Hometown: Flower Mound, Texas

Currently reading: Panic!: The Story of Modern Financial Insanity by Michael Lewis

How does your book for church staff differ from writing for business audiences? “The first part of the book is similar to business books. I speak about three primary things—preparation, confidence and engagement. Those are three really strong components of a good presentation. Then I picked nine common scenarios that Christians would find themselves in, like sharing your testimony, teaching a Sunday school class, holding a small group or greeting someone when they walk into a church. We overlaid into some of those stories and examples so the book could be used as a reference, not just a read-through. When you find yourself in that situation, you could go back to the book—that’s what makes the book different.”

How important is leadership training? “It’s a big deal. We invite a lot of people to volunteer at church and perhaps we don’t equip them as strong as we could. This tool is there to help fill that need.”

What are some of the communication pitfalls most Christians face? “Most common would be the lack of preparation because of keeping a busy schedule. If someone doesn’t have a process, they often procrastinate and (don’t) prepare as well. A second would be lecturing versus involving. We commit a whole chapter to the process of engagement, whether you’re in the pulpit (or) small group. People don’t want to be talked at, they want to be talked with.”

What’s the average attention span for someone listening to a sermon or lesson? “It’s minutes. It’s really small numbers of minutes. People process about four times as fast as we speak, so with all the information people are bombarded with, their minds will go other places. Keeping people engaged is a big deal. In the book, we lay out idea after idea.”

Is it possible for multimedia presentations to become a distraction? “I guess the answer would be yes, but generally the more, the better. If everything is complementary to the objectives, then variety is something I really reinforce. Variety is a good thing. There are about 20 different ways we communicate in person that include a lot of multimedia, and I teach that variety day in and day out.”