Talks that don't suck

In 2019 somehow in my inbox there was a free deal to download this book for free. Earlier that year I was talking to the bookshop guy at Katoomba Christian Convention and he recommended Tom French's other book, Weird, Crude, Funny, and Nude saying it was a good book for teens. I was sceptical as it sounded a bit gimmicky, more about the joke than the substance, so I didn't know what to make of this. Anyway, I was willing to pay nothing to read this book but completely forgot that I had downloaded this. I only remembered I had this when I finished the last teen book on giving a talk I read, and that one I wasn't impressed with.

In the book, Tom said he was influenced by John Stott, Tim Keller, Mike Pilavachi, Tony Campolo and Matt Chandler. This was an interesting mix, but I too would say these guys (minus Mike Pilavachi) have also affected me. He cited training from David Cook and Sam Chan from his time at SMBC which made me less sceptical of this guy in Melbourne. The fact that he was also Australian put him up a notch too.

This book steps through the process of writing a talk from the preparation to the writing and delivery. Kinda like the book Speaking to Teenagers, only this book was good and shorter. Throughout this book the focus was really trying to understand the text, seeing how Jesus fitted into the story and then working out the point or "Big idea" (David Cook's influence I assume). There was helpful advice on how to explain your point, the use of illustrations and how to use your body while talking, use of humour and even alter calls. He also stressed prayer, before preparing, before writing, before giving the talk and also afterwards. Personally, this was a basic but helpful reminder for me.

I thought in this book, there wasn't some really high unattainable goal of giving a talk to bring about a revival, but rather to just faithfully explain the passing in front of you, pointing to Jesus. In one part Tom said if a year 8 boy just understands that this story exists in the Bible (who the people are and what they did) and forgets the application, that is a win. I didn't mind this approach, it felt realistic. That is not to say that Tom was light on application, just that you can beat yourself up afterwards when talking to year 7-12 students who are at all different stages in their faith journey and wonder if any of your points stuck.

Besides encouraging youth speakers to simply explain the text in light of Jesus, the other really great thing this book had was in the Appendix Tom had annotated a talk he had given. I really appreciate when people set forward a method and then also demonstrate how they actually put it into practice. The passage was on Ehud in Judges 3:12-30, from his Weird, Crude, Funny, and Nude book. In his own analysis, Tom admits that this isn't the best talk he had given, and points out things he could have done better, while also explaining a bit of his flow or structure and why he says things where they are and why he didn't follow some lines of thinking.

This was a helpful book, and I think I probably have been getting a bit stale in my recent talks to youth, so this had some good reminders for me. I am glad that two years ago I forwarded the free link to all my youth leaders - I am not sure how many actually 1) read my email, 2) downloaded the book and 3) actually read the book. However, this would be a helpful book for a youth leader to read if they give talks to teens.