free weekly newspaper. You might watch 4 Corners but your ‘audience’ is watching Master Chef.

I am not saying that you need to live their lifestyle or lose your interests but you need to communicate in their lifestyle not yours.

As a coach of a sporting team I have learnt that to get the best out of my kids I need to understand how they think and why they react or respond to my directions. I don’t dress like them or act like them but I know their culture and connect with them on their communication style not mine as an adult.

We know as Christians and especially in church we speak a different language. We know what redemption means to us as Christians, talk to an unchurched person and redemption means getting even for a past wrong.

This week take some time out and hang around a shopping centre, sports field or even read the weekly free newspaper and get a true snapshot of your unchurched audience and see what are the issues in the lives of the ‘lost’.

Is being insecure bad thing?

I was in a conversation the other day with someone who was telling me about how insecure they feel. They were spilling the beans on their fears, failures and wondering if they would ever feel happy or confident enough in themselves to ever be happy. It got me thinking about what makes people be either secure or insecure? Are people born either way or is it in fact learned behaviour?

My thoughts for what their worth are that our sense of security comes from our frame of reference or belief system. I think that we all come to a point at some stage in our life where we feel insecure - not knowing where our future lies and feeling a bit out of control of our destiny. That is when we discover a belief system that gives us our level of confidence to face life's circumstances. For me that belief system is Christianity. A belief in God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Some people choose self belief, others in different religions and increasingly more on fads or celebrity worship.

As I christian I believe God deliberately created us with a God shaped hole that makes us incomplete in our human form. This 'hole' creates a missing bit in our lives and we humans then seek to try and fill this missing piece of the jigsaw. Most people try all sorts of things to fill the whole with from materialism to greed, marriage, family, sex, sport even popularity or celebrity worship. In the end these things are the wrong shape because the whole is God shaped and all the other things are the wrong shape and don't fit properly. Some may fill the whole to some extent or for a period of time but because its not a perfect fit we begin to 'leak' and we go searching for something else to help fill the whole.

For me God was the perfect fit and then its from Him I begin to feel secure. Knowing there is a higher power than me in control of my circumstances means that I can face life not being by myself but with some one who is able to help me today on earth and in the future in heaven.

Anyway there's my random thoughts - I am keen to hear your opinion.