Saturday, March 27, 2010

Book Recommendation: Everyone Communicates, Few Connect

Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently

I don’t often recommend John Maxwell books. It’s hard to know what he wrote and what someone on his staff wrote, and he has so many stories and illustrations and quotes from others (which he attributes appropriately) that some books don’t have a lot of original content. I also think he’s a better speaker than writer.

I do recommend the last half of this book for the ideas and practices on connecting with people. This is a significant issue for Bible teachers. Skim the 1st half to get the basic principles, which won’t be a surprise to you. There are still lots of stories and anecdotes and quotes from others, but I didn’t find this to be distracting here. For teachers, I particularly recommend pp. 199-228, the chapter titled “Connectors Inspire People.” His basic formula is

What they know + What they see + What they feel = Inspiration

Inspiration leads to actionable changes as individuals and groups. You want to teach the Bible to change lives, right? Get this book, study it, and start incorporating some of the ideas and suggestions here.

Note: this is not an affiliate link, and I will not earn any money from this recommendation.

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