Help for Young Life Leaders NOW

Message Prep Top 10 List

MESSAGE PREP “TOP 10 LIST” by J Rinne

1. Know your subject and plan way ahead. I like to have a message done at least a week prior to the day I am gonna give it. I like to rehearse it out loud or to a few people before I give it in club. Funny but I like to lock myself in the bathroom and turn on the shower get in and rehearse the talk to the wall. This way no body will interrupt me, I am relaxed and I am not self conscious that someone will hear me and think that I am talking to myself.

2. SCRIPTURE, STORY, MAIN POINT. Start with the SCRIPTURE. This seems to be a pitfall for most people that I talk to about messages. We try to find a really funny story or a really good video clip or song that we like and then tryt to find a scripture that relates somehow and then teach kids about Jesus. I say start with the SCRIPTURE and THE MAIN POINT you want to make and then pray and look for good stories, video clips, song, ect. It seems like we should find this first because the story is usually how we gain the crowds approval and get them to listen to us. But we are about Scripture and so we should start there. Make your MAIN POINT and stick to it.

3. Pray a good deal as you prepare and have folks praying as you speak.

4. If you are not the one speaking know that your role as a prayer warrior/supporter for the person speaking is very important. DO IT!

5. I use www.crosswalk.com to help prepare my talks. There are great resources like references, commentaries and cross references to help you prepare. You can also look at all different translations. Also very helpful are the search bars… for example I can’t remember where the story about Jesus healing the blind man is so (instead of looking through the whole new testament paragraph by paragraph) in the search bar I can type “Jesus blind Man” and it will find all the references for me. I recommend it and it’s FREE.

6. Be bold. Know that kids need to hear the truths that you are talking about. Jesus is worth sharing.

7. Know your crowd. Don’t use real religious words. Speak about Jesus in a way that is simple and concise.

8. Look at the crowd, individuals and vary your tone and volume as you speak. This will keep you interesting.

9. Go up with one 3×5 note card and have all your main points written on this card. This card is ONLY if you get lost in your talk. Know your talk so well that you only need to glance at it to keep your talk flowing.

10. I am not an expert nor do I claim to have this dialed. These are just some things that help me and they might help you too. Above all be faithful to God and be faithful to what he tells you to tell your high school and jr high friends.

Thanks J!